Photosensitivity / pastern dermatitis

frannieuk

frannieuk

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Hi all,

One of mine (TBxWB bay mare, white socks) presented with what I initially thought was a patch of mud fever on the outside of one pastern earlier in the year. The vet had a look and diagnosed UV sensitivity, and gave me steroid cream to clear it up.

For the last 3-4 months, as instructed, I’ve been keeping the area clipped tight and scab free, and applying the steroid cream twice daily, and the patch has reduced to something that is basically like a large ‘C’ shape, about an inch or so. However, it isn’t getting any better than this and hasn’t changed in the last month or so.

Even leaving it for a day or so will start the scabbing / oozing process and irritate the skin around the ‘C’.

The vet saw her again a couple of weeks back and mentioned it can take months and months to clear it, and gave me another tube of steroid cream, but I wondered if any of you had any experience or advice in clearing it up more quickly? He didn’t seem inclined to run any liver function tests.

Diet-wise she has Alfa A, Baileys Ease&Excel, Topspec Lite balancer, biotin and a joint supplement and ad lib hay, and she’s turned out with my other 3, all of whom are on pretty much the same routine and none of which have anything similar. Other than this issues, she’s a healthy horse who maintains her weight with a nice shiny coat - the only thing of note may be the fact she doesn’t grow good feet (thin walls and soles), but which have improved a lot in the last 3 years.

The area is protected from the sun when she’s turned out with fluffy-topped over reach boots, which are clean and dry, but any advice or experience you might have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance :)
 
frannieuk said:
Hi all,

One of mine (TBxWB bay mare, white socks) presented with what I initially thought was a patch of mud fever on the outside of one pastern earlier in the year. The vet had a look and diagnosed UV sensitivity, and gave me steroid cream to clear it up.

For the last 3-4 months, as instructed, I’ve been keeping the area clipped tight and scab free, and applying the steroid cream twice daily, and the patch has reduced to something that is basically like a large ‘C’ shape, about an inch or so. However, it isn’t getting any better than this and hasn’t changed in the last month or so.

Even leaving it for a day or so will start the scabbing / oozing process and irritate the skin around the ‘C’.

The vet saw her again a couple of weeks back and mentioned it can take months and months to clear it, and gave me another tube of steroid cream, but I wondered if any of you had any experience or advice in clearing it up more quickly? He didn’t seem inclined to run any liver function tests.

Diet-wise she has Alfa A, Baileys Ease&Excel, Topspec Lite balancer, biotin and a joint supplement and ad lib hay, and she’s turned out with my other 3, all of whom are on pretty much the same routine and none of which have anything similar. Other than this issues, she’s a healthy horse who maintains her weight with a nice shiny coat - the only thing of note may be the fact she doesn’t grow good feet (thin walls and soles), but which have improved a lot in the last 3 years.

The area is protected from the sun when she’s turned out with fluffy-topped over reach boots, which are clean and dry, but any advice or experience you might have would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance :)
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I'm not suggesting I know more than your vet but I had the same thing with my horse, it turned out to be a bacterial skin infection which was covering all her legs in the end. Looked just like mud fever with a browny type of sticky sebum but I actually thought photosensitivity because there were 100's of buttercups in her paddock.

Caused by a water jump with some kind of strange bacteria in it. Within a day of first seeing a tiny spot which looked a bit like a splash of molasses, it had covered three legs!

Steroid injection and a course of topical cream fixed it.
 
Birker2020 said:
I'm not suggesting I know more than your vet but I had the same thing with my horse, it turned out to be a bacterial skin infection which was covering all her legs in the end. Looked just like mud fever with a browny type of sticky sebum but I actually thought photosensitivity because there were 100's of buttercups in her paddock.

Caused by a water jump with some kind of strange bacteria in it. Within a day of first seeing a tiny spot which looked a bit like a splash of molasses, it had covered three legs!

Steroid injection and a course of topical cream fixed it.
Click to expand...
This thing on my mare’s leg does look very like mud fever to me! No buttercups or anything obvious here though, and never normally have any issues with mud fever on this land. Yours sounds like it progressed ever so quickly!
 
One of my horses has had similar this year it started around September and I can't get rid of 2 tiny patches of it, it's incredibly itchy it looks like mud fever but it's not muddy at the moment i did wonder the wet dew on grass as that's when it seemed to start.

I've tried a few things on it but 2 bits just won't go am considering ringing my vet and sending some pictures of it.
 
I've got the same prob at the moment. Horse had had a scab on inside of front leg which despite me monitoring and applying various creams will not go. Then decided enough is enough I clipped the area, cleaned it and put on some silver salve. BIG mistake. She came in that eve with a swollen sore leg that I couldn't get near.
Vet came - gave antib's and some cream and bute but said it wasn't presenting as typical mud fever and took pics etc. It had started leaking a yellow fluid and looks like a graze now with a couple of deeper cuts. She has no other scabs anywhere else just this one place.
The swelling has gone right down and she's not lame but it's a bit of a mystery x
 
My neighbours two horses have ongoing problems with it - not mud because it happens in summer.

We're really low in copper around us and she has started feeding a supplement as well as a herbal mix designed for mud fever. Not sure which is helping but it's cleared up.

My Appy reacts to alfalfa by getting photosensitive - all over her nose for her.
 
Pinkvboots said:
One of my horses has had similar this year it started around September and I can't get rid of 2 tiny patches of it, it's incredibly itchy it looks like mud fever but it's not muddy at the moment i did wonder the wet dew on grass as that's when it seemed to start.

I've tried a few things on it but 2 bits just won't go am considering ringing my vet and sending some pictures of it.
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Mine also started with the dewy grass!
Dam1 said:
I've got the same prob at the moment. Horse had had a scab on inside of front leg which despite me monitoring and applying various creams will not go. Then decided enough is enough I clipped the area, cleaned it and put on some silver salve. BIG mistake. She came in that eve with a swollen sore leg that I couldn't get near.
Vet came - gave antib's and some cream and bute but said it wasn't presenting as typical mud fever and took pics etc. It had started leaking a yellow fluid and looks like a graze now with a couple of deeper cuts. She has no other scabs anywhere else just this one place.
The swelling has gone right down and she's not lame but it's a bit of a mystery x
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Seems to be a bit about!
SEL said:
My neighbours two horses have ongoing problems with it - not mud because it happens in summer.

We're really low in copper around us and she has started feeding a supplement as well as a herbal mix designed for mud fever. Not sure which is helping but it's cleared up.

My Appy reacts to alfalfa by getting photosensitive - all over her nose for her.
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What region are you please, and how do you find out about the copper aspect? I’m Dorset but I’ve no idea about the mineral aspect!
Goldenstar said:
I am seen exactly this recently we have been using lots of barrier cream and that has worked better than steroid.
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Thank you - I’ll give this a trial - the steroid really doesn’t seem to be doing much!

Thanks everyone, really appreciate your input!
 
luckalastic vasticulitis possibly. My old lad suffered badly at times.

Silver socks and Karidox sorted him out, but it was a life long struggle. Flamazine helped at times.
 

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frannieuk said:
This looks very similar! And I do have some flamazine too - will have a google.
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If it is LV, topical treatment won't control or diminish it. Silver Whinney socks are your saviour. I have just sold 6 pairs after losing my lad. They are difficult to source in the UK. There is a facebook group with lots of advice and sometimes socks for sale.
 
AdorableAlice said:
If it is LV, topical treatment won't control or diminish it. Silver Whinney socks are your saviour. I have just sold 6 pairs after losing my lad. They are difficult to source in the UK. There is a facebook group with lots of advice and sometimes socks for sale.
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Thank you! I’ll take a look.
 
AA - thank you - that look exactly like
my girl's except hers is higher up the leg a couple of inches below the knee.
Am off to look for some Silver Whinneys - wish me luck 🤞.
 
Reading with interest - our two both came in with something similar in the summer, I think they'd been eating cow parsley and it's been a bugger to get rid of! A strong steroid cream did help but my mare has still got some of it in her feathery bits.
 
Silver Whinny’s really do help, Filtabac is fantastic stuff and cut the use of the steroid cream as much as you can. Keeping sun off it really is key. I wash it properly every couple of days in the evening with a very mild hibiscrub, then let it dry and smother in Flamazine. The next morning I then put the Filtabac on which acts as a barrier to any mud/ wet and UV. This seems to keep it at bay- my boy suffered really badly last year but this year it has never gone past the initial stages with the above strategy

This is what I was dealing with last year (triggered by a small cut)

IMG_2326.jpeg

It spread to this

IMG_2574.jpeg

With his sock on!

IMG_2672.jpeg
 
No - she's tb x wb . She's 19 now and on prascend so was thinking that's prob a contributing factor.
Vet also mentioned a sequestration (sp) bone chip on her splint bone as its in an unusually high place. If it doesn't clear up with the treatment she suggested an xray.
Edited to ad it doesn't look like the pictures @TheMule has just added
 
We had one with LV a few years back. Spray on steroids and keeping out of the sun were key - don't touch the skin at all if you can help it - so no socks/boots and no daily cleaning, drying or rubbing. Stabled all day, out at night, and spray on treatment only. We consulted Prof Knottenbelt via our vet and he told us exactly how to manage it. It took about 3 months but did clear up.
 
One of mine had it last year, on his three white legs. Vet thought it was probably due to liver damage caused by something he'd eaten although his liver tests came back normal. It developed quickly into what they thought was vasculitis despite several courses of oral antibiotics and steroids and topical creams. It would tend to break out, gradually improve and then break out again. He was very sore and lame with each new flare up. It started in August and went in until January. I put him on a course of L94 from Trinity Consultants in late December, which is when it started to get better, but the vet thinks it was the change in the weather (although I don't recall the weather changing much between December and January).

It did go into the shape of a C as it got better - the C shape is typical of something but I can't remember what 🙈 possibly vasculitis?

Anyway it started again in August this year. I got him straight on the L94 and the cream from the vets and so far he's just had minor breakouts, nothing serious and certainly nothing to make him lame. Currently he has no scabs or sores but I'm keeping a close eye.

I've actually booked him in for an allergy test as he has other funny skin things - incredibly itchy and a bit greasy and his sheath is always minging! (Other than that he's lovely!)

Good luck with yours, it sounds like you're doing a good job if you're keeping it under control. These skin things are a nightmare.

ETA I also used Filtabac this year after having it recommended on here but I don't know if they stopped making it. The tubs were recalled so I was buying little tubes but I can't even get them now. I think Amazon/eBay still have availability but at an extortionate price and I wouldn't trust the sellers not to be selling the recalled stuff anyway.
 
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Dam1 said:
No - she's tb x wb . She's 19 now and on prascend so was thinking that's prob a contributing factor.
Vet also mentioned a sequestration (sp) bone chip on her splint bone as its in an unusually high place. If it doesn't clear up with the treatment she suggested an xray.
Edited to ad it doesn't look like the pictures @TheMule has just added
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I would doubt LV if the area is high and not spreading to more limbs.
 
Hackback said:
One of mine had it last year, on his three white legs. Vet thought it was probably due to liver damage caused by something he'd eaten although his liver tests came back normal. It developed quickly into what they thought was vasculitis despite several courses of oral antibiotics and steroids and topical creams. It would tend to break out, gradually improve and then break out again. He was very sore and lame with each new flare up. It started in August and went in until January. I put him on a course of L94 from Trinity Consultants in late December, which is when it started to get better, but the vet thinks it was the change in the weather (although I don't recall the weather changing much between December and January).

It did go into the shape of a C as it got better - the C shape is typical of something but I can't remember what 🙈 possibly vasculitis?

Anyway it started again in August this year. I got him straight on the L94 and the cream from the vets and so far he's just had minor breakouts, nothing serious and certainly nothing to make him lame. Currently he has no scabs or sores but I'm keeping a close eye.

I've actually booked him in for an allergy test as he has other funny skin things - incredibly itchy and a bit greasy and his sheath is always minging! (Other than that he's lovely!)

Good luck with yours, it sounds like you're doing a good job if you're keeping it under control. These skin things are a nightmare.

ETA I also used Filtabac this year after having it recommended on here but I don't know if they stopped making it. The tubs were recalled so I was buying little tubes but I can't even get them now. I think Amazon/eBay still have availability but at an extortionate price and I wouldn't trust the sellers not to be selling the recalled stuff anyway.
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Thank you - I’ll google the L94 and see if I can get some!
 
I've been trying to get rid of this for weeks. So far, the Lincoln Magic Mud Kure is the only thing that is working. Same horse also has a scabby face and ears. Old, black mare also has rainscald type scabs. This didn't happen back in the spring, when we had all that rain. I think there is something in the rainwater. I was out in a downpour a few weeks ago, and the rainwater stung when it got in my eye, it also had a metallic taste to it. It's all a bit weird.

IMG_20241027_133901.jpg
 
AdorableAlice said:
luckalastic vasticulitis possibly. My old lad suffered badly at times.

Silver socks and Karidox sorted him out, but it was a life long struggle. Flamazine helped at times.
Click to expand...
It’ll be this for sure! It’s a nightmare.
I used silver whinneys but they seem impossible to find now in the UK
I was able to completely stop steroid cream using them.
Otherwise just keeping it covered will help, even something like the Shires summer socks will keep the UV out a bit.
 
We had this - I had bloods run and liver was fine. Turned out to be mites in the end! After a course of dectomax injections they are normal again and no longer itching him!
 
I have looked at the ingredients in filtabac its mainly cetramide and zinc oxide, savlon has cetramide in it and you can buy zinc oxide cream or spray I currently have both that I use on the horses.

So I'm going to try both at the same time and see if it has any effect.
 
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