Mane falling out.

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joannemarson

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I just thought i would see if by any remote chance anyone else has seen or heard of this.
Mistys mane has just about dropped out, but only from her withers to about a third of the way up. she is very sensitive on it, cant stand anyone touching her there, she is awful to tack up and if you touch even one of the remaining hairs is drives her mad! She has been treated witn imaverol which seemed to clear it up last time, but then it has flared up again. I think it has something to do with the rug she had as it had a high neck which came up to exactly where the poorly bit finishes, the top 2 thirds of her mane is fine, full thick welsh unruly mane. But the vet didnt think it could be the rug.
im using imaverol again but it doesnt seem to be working this time, the vet is coming again next week to do teeth and jabs so he is going to have another look. They are going to take skin swabs i think.
Its not sweet itch as she isnt itchy and never rubs. No lice.
Im at a loss!
 
Could it be to do with selenium? I am sure I have heard this elsewhere before and its to do with too much selenium in the diet. Does your mare have a vitamin/mineral supplement? Is she on Alfa A? If the answer is yes to either of these I would speak to your vet and suggest this. Another reason could be due to hormones. The hair may be loose and the high neck rug causes the loose hair to fall out which is why she is only losing it in places at the moment. Just a suggestion anyway, not scientific in anyway - I'm not a vet I'm afraid (although I often wish I were!) x
 
I assume she doesn't wear the rug now ? could it be the rug was too hot or too heavy and put pressure on that area causing a pressure sore reaction, making the hair fall out due to poor blood circulation ? extreme idea I know.

It just seems that the rug connection is too obvious to ignore.
 
It's too much of a coincidence for the rub to exactly match the rug. Like bed sores in older people and pressure sores on horses' legs from too tight bandaging, a badly fitting rug can rub the hair away on the relevent part of the neck. If the rug isn't removed regularly, changed, dried out etc etc then it's entirely possible that there will be injury to the skin that runs very deep. This could then affect the skin and hair follicles to the extent that the hair will never regrow again (as you see in bad sweet itch) or if it does it grows back white and the skin may be permanently scarred.
 
no she doesnt wear the rug, she only had it on a couple of times and i noticed she was starting to get twitchy again. If the hair was just falling out i would be less worried but she actually seems to be in pain when you touch it. there are no marks there at all, just a bit scurfy. I darent bath it in anything as the vet said to try head a shoulders but it was worse and seemed to swell up a bit.
She has been on a bit of cool mix over winter and ad lib hay. Nothing else as she is a fatty, but now she is doing alot of work she has lost weight and is on top spec lite, dengie lite and salt, she has only just started on this last week though. It will be interesting to see what the vet thinks next week!
 
We have a pony on my yard who was thought to have sweet itch. His owner bought him a Boett etc and was preparing for him to have injections against it. But now the tests have come back saying it is an allergy but not sweet itch. Possibly to a mould?
 
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