Mares tail falling out?

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missmatch

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I help to look after a little Welsh Section A mare - She is 3 and for the past few days she has been a right stroppy mare!!! Really bad tempered, but eating, playing etc... as normal - I put it down to being moved to a different field which I know she hates but the YO says she has to go there.
Today I was turning her out and as its lashing I put a lw rug on her when I went to lift her tail in i noticed its very very thin - Literally half the tail she had :eek: I have very little time in the morning to do much except feed/rug and turnout the horses so have not had a proper look yet but I will go straight down later. She wasnt bothered by me grabbing it and running my hands through it and she went out happily - And I have no idea :(
Does anyone have any idea what it may be or what may be causing it? Could it be stress maybe? Thank you for any help advice you may have x
 
missmatch said:
I help to look after a little Welsh Section A mare - She is 3 and for the past few days she has been a right stroppy mare!!! Really bad tempered, but eating, playing etc... as normal - I put it down to being moved to a different field which I know she hates but the YO says she has to go there.
Today I was turning her out and as its lashing I put a lw rug on her when I went to lift her tail in i noticed its very very thin - Literally half the tail she had :eek: I have very little time in the morning to do much except feed/rug and turnout the horses so have not had a proper look yet but I will go straight down later. She wasnt bothered by me grabbing it and running my hands through it and she went out happily - And I have no idea :(
Does anyone have any idea what it may be or what may be causing it? Could it be stress maybe? Thank you for any help advice you may have x
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I always start with the least worrying possibility and work up. Could it be that she's just been rubbing her tail a bit more efficiently in her new field - there may be better opportunities? Tail-rubbing is pretty common at this time of year as they get rid of the winter coat.
If there is a hot spot on the dock it could be the site of a horse fly bite which causes a lot of itch as it heals. They are just starting to emerge.
If the skin is more generally scaly and pink it could be a case of mites or sweet itch both of which can be treated with a benzyl benzoate lotion - best to use something like Killitch or Biteback's sweet relief which help healing and cut down the itch.
There is a further possibility - with all the rain we've been having some horses are getting bouts of rain scald where there is constant run-off eg off a rug onto a lower leg etc. Check the dock is not constantly damp and covered up, as this would be the right condition for the rain scald bug.
 
Does she wear rugs in the stable? In particular, fleece rugs? I know someone whose horse lost virtually all his tail permanently due to the static electricity built up by a fleece under rug. Whenever his tail touched the metal of the frame to his manger, it acted like electrolysis for hair removal. By the time a vet discovered this, it was too late.
 
Thank you for the replies x
Curran - There is very little for her to scratch on in her new field BUT she does have 3 geldings on either side of her so maybe alot of grooming going on?? Its something I hadnt thought of so thank you for that :)
I dont know about hot spots/ scaly skin as I didnt really have much time this morning - will definitely give her a good going over later
Wagtail - No she never wears rugs in her stable not even a fleece as shes a tad overweight :rolleyes: and her stable is quite small and cosy. Thank you though x
 
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