Horse going bald while shedding

I had a horse borrowed from work the winter before last and too my horror he went totally bald when he moulted. Even the vet looked slightly confused! (he was out for injections anyway!)
Id not worry a few weeks later a lovely summer coat came through really quickly and he looked great.
 
My tb did this last year - had bid bald patches across her back when she shed her winter coat. I googled it - as you do, and found out quite a lot about the condition - quite common in the states when temperature changes very rapidly. She too quickly grew a fab summer coat.
 
My TB looks like he has patchy alopecia every year - he always grows a lovely summer coat. He is unclipped now in the winter as a cold bunny & in very light work, but doesn't make any difference.

Nothing to worry about IMO
 
Is the horse chestnut? Seems more common in chestnuts for some reason. But as long as the horse is healthy, and the next coat is ok when it comes, then nothing to worry about!
 
I had a NF youngster who did this at his first moult. I was worried it was rainscald, or even a dreadful case of mites (he had just come from Beulieu Road).

It was just timing, and perhaps his poor condition - he has moulted 'normally' ever since.
 
Hello, 3 years later, and I am Googling this like mad. Same here, chestnut 9 YO TB gelding. He did it two years ago, and we threw everything in the equine veterinary book at him. Skin scrapings came up negative, blood tests fine (liver ever so slightly stressed), and still he had treatments for fungus, acarians (no lice visible and no itchiness), and the vet decided to do a round of antibiotics "to be certain", and it eventually grew in. I skipped all that this time, but he is an eyesore, and wherever the winter coat has not completely shed (except the flanks, back, croup and belly, the body essentially) there is horrific dandruff. Hard to see so beautiful a horse look so horrible. I'll add that both years involved some nutritional issues (poor feeding at a prior stable and this year a sudden drop in pellets during stall rest after surgery for a bone a pasturemate smashed to bits). Got him on flax seeds, provided a mineral bucket to lick (for copper and zinc, in particular), and doing a hepatic drain with Boiron PVB Draineur GA. We are near Normandy, in the Ile de France, very moderate climate, wet, but with two cold snaps this winter, like one cold snap that other time. Hope your horses are shedding beautifully this season!
 
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