Scurf / skin issue - help and advice please!

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SuperSol

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Hi there,

I have a very fine haired thoroughbred whose coat is suffering. His neck and hind quarters appear fine; shiny and deep in colour, but his middle is all patchy and covered with scurf. He's lost a bit of condition generally in the last couple of months, which I am managing with feed and hoping the spring grass will resolve. I have performed a worm count, which is completely clear, and I have checked him for lice / mites. He does struggle a bit when changing coats, but it's gone on too long now. I am giving him a liver supplement to help him with this. Given that he is very 'excitable' I like keep the digestible energy in his feed down.

My boyfriend says his middle looks like a 'threadbare rug' - poor boy :-(

Does anyone have any ideas as to what might be causing it? And suggestions as to what I can give him / treat him with?

Thanks in advance!! :)
 
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Did the worm count take into account the tapeworm burden? An elisa test has to be done to check.

Is he rugged mainly?
 
Give him a bath with Nizoral shampoo which will sort out the scurf. Nizoral can be bought at the chemist.

Feeding Linseed will also help his coat from within as will making sure he has adequate Copper and Zinc in his diet - so feeding a good supplement of Equine Balancer will also help.
 
Both mine are a bit scurfy at the moment while changing coats. Second the linseed though, does wonders (or even sunflower oil). I'll be giving them a Hibiscrub bath when it warms up a bit.
 
And also, just letting the skin be skin will help enormously too. After a bath or a groom just let the horse expose himself to the elements so the skin cells can work as they were designed to.
 
Hello everyone!

Thanks for your responses. I believe the test included Tapeworm, but you've sowed a seed of doubt, so I am going to go back and check!

And, I literally bought him a balancer in the last week (TopSpec Cool Balancer), which contains some oils... I also bought him some linseed treats. Glad to know I am on the right track! Because I try to keep the energy in his feed down, I think his oil intake has suffered.

I will get some Nizoral and try that also. I get it from a normal Chemist?

Just this evening I was looking at him and thought that it had improved slightly. I'm thinking that it is just to do with the changeover in coats. He did struggle last year too, but I don't remember it being so extreme... but then I guess the weather wasn't quite as extreme either!

He normally looks so good that it's a bit of a shock when he suddenly looks under par.
 
supersol, just so you know the standard FEC's can't detect tape so I would worm for tape if you have any suspicion that he has it, or ask vet for elisa test :)
 
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