Possible Ringworm

[emerald2006]

My horse has developed inflamed rings under his skin. There is a couple on his withers and starting to appear down his side. The is also a couple on his neck and one on his jaw line. The first thing which springs into my head is ringworm however the hair on top of this rings has not changed. I have never seen ringworm like this before and don't know if anyone else has. I am getting the vet on Monday but just trying to see if anyone else has seen it appear like this. I haven't got any pictures yet but going to take some tonight

Any suggestions welcome!!

 

[Izzwizz]

It does sound like ringworm. If it is you will be given something to wash your horse with like Imaveron (I think thats how its spelt) 2-3 times a week over a period of 2-3 weeks. You will also need to wash all rugs, grooming kit, tack, haynets, even stable down with a disinfectant solution, almost anything that comes into contact with your horse. Its very contagious.
You will need to keep your horse away from others, its a fungal infection and a pain in the neck!

When some horses had it on our yard they were confined to their stables as it can live on wood fencing, gates etc.

 

[JackAT]

Hi, certainly from a human point of view, there's not much else that leaves a perfect ring shaped lesion apart from ringworm. Typically found around the groin or other such warm, moist areas and folds of skin where fungi love to live, you would see a dark, reddish halo-like lesion, with a darker rim. May be itchy, may be fine. (Apologies if that was all something you already know!) Whether this is the same in equines, I'm not sure!

If you have those pictures to hand by now I'm sure they would make it easier to comment on.

 

[tiggybeans]

My horse has just got over ringworm. It appeared as a c-shape on his neck rather than a perfect circle and I noticed it just after he was clipped as the hair was raised in this area. It was around 2" in diameter. Thought nothing of it until smaller circles appeared a couple of weeks later further down the neck, and then a couple on his belly on the other side of his body. They didn't scab over, but looked like areas of raised hair.

The vet gave me some Imaverol, which you dilute and spray on the entire body. You do this 4 times, every three days and wash everything - and I mean everything - that has come into contact with the horse, so rugs, brushes, all tack, trailer, whip, chaps, the list was endless!

We also re-creosoted his stable as this apparently kills the fungus. Remember, you can also carry the fungal spores from touching the horse, so I washed all my riding kit, including gloves after each visit and used disposable rubber gloves for grooming and treating with Imaverol. All brushes were dunked in disinfectant after use, as was headcollar and rope!

As my horse is on a big yard we had to take all these precautions, as well as isolate him until it had completely gone. I would have felt awful if others had caught it, so it was as much about being seen to do everything I could, as anything. I'm not sure where he caught it from.

This sounds like a pain, well it was, but the ringworm now seems to have gone and none of the other horses caught it, so it was worth doing. Imaverol is really efficient, my horse's ringworm started to disappear after the first application.

Unless a skin scrape is taken and tested, the vet said they can't be certain it was ringworm, but it is best to treat as if ringworm as the chances are that it is.

Good luck. Hope you get rid of it quickly