prob 1 , rash on her side

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lynnandbella

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i have a lovely 3yr old im breaking she keeps getting a strange rash on her back and side, doesnt seem to bother her, the vet book mentions nodular skin disease? she has a light weight turnout on as im fed up with switching between fly rug and rain mac! when its warm the horse flies are terrible and when its not sunny its raining and she gets rain scald a little! im just concerned as it looks a bit unsightly, she is groomed daily and all my brushes etc kept fairly clean etc lives out so not in contact with dust, wormed in june and doesnt seem to have any allergies to the wormers.! any ideas? any cures?
 
Let us not forget that a horse's skin is the first line of defence from the hostile environment he lives in. It protects the rest of the body from physical injury and invasions from insects, microorganisms, and poisons, as well as holding all of the organs etc in place.

It helps regulate the horse’s body temperature.
When it is too hot the sweat glands activate, exuding moisture that evaporates on the skin to cool the horse. When it is cold the millions of individual hair shafts all over the animal’s body raise to fluff up the coat and help trap warm air between the shafts, improving his comfort and reducing the risk of hypothermia

To work well it has to 'breathe' which is why it is important the horse is periodically exposed to various elements, horses need to roll in dirt and mud.

Skin irritation and the inflammatory process can also be activated by diets that are high in sugar and/or too easily digested feeds by causing an over-release of the hormone insulin. Above and beyond insulin's ability to transport sugar and amino acids from the blood into the cell, an over-abundance of insulin can trigger the immune system to increase its manufacture of pro-inflammatory chemicals.

So when we use rugs, groom and wash your horse we are directly affecting the health of the horse's skin and it's ability to do it's job effectively.

When we humans keep a horse covered with various rugs, we are over time weakening the skin's ability to cope with the elements we are placing the system under stress and eventually all kinds of rashes and infections, mites come marching along .............

If you could see with a microscope the little beasties living in your horse's rug you would not want to go anywhere near it :-)

Moderate your rug usage for only when it is really needed.
 
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having left the rug off and not grooming her for 3 days the rash seemed to get a little worse looking further into it and since she had also started rubbing her eyes and having a runny nose it appears to be more an allergy. oddly enough i get hayfever and we both seem to be bad on the same days! , do i get the vet or is there anything that will calm the symptoms? i am aware there is no cure or i'd be taking it too! can i give her some piriton, clarytin or similar or would that harm her? i know someone that gives it too a cat that was o'ked by a vet !?
 
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