Help - Yellow Scabs!!!!

[Moomin_and_Holly]

Arrrgh - it's happening again.

Last year just as the weather started to get warmer Maisey got these strange scabs that seem to ooze a yellow fluid which then crystalize into her hair. I can pull the scabs off once they have hardened but all the hair seems to come off with them. She had them on her face, shoulders/neck and near her teats. There wasn't one for the whole of winter but now they have just started to appear again.

Has anyone experienced this before or have any ideas about what it might be??

Thanks guys.

 

[BBs]

Yep horse has been suffering badly with them this year. Both my clipped horses seem to have been bitten but because one horse had to have antibiotics they seemed to all disappear. But the other horse was covered in swellings and horrid lumps.
Now all the swellings have gone down and he is left with greesy scaps which come off easily with puss underneath.
i washed him in hibiscrub first, hes now had bute and HC 45 = hes fine now, taken a week for them to go tho. But this weekend he will have to be bathed and cleaned up prorperly to remove these scabs.

All i can think of is that its some sort of parasite.

 

[the watcher]

the scabs you are describing sound like rain scald..which seems odd I know, but if you consider that rain scald is a fungal infection of sorts, like mud fever, it may be that your horse has somehow just started showing these symptoms. Others have seen these scabs after an episode of hives/lumps.

If the skin is pink and clean underneath and not inflamed, I wouldn't worry too much, the hair will grow back - however if new scabs continue to develop you might need to seek advice...you could try a patch test with an antifungal shampoo (cheapest is the kind of anti dandruff shamoo you get form the pharmacist)

The alternative is that they were originally lumps (plasma under the skin) which have become irritated and she has rubbed, causing the oozing, in which case don't bother with shampoo, just keep cool and soothe with cold water, dry them lightly and try not to overrug her

 

[cazza]

One of ours gets that every year, she has sensitive skin and it is something to do with the weather usually spring. only in a couple of places strangely it is on her chest, she doesn't wear a rug and it's nowhere else on her body. We just clean it off, the best thing to get the yellow chrystals off the coat is a bot knife as it leaves her actual hair behind.

 

[KatB]

My boy got them last year, and to a very lesser extent this year. Last year the whole localised area swelled up, and was very unpleasant!! Soaked with salt water, and gave him a bute aday and they cleared up. Was very confused what could be....?!?

 

[SpruceRI]

My pony gets something similar on the left hand side of her neck/shoulder. Just a small rash of 1 - 5 lumps in a small area. Never gets them anywhere else on her body i.e her right hand side which is odd.

I soak them in Hibiscrub. Give them a good rub, then dab with Sudocrem and pick the scabs off. Invariably she's left with a small bald patch, though sometimes you can drag the scab through the hair. The coat grows back within a couple of days. A few days later she'll have some more. They occur throughout the year, and don't cause her any probs.

 

[Leg_end]

Yep my boy gets the exact same thing. He got them on his face last year and some other random places. I actually had the vet out as I'd only had him a couple of weeks and was in paranoid mum status! He said that it was something to do with his coat changing so nothing to worry about.

It is not as bad this year as he has been clipped but have found a few spots on his legs since his coat started coming through.

 

[dozzie]

My mare gets something similar but not just on her face. She gets them on her legs and body. As she has very sensitive skin I had presumed they were insect bites and she is just hypersensitive. I just clean them with salt water.