Rug sores

skully

skully

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My Connemara gelding got a new rug a couple of weeks ago, it's a fleece that goes under his standard turnout. However it was a bit big and I think it slipped back because now he's got a fairly big sore on his withers. It's rubbed all the hair away and the skin has just started to scab over. So he doesn't wear that one any more and he's got a new turnout rug with a neck to minimise further rubbing but it's not healing very quickly so does anyone have any ideas/experience dealing with this? He's used for RDA so I don't want him to miss any more sessions if possible as the kids really love him. Using three numnahs at the moment! Thanks, skully
 
I've used them with a Bossy's bib and they still pull back. I'm happy to change my above statement to 'in my experience fleeces don't work under turnout rugs.'
 
I don't like putting fleeces under rugs for this reason. I also tend to avoid "standard" cut necks on rugs, and opt for the high neck ones to disperse pressure over the wither.

Regarding your pony's wither, I would give him a brief break from ridden work, try to have him unrugged as much as possible to let wither breath and heal, and apply hypercal cream (herbal cream made by nelsons)
 
Thanks for your help guys, his sore is almost healed now and the fur is finally starting to grow back. Down to a numnah and a saddle pad which is great as his saddle was getting almost impossible to do up! No irritation when touching the area now so a big improvement on just a couple of weeks ago. He had a three day break from riding and had no rug on during the day which is quite a feat during the English winter! Tried looking at bibs but his shoulders are quite wide so my yard owner said it probably wouldn't be much use. Just sticking to rugs with necks now so hopefully we won't have any more problems before the summer comes back around and all my exams are finished.

Thanks again everyone!
 
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