Potential new horse perfect but for

[welshcobabe]

So after months of looking I have find a lovely cob great in every way however he has mallandars not too bad on is front legs but quite sore on his back legs. The owner does admit she has not given them as much attention as she should because of time and facilities. He is quite sensitive about been touched in that area at the moment this is the only thing wrong do any of you have knowledge of this condition. I have of course gone on the internet and found tons of information too much in fact so would appreciate any first had info you have Thanks in advance

 

[Red-1]

Mallenders itself wouldn't put me off, it kind of comes with the territory with cobs as it is borne out of the ability to grow large amounts of hair.

However...

• Be prepared to spend money on many treatments as they often need circulating.
• Know that the diet will need to be strict to minimise the effects
• Be prepared to spend time, as the treatments need massage not just 'applying' to the skin.
• Be prepared to train the horse to accept treatment, as many are bullish about having it touched.
• Whilst training is ongoing, regular sedation may be necessary (gel) until you are on top of both the condition and training.
• Be prepared that clipping is often the best way - my horse is clipped through all heels/lower leg every single week.

Also...

• Have an agreement to have the horse vetted which will include a sedative (if necessary) to properly examine the area.
• I would walk away if, on this proper examination, the horse has bad CPL with skin folds resembling a dog with folds of skin. This can be harder to manage.
• I would want the horse treated and recovered if the condition was making him lame.

 

[blitznbobs]

You won’t find a true hairy who doesn’t have it to some extent. It needs managing but is fairly straightforward to do so, it is due to over production of keratin which is why they are hairy in the first place.

 

[WaterySun852]

Red, would you mind elaborating a bit on the diet required for a horse with Mallenders please?

 

[SEL]

Red, would you mind elaborating a bit on the diet required for a horse with Mallenders please?

Low sugar, starch. Some people find biotin in balancers makes it worse, but there's no scientific evidence. Too many carrots can make one of mine flare up

Personally I find if I can keep the area clipped (a challenge with my big lad) then its much easier to keep on top of. I wouldn't not buy because of it though - I'd just budget for vet support if clipping was an issue.

 

[WaterySun852]

Low sugar, starch. Some people find biotin in balancers makes it worse, but there's no scientific evidence. Too many carrots can make one of mine flare up

Personally I find if I can keep the area clipped (a challenge with my big lad) then its much easier to keep on top of. I wouldn't not buy because of it though - I'd just budget for vet support if clipping was an issue.

Thank you for the response. His current diet meets that criteria, however he is on unmolassed Happy Hoof. Would it be an idea to try him off this for a while? I do have half a bag of top chopped zero left that I could use as a substitute

He won't let me clip but he let's me go short with scissors, vet is due next month for tetanus' so I'll discuss with him

 

[meleeka]

You won’t find a true hairy who doesn’t have it to some extent. It needs managing but is fairly straightforward to do so, it is due to over production of keratin which is why they are hairy in the first place.

Mine is a true hairy and he’s never had anything on his legs. I consider myself very lucky ?

OP I think the price needs to reflect the additional effort is keeping it at.bay. It wouldn’t necessarily put me off tbough.

 

[planete]

With mine all I need to do is massage some softening gel or cream into the area every few days. He is not clipped but his diet is sugarless and starchless. Also he lives out 24/7 so no mites since I got him when I had to treat him once with Ivermectin pour on. CPL would be a vet fail for me.

 

[laura_nash]

One of mine came with pretty bad mallenders on the front legs. It cleared up very easily and never came back. I can only assume that is due to diet or environment being different with me. I treated it daily for about two weeks, then weekly for maybe another month. Trimmed the hair back in the worse area with scissors, but didn't clip. The trickiest bit was sorting out the leg handling properly afterwards as it left her pretty sceptical.

Obviously no guarantee that would happen, but just to say it is possible.

 

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

As long as I kept the back of my cob’s legs (including heels) moisturised with baby oil-properly down to the skin and brushed through the feather-then he was fine. I oiled him He has serious issues when I got him and he was sore and cow kicked, so I echo Red’s advice re training. I used a fine toothed strong comb to apply oil/remove scabs.

 

[Goldenstar]

Blue has mallenders he also had chronic cracked heels which where appalling.
It was extremely painful when he first arrived .
We keep his legs close clipped and having used all sorts of things we settled on Mother Bees soothe and protect since then we have not had an issue managing them.
This is a great small company making really good stuff .

 

[Red-1]

Low sugar, starch. Some people find biotin in balancers makes it worse, but there's no scientific evidence. Too many carrots can make one of mine flare up

Personally I find if I can keep the area clipped (a challenge with my big lad) then its much easier to keep on top of. I wouldn't not buy because of it though - I'd just budget for vet support if clipping was an issue.

Some people also say to avoid Alfalfa. Mine has eaten it though, without a flare up.

 

[Roxylola]

I'm going to disagree with the trend here. Charlie has it, I can just about keep on top of it but I've never managed to clear it, some of the time it flares up badly for no reason I can find. I've tried different creams, supplements, diet changes etc but none have made much difference. Honestly it makes me so sad to see him sore, sometimes he doesn't even willingly pick up his foot when it's sore, makes it hard for the farrier when it's bad as well. I don't know that I'd willingly sign up to take another on

 

[Highmileagecob]

Selsun 2.5% shampoo will work well to clean the skin, remove dead flakes and soften scabs and lift them. If mites are the cause of the irritation, then this will kill them and by removing the scurf you are removing the food source of the mites.
It's a bit of a faff to get the hair thoroughly wet and get the shampoo down to the skin, but well worth the effort. Clipping feathers won't make any difference to the outcome; the problem will just return unless the cause is found and treated.
Shampoo from knee/hock down to the ground, including heels and frogs. Leave for ten minutes and rinse well. Obviously, avoid broken skin and sores. Repeat at five day intervals for a month.
This cleared my traditional cob after literally years of stamping, itching, dragging his legs up and down any available vertical surface, and two or three washes per year now keep him clear.

 

[Goldenstar]

I feed Blue Alfalfa as well makes no difference .
Clipping certainly is key in my experience.

 

[WaterySun852]

Selsun 2.5%

Is that the same as Nizoral under a different name or a different shampoo altogether?

 

[Highmileagecob]

Selsun is a selenium shampoo, formulated for human use. Not sure what the ingredients of Nizoral are - sorry!

 

[WaterySun852]

Selsun is a selenium shampoo, formulated for human use. Not sure what the ingredients of Nizoral are - sorry!

Thank you for the response. Nizoral is ketaconazole (not sure on spelling) so they sound different. I'm going to go to the chemist today and take a look as I think it's worth a try

 

[chaps89]

I'm going to disagree with the trend here. Charlie has it, I can just about keep on top of it but I've never managed to clear it, some of the time it flares up badly for no reason I can find. I've tried different creams, supplements, diet changes etc but none have made much difference. Honestly it makes me so sad to see him sore, sometimes he doesn't even willingly pick up his foot when it's sore, makes it hard for the farrier when it's bad as well. I don't know that I'd willingly sign up to take another on

I’m with you on this one tbh.
It was heart breaking to have to have the vet to sores.
It’s trial and error for what works, what works for one doesn’t for another and there’s endless options.
Only thing that sort of worked for mine is washing every 3-5 days with neutrogena t-gel shampoo, keep the hair clipped back as much as I could and emollient ointment (which incidentally is very hard to find!) One brand of udder cream (battles) worked ok too but another brand (gold label) made it worse.
I can assure you it’s not fun in the middle of winter when it’s icy not being able to wash it because everything’s frozen, Or feeling horrid putting cold water on knowing if you don’t it will get sore.
Makes going away for extended periods tricky too as I hate having to ask for those sorts of things to be done.
Maybe if the horse was 110% what I wanted and they were currently managed I’d consider it but I would need to think about it

 

[CazD]

It would put me off too. One of our previous horses had terrible mallenders. I went through hundreds of pounds worth of creams and washes but was only ever able to keep it at bay short term. As said above, trying to wash and apply cream to a horse that didnt want you anywhere near its legs was no fun. The sores, and pain they obviously caused, was heartbreaking