Scabby lower legs and sores on nose - buttercups?

[JCbruce]

Hello, just moved to a lovely yard this week horse settled in well only problem is he has come up all scabby on his lower legs and muzzle.

I cleaned all the scabs away on his legs yesterday and covered them is summer fly cream and they were worse this morning so I am assuming that is is not agreeing with something in his new field rather then it being midgets. There are butter cups but not loads just a few.

I have my vet coming up tomorrow anyway for jabs so I will get him to have a look and see what he thinks. Any other ideas of what it might be?

 

[SantaVera]

Could be a photosensitivity issue, hopefully the vet can find a cause and treatment.

 

[JCbruce]

Could be a photosensitivity issue, hopefully the vet can find a cause and treatment.

Could be a photosensitivity issue, hopefully the vet can find a cause and treatment.

Maybe but only on the black legs not the white sock and never had it before only since i moved him on Monday

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Mites?

 

[PurBee]

Is the grass long in length? It might be field mites, or sometimes called ‘chiggers’ - theyre even smaller than midges, tiny cream coloured ‘nits’ creatures that can live in long grass, depending on conditions. They dont fly, but they can waft in the wind on mammals to bite.
Or is your horse getting hay from the new yard too? That usually is where field mites/chiggers are more numerous as the eggs laid on the grass made into hay provides a warm environment for the eggs to hatch, so there’s usually plenty of them in hay made from affected fields.

The thing with mites is they are very hard to see with the naked eye, theyre so tiny. They soon land on a person/animal via being wafted through the breeze. They bite skin and its like a gentle needle prick, but its very annoying and itchy when theyre biting several places at once. Its possible for an immediate immune reaction to their bites.
We once got a load of hay in from a new supplier and it was all loaded with these mites, and rolling the bales meant we got covered in them and bitten from head to toe. Immediate skin reaction, leaving small red scaly bumps. We returned the whole lot of hay.
Farmer supplier said he never had mites issue usually, (true, as we had hay from him before) so it does depend on environment conditions being ripe for them to breed and hatch. Some years they arent in fields, and the odd year there could be loads.
Long grass fields are more likely than short grazed horse fields.

With a new yard move theres lots of new things any animal can have a reaction to. Were the fields sprayed for weeds this year maybe causing a one-off reaction?

With buttercups, theyre aggravating to skin, especially muzzles, and would be suspected if every step taken through a field you were brushing against buttercups. You said they werent that bad, so it sounds like it could be something else. Unless your horse has never been exposed to buttercup fields before and is having an unusual first-timer reaction to them.

Midges go for the whole of the body, and lave less chance of attacking muzzles as horses wipe them off on their legs. We’d usually see hives if there was a reaction to first exposure to midges. The back of fetlock is not prime ‘blood zone’ for midges either, so it doesnt match your horses fetlock scabs.

Are there ticks? If its long grass there may be ticks - they can leave scabby sore spots.

 

[Gloi]

If he's not sensitive to neem oil I'd put that on his legs.

 

[JCbruce]

Is the grass long in length? It might be field mites, or sometimes called ‘chiggers’ - they're even smaller than midges, tiny cream coloured ‘nits’ creatures that can live in long grass, depending on conditions. They dont fly, but they can waft in the wind on mammals to bite.
Or is your horse getting hay from the new yard too? That usually is where field mites/chiggers are more numerous as the eggs laid on the grass made into hay provides a warm environment for the eggs to hatch, so there’s usually plenty of them in hay made from affected fields.

The thing with mites is they are very hard to see with the naked eye, theyre so tiny. They soon land on a person/animal via being wafted through the breeze. They bite skin and its like a gentle needle prick, but its very annoying and itchy when theyre biting several places at once. Its possible for an immediate immune reaction to their bites.
We once got a load of hay in from a new supplier and it was all loaded with these mites, and rolling the bales meant we got covered in them and bitten from head to toe. Immediate skin reaction, leaving small red scaly bumps. We returned the whole lot of hay.
Farmer supplier said he never had mites issue usually, (true, as we had hay from him before) so it does depend on environment conditions being ripe for them to breed and hatch. Some years they arent in fields, and the odd year there could be loads.
Long grass fields are more likely than short grazed horse fields.

With a new yard move theres lots of new things any animal can have a reaction to. Were the fields sprayed for weeds this year maybe causing a one-off reaction?

With buttercups, theyre aggravating to skin, especially muzzles, and would be suspected if every step taken through a field you were brushing against buttercups. You said they werent that bad, so it sounds like it could be something else. Unless your horse has never been exposed to buttercup fields before and is having an unusual first-timer reaction to them.

Midges go for the whole of the body, and lave less chance of attacking muzzles as horses wipe them off on their legs. We’d usually see hives if there was a reaction to first exposure to midges. The back of fetlock is not prime ‘blood zone’ for midges either, so it doesnt match your horses fetlock scabs.

Are there ticks? If its long grass there may be ticks - they can leave scabby sore spots.

Grass is not long in length at all but they have just got new hay from a new supplier but my horse is the only one with a reaction. I don't think he has never seen buttercups before I have had him since 2 and old yard never had any. He does also have some bites over his body but I put that down to the first night titting around in the field so I took his rug off for the night so I thought that may have been that because he's had a reaction to fly bites like this before but these are a little scabbier? Not painful at all to touch he's not reacting to that or leg scabs.

There's something his body isn't not happy with-reacting to but all the other horses are fine

 

[JCbruce]

Mites?

None of the other horses at the yard has it I thought mites would be passed on from others I may be very wrong

 

[PurBee]

Grass is not long in length at all but they have just got new hay from a new supplier but my horse is the only one with a reaction. I don't think he has never seen buttercups before I have had him since 2 and old yard never had any. He does also have some bites over his body but I put that down to the first night titting around in the field so I took his rug off for the night so I thought that may have been that because he's had a reaction to fly bites like this before but these are a little scabbier? Not painful at all to touch he's not reacting to that or leg scabs.

There's something his body isn't not happy with-reacting to but all the other horses are fine

If other horses on yard are fine, then the new hay with mites possibility seems ruled-out - as hay mites are usually indiscriminate and will bite all and sundry.
As the grass is short, that helps rule out the long grass creepy crawlies - although ticks can be in short grass, in areas surrounded by long grass, moist climate, wet lands etc.

With a new yard move there’s so much new exposures that could trigger a reaction - i’d give it a wait and see window to see how the horse does. Immune reactions are normal and a sign of a healthy immune system. Hopefully the scabs will heal just a rapidly as they’ve appeared.
My mares first reaction to midges were severe all body/face hives - it was horrific! They were gone as quickly as they erupted 24hrs later, and she never reacted that way to them since. First time reactions can be worrisome, but oftentimes its the immune system informing itself in new environments.