Scabby Skin & Chestnuts falling off

[Joss]

I have shown this to my rather non-horsey vets & so far no helpful advice. Just wondering if any of you have any ideas. I will get some pics. My horse has weird scabbing around the bulbs of his heels & also around his ergots. It is not mud fever (or not like I have ever seen before). It is dry but kind of grows like storks of long thin scabs. When I rub these off it goes back to pink skin & then just re-grows. He has also got a couple of scars from minor cuts on his lower legs & these have got this weird storky scabbing on too. I have tried hibiscrubbing regularly, blue spray, sudocrem & camrosa (not all at the same time I hasten to add). The camrosa breaks down the scabs but then makes it red raw & I back off at that point.

The latest development is his chestnuts have peeled off leaving pink sort of skin underneath. I have never seen this before. He does not seem to be itchy although I suppose there is an off-chance that he has done this at night with his teeth.

 

[Maesfen]

First of all, I'd check his diet, make sure it's balanced and he's getting enough oil which will help with his skin. Alfa A Oil and sunflower seeds are both good for this. I'd also think about adding a balancer if he's not getting the recommended levels of his feed. Just doing those two things will give his skin a boost which in turn should help with the scaliness.
I wouldn't be washing it any more but using something like zinc & castor oil cream or Protocon. Whatever you use, stay with the one thing for a while, swapping about all the time is only going to weaken the skin.
That's what I would be thinking of doing for starters anyway!

 

[Joss]

Thank you, I will try adding a little extra oil. His actual coat is really good & shiny. He is fed mainly D&H competition Country mix (1scp in morning, 2 in evening) so I feel he is getting plenty of balanced hard food. He often feel I need to wash as you cant put cream on on top of mud.........