Scabby pony - advice please!

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Dexydoodle

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Hi - new to the forum and need some advice please!

Bought my first horse (a cob mare) a couple of months ago (had a couple of shares for the previous 2 years) and got a problem that me and the others at the livery yard are a bit stumped with. She has a crease at the back of her pastern on both her forelegs that seems to have lots of little scabs in it - not sore at all. But, they seem to be cracking and bleeding a little - almost like chapped lips. Have tried sudocreme, aloe vera, vaseline and muddy marvel and thought I was getting somewhere until tonight when I turned her out in the arena to stretch her legs (we can't get them out due to the lane being a skating rink) and when she came in there was a little bit of blood again. So, made sure it was clean (have stopped using hibiscrub cos think this will dry it out more?) and popped aloe and vaseline on it. BUT - am really stuck - don't know what to try next - does anyone have any idea of what it might be/ how to clear it up?

She does have mud fever on her hindlegs and greasy knee on her forelegs (think thats what the vet said it was called) but the sudocreme is sorting the mud fever, and aloe and vaseline seems to have sorted the greasy knee, so don't think its either of those.

Any suggestions????
 
does sound like feather mite which is common in feathered horses..mites can live in the grass and straw
a cob x i ride(which has her feathers clipped and kept short..shes full clipped ) as she gets mites/mudfever

we found that washing with hibscrub and sudacrem does keep it at bay
which youve said you tried

also could try camrosa ointment

pig oil and sulphur i believe acts as a prevention in feather horses
 
Sorry if this is a daft question - but in my googling I did come across that cobs often get feather mites, but her legs are fully clipped out. Could she still have mites even without any feather?
 
yes they can..the cob i ride still get them esp when her hair regrows(which is very fast and need to be re clipped often but this helps) at least you can see the scabs well before they get worst and treat

the scabs maybe due to mites which is very common
 
have got some pig oil and sulphur as I read that was one of the best things for the greasy knee but been trying to clear it up before I put it on.

would she be stampy if she had mites?

will look into the camrosa - thank you!

Is starting to do my head in! she got what the vet thought was a cut really nastily infected a couple of weeks after I got her but due to the location of it I think it may have actually been the same thing as she has now. GRRRRRRRRRR
 
thank you! just googled mites and the pics definitely look like the scabby bits she has.

plan was to keep her legs clipped out for the mud fever so like you say should be able to see the scabs and treat.

:)
 
In answer to your question yes feather mites don't need feathers to live in. The mites live on the animal's skin, usually under the scabs that form on the horse's legs. That is especially true of one of my cobs which had Chorioptic mange when I first got him 4 years ago. It was caused by the Chorioptes mite. I treated him with a scrub and clean with hibiscrub to get rid of most of the scabs. His legs were then dried off and he had two treatments of frontline spray, ten days apart, both included a total clean out of stable using dilute jeyes fluid and new bedding.
He has never suffered with them since!
I have also used pig oil and sulphur powder on his legs to help keep feathers healthy and repel mites etc.
If you google chorioptic mange you will find many websites and images relating to it. You will also read that scabbing similar to that of mud fever is often a sign of it as the horse's skin reacts to the presence of the mites which feed on the skin. When my horse had them I did think it was mud fever originally and treated as such and it cleared up for a month and then returned. It was not until I consulted my veterinary manual ( horse owner's bible imo) and discovered chorioptic mange. I treated my cob for that condition and it cleared up.
 
thanks for your help guys - had the vet out in the end cos her legs were getting worse and starting to look rather icky. she's had a mites injection just to eliminate that but he didn't feel they were a significant problem. turns out she's got a chronic skin infection that she's had for a loooooooooong time, and the skin is thickening and cracking. poor girl - is rather sore. so now hibiscrub, fuciderm and trial and error to see what'll clear it up.

but the mud fever on her back legs is clearing nicely which is good news!

:(
 
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