Leukocytoclastic Vasculitis

Just worth mentioning, that I slathered lavender oil (pure essential)in olive oil all over the affected areas and was getting good control,in desperation, at one point I ran out of both and used Oilatum & then Diprobase bath emolient(was intended for my eczema) There was a noticeable difference over night so I've kept on using it. Obviously speak to vet,it may or may not be suitable for your horse, but as Rebels said, they all vary so much & each one is affected differently.Once off antibiotics, I added apple cider vinegar to his water/feed daily as its a natural anti biotic.Fur grew back within a week despite him looking like a shedding snake for a day or 2 with 'paint strippered' legs..interestingly when i applied any previous chemical treatments, he would kick out & strongly object, once i started using the lavender, he willingly held his legs out for the mixture to be applied & was visibly soothed-I've had evil cuts heal with no scar within a week of applying neat lavender, including ones which should have been stitched & can assure you it doesn't hurt. I would always use a base oil with it tho on a horse.
 
SaharaS said:
once i started using the lavender, he willingly held his legs out for the mixture to be applied & was visibly soothed-I've had evil cuts heal with no scar within a week of applying neat lavender, including ones which should have been stitched & can assure you it doesn't hurt. I would always use a base oil with it tho on a horse.
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Interesting; when I thought it was mudfever I tried my own cream of baby bum cream (bepanthen) and lavender oil with tea tree mixed together. It seemed to keep it under control until the really wet weather hung around.

I forgot to say ours had a blood test yesterday to rule out any liver issues so waiting to hear back this morning so fingers crossed liver function is all normal. I'm definitely a big believer in you should heal from the inside out using diet if possible so will adjust once I know more detail and try and boost her immune system to give her help to stop it flaring up. This is, as you say Rebels, a frustrating medical issue and each horse seems to be different so I guess we are on a steep learning curve.
 
Has anyone managed to get rid of it and not have a relapse? The specialist dealing with mine says that in his experience, once it's gone it's gone for good providing you remove potential triggers e.g, alfalfa, soya, strong sunlight etc, etc, however, I am yet to come across anyone who has cured and not had a reoccurrence.......
 
The lady with the coloured sports horse at yard next door I mentioned in an earlier post had hers 2 years ago and no reoccurance since despite no boots or creams apparently. Vet seemed to think prognosis with our girl was quite good and that once she is cleared up that suncream on white legs should be sufficient for turnout as long as it's dryish.
 
There's some hope at least then! Vet is back out to mine today. Going back on high dose of oral steroids for 3wks as well as Betnovate N topically.

After that, I suspect my insurance will have reached the £5k cap so really keeping my fingers crossed!
 
How severe was yours when you got it diagnosed 9 months ago Landf? From what I can gather it is a case of getting on top of the initial problem with lesions and then once you have it cleared up then managing carefully (keeping dry and clean as much as poss) and keeping an eye out for flare ups and catching it quickly if you get any. Ours got really bad as we thought it was mudfever for so long.
 
Was only diagnosed 2 months ago. Like you, we assumed it was mudfever initially. Before it was diagnosed as LV all 4 legs were swollen and covered in lesions from hock/knee to coronet. Now he only has 3 patches - 2 relatively small and 1 that covers most of his pastern. He has 1 leg that has completely healed and is still clear - I guess that in itself is a good sign :-/
 
Sounds like it is clearing up then so not all hope lost? Stick at it! Bloods came back clear for liver issues for ours today thank god so vet thinks it's just one of those things that she developed it. Hope it will be manageable... Bring on spring and hopefully dry weather...
 
Thought I would post an after pic for you. Bear in mind this horse showed symptoms for nearly 5 years before we had a definitive diagnosis and that was only because I saw a talk by Professor Knottenbelt and hit Google.

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These, when we hit treatment hard, had no definition from the knee down, he couldn't bend any part, the back of the pastern was just raw and oozing, even the cream slid off, then he had little scabby lumps come up on the outside of the fetlock joints which within days were growing in size and thickness. These then cracked and started oozing. Before his major flare up the hair on the legs was very thin and almost clear, we had been trying to preserve it but when it started to get messy we clipped the hair to the skin. It didn't grow back for months until the skin was settled but as you can see came back really thick and white. Hope this gives hope, I had considered PTS due to his pain levels. Cautionary note though, it wasn't until several months later he showed hoof rings which vet put down to steroid laminitis. He was never lame though.
 
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Yes, mine has definitely improved since its been correctly diagnosed. But, as I said earlier, he has since deteriorated again and although now only has a few patches, these patches are spreading by the day. Anyway, he's back on steroids now so we'll see what happens. Trouble is, he can't stay on steroids forever......

Interesting about the hoof rings - mine has them.
 
Is there test to confirm this dissorder? my horse is in his 6th week of treatment for mud feaver, he is a pink skinned overo with 3 full white legs all of which are affected and his hind legs have massive lesions on the cannons and lot sof smaller lesions around the pastern/fetlock area after reading this thread i am now concerned we could be treating the wrong dissorder and my vet is due back friday so wondering if thier are additional tests i should be requesting
 
Hawks27 said:
Is there test to confirm this dissorder? my horse is in his 6th week of treatment for mud feaver, he is a pink skinned overo with 3 full white legs all of which are affected and his hind legs have massive lesions on the cannons and lot sof smaller lesions around the pastern/fetlock area after reading this thread i am now concerned we could be treating the wrong dissorder and my vet is due back friday so wondering if thier are additional tests i should be requesting
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Mine had a biopsy, which was unpleasant and expensive, but conclusive. There would be no harm in treating as if the condition is LV and seeing what happened though - basically treat the mud fever with whatever you can get to work but also block UV by using boots or bandages during daylight.
 
Thanks for the advice following little improvement on a course of antibiotics from vet he is now on a course of steroids and the new scabs seem to have stopped and the old scabs are no owrsening and the raw areas are not so rare but it doesnt look like its going away (hopefully that makes sense!)
Hes stopped getting worse but not got better, he still has few more days of steroids and he has been on box rest the entire time with jsut exercising in hand on the road to ensure the legs stay dry and he is mucked out 3 times a day and kept in deep straw to also aid in keping legs dry. i've bought him a full set of the equi chaps clos contact ones and now the worst fo the sore and mobile scabs have come off i have been putting the boots on to stretch his legs so hopefully i will se some greateer improvement in the next 2-4 weeks weather its either the lv or mud feaver but either way i think am going to leave him in the boots for turnout all winter and invest in the UV ones for the summer just to eb on safe side
 
soloequestrian said:
Mine had a biopsy, which was unpleasant and expensive, but conclusive.
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Vet said to us that had the steroids and creams not had some effect that she would biopsy but she was fairly certain just from looking at it that it was LV and a week on the treatment is working well. She is still raw skinned (well they are very pink with odd worse red patch) but vets advice was to try and ride as she is not lame and keep her from wasting muscle and getting too bored.

I'm riding with polo bandages to keep dirt/light away and avoiding wet weather. If yours has lesions Hawks then using even close contact boots at this point might be too aggressive against the skin if he is very scabby; fleece polo bandages are good as they sit next to the skin so dirt doesn't get under easily and are soft as well as being easily washable. You can also bandage lower than you usually would to help protect lower fetlocks. Did the vets not give you any topical cream as well as the steroids? Ours is just on Flamazine now (2 x a day, stabled 24/7, no bandages) and legs are looking good if pink - the tiniest odd dry scab but nothing worse and I hope it keeps improving fingers crossed! I haven't tried to upload pics on here yet but will try at some point so you can see how they look at this point.
 
Billabongchick said:
Vet said to us that had the steroids and creams not had some effect that she would biopsy but she was fairly certain just from looking at it that it was LV and a week on the treatment is working well. She is still raw skinned (well they are very pink with odd worse red patch) but vets advice was to try and ride as she is not lame and keep her from wasting muscle and getting too bored.

I'm riding with polo bandages to keep dirt/light away and avoiding wet weather. If yours has lesions Hawks then using even close contact boots at this point might be too aggressive against the skin if he is very scabby; fleece polo bandages are good as they sit next to the skin so dirt doesn't get under easily and are soft as well as being easily washable. You can also bandage lower than you usually would to help protect lower fetlocks. Did the vets not give you any topical cream as well as the steroids? Ours is just on Flamazine now (2 x a day, stabled 24/7, no bandages) and legs are looking good if pink - the tiniest odd dry scab but nothing worse and I hope it keeps improving fingers crossed! I haven't tried to upload pics on here yet but will try at some point so you can see how they look at this point.
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I have only used the boots this week as all the large nodular wobbly scabs have gone and the remaining scabs are solid and flat to his skin and its for hlaf hr to and hr while i walk him out for a leg stretcher as he is not backed yet so no ridden work and i have no facilities here so cant lunge in a school or anything i have soft bandages which i was goign to use to lunge him in but sadly our grass cholling area has got a bit boggy this year when normally its ok 90% of year round. we did have some fuciderm gel we used this for 3 weeks whilst he was on the antibiotics its settled down but by no means gone away.
 
Hawks27 said:
we did have some fuciderm gel we used this for 3 weeks whilst he was on the antibiotics its settled down but by no means gone away.
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Just seen your post in other thread! We had Synulox for the worst patches (a mini tube shared between the 2 worst legs) which lasted for 3 days twice a day then Flamazine for the other less bad bits (which is what we are continuing with as a long term treatment as and when needed). This was combined with the steroids which I am now reducing dosage of.

If it is LV with yours and he hasn't been protected from UV light then that is maybe why it isn't going away just staying the same? Just to mention I put ours on box rest voluntarily myself for nearly 2 weeks whilst still thinking it was mudfever and trying to dry it out/sudocrem/clingfilm etc and the swelling only started badly after the 2 weeks in which is when we called the vet and got diagnosis. Meaning that it seems it can flare up some time after being affected by UV as she had been gamgee'd and bandaged non stop for 2 weeks.
 
Billabongchick said:
Just seen your post in other thread! We had Synulox for the worst patches (a mini tube shared between the 2 worst legs) which lasted for 3 days twice a day then Flamazine for the other less bad bits (which is what we are continuing with as a long term treatment as and when needed). This was combined with the steroids which I am now reducing dosage of.

If it is LV with yours and he hasn't been protected from UV light then that is maybe why it isn't going away just staying the same? Just to mention I put ours on box rest voluntarily myself for nearly 2 weeks whilst still thinking it was mudfever and trying to dry it out/sudocrem/clingfilm etc and the swelling only started badly after the 2 weeks in which is when we called the vet and got diagnosis. Meaning that it seems it can flare up some time after being affected by UV as she had been gamgee'd and bandaged non stop for 2 weeks.
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This sounds exactly like what i did i found the initially scabs and decided to keep him in washed the legs with hibiscrub towel dried and then applied sudocream for 2 weeks at which point he seemed to get worse the legs became warm and swollen and i called the vets, he is now in his 6th week of being stabled and onyl goes out for in hand leg stretchers so his legs havent really had any uv exposure in this whole time vet is due back tomorow and he has 4more days left of his injection steroids they have gone down considerably now and some scabs have cleared up theres definetly some improvement but once gone i am going to boot for turn out rather than barrier cream just incase it is the lv and if it ever comes back or it doesnt ocntinue to clear up i will get biopsy / skin scrapes done
 
Hawks27 said:
once gone i am going to boot for turn out rather than barrier cream just incase it is the lv
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If your horse can take having boots on then that is the best I guess; ours has very sensitive thin skin so I think boots on every day with no soft padding under will rub her hence vet suggested using sunblock/cream instead. I also am not keen on the idea of boots or bandages being left on for prolonged time every day due to possible tendon damage...
 
Billabongchick said:
If your horse can take having boots on then that is the best I guess; ours has very sensitive thin skin so I think boots on every day with no soft padding under will rub her hence vet suggested using sunblock/cream instead. I also am not keen on the idea of boots or bandages being left on for prolonged time every day due to possible tendon damage...
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He is out for approx 9hrs during day in winter and in at night so will only have boots on while he is out and get a good breather at night, he's not sensitive and very good with the boots on am really lucky he is the most understanding little horse will elt me do anything too him and stands so still for me i cant believe what an angel he is. i dont fancy leaving him booted in summer as he will be out 24x7 spring to autumn am looking at the equi chap sun chaps but if hes getting hot and sweaty in these i wil probably apply sun block instead, luckily stables are a 10min walk from my house so i could walk down late in the evening when the sun is going down and take the boots off to give him a breather too. reckon its jsut going to eb trial and error till we find out what works best for poor lad
 
I used the equilibrium sun chaps, they worked well and were super light and breathable, keep checking equestrian clearance as they can come up very cheap.
 
My warmblood has had this for the whole time I have owned him (10 years) started out with vets not knowing what it was lots of creams lotions and potions later plus lots of antibiotics a vet finally diagnosed him with of.

My best advise is do not touch his legs do not brush them if possible and do not use creams boots or anything in them. My horses is barefoot and lives out and he is doing great it seems to make no difference what conditions he lives it the latter living out in rain and snow seems to suit him and his lv the best.

Never use neoprene on them and have as low sugar diet as possible.

Hope that helps, he is treated with prednisalone not sure that's spelt right, when he has a flare up which are getting less and less and less severe.
 
10yrs??!!! I take my hat off to you as I think I will have lost the will to live if I have to deal with this for that long!
 
Rebels said:
I used the equilibrium sun chaps, they worked well and were super light and breathable, keep checking equestrian clearance as they can come up very cheap.
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Thanks for the tip off i will keep my eye out as already well and truely run out of funds he didnt give me time to recover from buying him before getting his vet bill the little devil
 
Hawks27 said:
Thanks for the tip off i will keep my eye out as already well and truely run out of funds he didnt give me time to recover from buying him before getting his vet bill the little devil
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Lol, ours too - we only got her in November and she arrived with a teeny tiny scabby patch on the side of one cannon bone (got her from a mate so I know she had no previous issues) which wasn't there when we went to try her. Had her on month trial and it didn't flare up badly til Jan... still we wouldn't send her back as she is ace! Will also keep an eye out for these, thanks.
 
Billabongchick said:
Lol, ours too - we only got her in November and she arrived with a teeny tiny scabby patch on the side of one cannon bone (got her from a mate so I know she had no previous issues) which wasn't there when we went to try her. Had her on month trial and it didn't flare up badly til Jan... still we wouldn't send her back as she is ace! Will also keep an eye out for these, thanks.
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Yeah i bought my lad in October and other than sever sunbrun on his pink muzzle which i rectified in a couple of weeks he had perfectly smooth healthy legs till new years day and hes been in since then poor sod though as hes improving at last am hoping to turn him out in the boots next week for a few hours a day till am hapopy he can wear them allday without them making his legs worse probably trial him in small paddock at weekend and keep bringing him in every couple of hourse to amke sure hes still ok and not rubbed and sore. I love him to bits hes such a saint and i still cant quite get use to it as my last horse was an unhandled 2yr old who was a complete loon
 
Yep 10 very long years and painful ones for Ollie and my bank balance but thankfully he is fine now. He has 3 white left all have been effected by it but the backs are the worst. His ginger front leg has never had anything.
 
Tigo said:
Yep 10 very long years and painful ones for Ollie and my bank balance but thankfully he is fine now. He has 3 white left all have been effected by it but the backs are the worst. His ginger front leg has never had anything.
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he he must be mines double hes 3 whites and one ginger fore leg which is fine a couple of scabs on his white front fetlock and his hind legs are riddled.
I turned my boy out for 3hr saturday in boots all was good and 6hrs sunday still looking good so hes gone out for the whole day today, fingers crossed he comes in looking just as good tonight!
 
How is turnout going? I'm hoping the recent drier weather will dry the track to the field enough that I can turn ours out next week as scabs/pink skin are healing nicely
 
Turnout has been great i was reluctant to try him in the boots till all the scabs had gone incase they rubbed them and made worse so did it slowly over the weekend checking his legs regularly to make sure there were no problems and he has been fine no heat no swelling and no sore bits and there still continueing to heal and the scabs are just brushing off each night with my hands am not pulling them just gently dusting his legs down with my hands and any that are loose are dropping off and the skin underneath all looks good and the hairs growing back nicely. he had a full day out yesterday and all seems very good so hes out again today with his boots and a little vasaline around the cornet band to help stop the the little bit of mud that gets under the bottom of the boot and its working well hes so happy to be out too back with his fried and having a good charge around which is lovely as he enjoys running bless him he was getting a bit footy and stiff after 6 weeks of just in hand exercise so nice to see him blasting around and stretching his legs properly just hope all continues to heal and it never comes back.
 
I am getting to the point of considering turnout next week as although she seems fairly happy in I don't agree with it and I'd like her to get some decent grazing if it dries up a bit more.

The turnout boots I bought before are rubbish as don't extend over hoof so that is where they rubbed her when we tried them. What are the equilibrium ones made of as if they are thinner they might sit better on her bony little legs!

Does anyone have any ideas for a barrier cream that I can mix with sun block?

Landf, how is yours getting on now? Any improvement?
 
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