Mallanders/Sallanders

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Madz123

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Hi, hoping you can help me with this.....

My new lad has feather mites so we have been told so have had the vet up and had a dextomax injection but when i was washing his legs this morning i have noticed cuts on his legs and really scabby, One of the ladys up our yard suggested it could be mallanders/sallanders....Any one have any experience with this and how to deal with it? I have put sudocream on it for the moment but can't get the vet out untill my next day off which is thursday so if anyone has any advice that would be great ?

Thanks :)
 
My cob has a weird scabby build up on the back of her knees and in some folds on her hinds which I assume is mallanders. It seems worse if she has too much mag ox in her diet as that appears to dry the skin out. By chance I started spraying it with a nettex animal antiseptic clear spray and it's gone on one leg and nearly gone on the other. I've tried various other potions but this is the only thing which has got rid of it. I can look at the name later if you want to try it.
 
Oo you've given me an excuse to get on my soapbox, mainly to the tune that if TBs got this, rather than cobs, there would have long been a proper cure!

My horse has both mallenders and sallenders (ie, front and back legs) but no mites. He has obviously been suffering all his life so that handling his legs is a challenge, particularly with one of the front legs. I can brush gently down the front of the leg but even hint at the back or the feathers and he does the best river dance impression in the world, tries to sit down and throws himself around. Even my farrier cannot hold him for me and we can't get near him with a twitch.

I sometimes feel that I have tried every remedy/suggestion/vague idea under sun but the best one I have found is to wash with Capasal. This is a human shampoo designed for psoriasis, which I believe from my reading is basically the same root problem as mallenders. It is about £10 a bottle but a little goes a long way and it obviously doesn't sting as my horse tolerates it better than anything else I have found. The downside is that really the legs need to be washed at least once a week, which I don't like doing in cold weather. However, my plan this year is to sedate in order to try to clip his legs so that we don't end up with acres of wet feather.

I know other horses with less severe issues have benefitted from the traditional pig oil and sulphur approach but that has never had much impact on my horse's problem, which can manifest like large cuts behind his knees and round raw patches in front of his hocks.

I wish you the best of luck in finding something that works for your horse. It does take time and trial and error but do remember to "patch" test anything new before you use it - for example, some horses are allergic to the sulphur in pig oil and sulphur.
 
My Ardennes has horrible thickened skin on his lower legs which is in part from biting at them when he's itching - the skin even showed up clearly on leg x-rays. We had 2 jabs from the vet this year which gave no relief. I blamed feather mites but he was still biting away when I could find no sign of them.

He needs sedation for full feather removal but I've cut off as much as I can with scissors and I'm using a coal tar shampoo too, followed by pig oil & sulphur. He will now let me touch 3/4 legs without too much of a meltdown so I think it's helping!
 
My Cob has this. For us the trick is to stop the scabs building up - or they will cut the skin. We use loads of sudocrem rubbed into the area as best we can - it can be sore. That will soften the scabs so we can remove them slowly using huge globs of sudocrem. He is clipped out - no feathers - and also prone to mud fever so I know very well which is which. (We use pig oil & sulfur for the mud fever but it doesn't touch these which my vet once described as the cob equivalent of a massive build up of skin wax.
 
Thank you all for your reply's,
do i need the vet out to prescribe anything for this or shall i see how i get on with sudocrem/E45? he has defiantly cut the skin on the back leg as when i put cream on it this morning he kicked out at me, the front leg i put cream on and it didn't really bother him apart from the scabby bits when i tried to get them off, he is clipped out but has his feathers on, isit easier to manage with the feathers off ? We do quite alot of showing so ideally want to keep them but if its causing him discomfort then obviously theyll come straught off.....What actually causes this? Isit because of his mites he has it?
 
Mine is clipped and never had mites. I do think it's worse when she needs clipped as it seems to build up more on the hair.

It's called septiclense (make sure you get the clear one if you try it!).
 
Over the years, I've discovered that no one fix helps all horses. For mine, Frontline spray kills any bugs, Head and Shoulders shampoo gently removes any scabs/scurf and daily applications of Boots own brand Derma Cream keeps everything under control.
 
My vet was very keen to try Dectomax, on a recent visit for something else. I agreed although tbh, I don't think she has mites, she has mallenders and sallenders IMO. I have treated her with just about everything anyone can think of. Nothing has cleared her skin up and kept it clear. The answer seems to be daily applications of virtually any cream. ATM I am using udder cream. Washing with antibacterial shampoo also helps but again doesn't get rid of the problem, long term. She is a very hot horse and does get sweaty under her feather. I have clipped the feather off in the psst but prefer to leave it as protection from the mud/elements.
 
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