Should poss be in vets......

S_N

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... but more of you guys in here.

Berry, my 20 odd yr old cob type, has developed some crusty lumps!! The first 2 I discovered about a month ago and they are both on the same side of his neck, one where the splenius/brachiosephalicus muscles meet, the other further down the brachiosephalicus. I have been treating them with a protocon to loosen the scabs and heal the skin underneath. Until last night he has been out 24/7 in a LW TO rug. He has a coat like a yak, but there is no shelter in the field. I only get to see my ponies in daylight at the weekend - like most here I imagine - and I take their rugs off both days that the weekend and groom them etc... Well as the temp was due to get down to -5 here last night and was already -1 when I arrived at the yard at 6pm, I put a MW on him. Two of my mates were with me - both work on big TB studs in Newmarket - and when we took his rug off, we were all taken aback by the lumps on him!! We could see them easily in the moonlight!! He has a smattering of them on the left side of his back where the saddle would go - where the trapezius/latisimus dorsi muscles are and a couple on both gluteals. I know for a fact that they were NOT there on Sunday!! I attacked them all with cream and they are a bit sore for him, but he was good about it - mainly coz he was doing his favourite thing in the world - eating
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Anyway, apparently he had them last winter - for those of you that don't know, I have him back for his retirement. The lady that had him doing RDA forthe last 10 years, thought that is was a possible reaction to haylage - well he's not on haylage now!!!

He is on relatively poor grazing, 3 sections of hay a day, 1 scoop of Alfalfa, h'full of mix & h'full of SB - plus carrots. He also gets clop.

Anyone have any ideas? I've never come across anything like this before! They are almost pustulent..... They crack when you touch them
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It's typical, as I was planning on getting on him this weekend, but there is no way I can even consider putting a saddle on him atm. Poor fella
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Hi
I'm sure you have ruled out ringworm, the only other thing I can compare it to without seeing was my horses mum had cushings and the last winter had some horrid pussy scabs over her body bless her
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RIP
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Does he have any other symptoms?
Hope you find the answer, good luck
 
hmmm cushings..... Didn't know that one of the symptoms was scabs! Will do some research. Am thinking of clipping him so I can treat the patches properly! Def. not ring worm.
 
My first thuoght is that it is some kind of scold. There are many different sorts around, the names they are given seem to depend upon what sort of animal they are on and where on the animal. Rainscold and mudfever are just two of the many names for the same thing. They are all basicly similar.

Even if your horse is rugged, it can still get wet under it and a yack like coat provides a lovely wet warm enviroment for bacteria to flourish.

Horses that are old or slightly run down seem to be more susceptable to such things.

Treat them with atheletes foot cream, canesten cream or Pig Oil and sulpher and they should just vanish.

It doesn't sound like a feed reaction to me as they are usualy pimples, or conjoined pimples under the skin. Anything crusting and weeping sounds more like a topical bacterial infection, ie, its happening from the outside rather than within.
 
Hi

I was a mixture of her system breaking down and her long coat and constant sweating although she was cold, she to developed these scabs in less than a week and it took me a month of very careful cleaning and we had to get her stabled 24/7 while we got her back on the mend. Rainscold is the only thing to compare to in looks.
 
Sounds like the type of thing my horse gets. He 'has a genetic problem with dealing with bacteria' (understand that as I took him to Bristol and they wrote me 3 pages of crap I could have told them myself). It is part allergy, so might be towards that way with ours - odd to start in an older horse though.
Fucidin H controls his, but I did have a yearling come out in similar last winter. He needed a few days of Dexadreson, was on a course of Trimeidazine for a cough anyway.
 
Sounds like a staph infection to me. Cloud had this once, sounds similar to what you are describing. I slapped her on a 10 day course of antiBs and they went. I still used Protocon to loosen the scabs though.

If you squeeze the lumps does a whitey coloured "maggoty" type substance come out?
 
Yeah I know that they can get rainscaldish scabs under rugs and that was my first thought. But it's not like rain scald, though I can understand you thinking that. He's not run down, he's fat and bouncy and healthy in all other respects. In fact I'm impressed with him for his age at this time of year tbh. They are in now way itchy or painful - only time he ever so slightly flinched, was when I scrunched the biggest of them and it cracked, but he then didn't give a damn when I rubbed a load of protocon into it... They aren't actually weeping, as such, just crusty, in the hair.

These are pics of him taken last weekend
17-11-07_1432.jpg


This is his coat over his ribs - more wooley bear, I guess, rather than Yak like - sorry!
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Hi it sounds just like what my filly has got, (bacteria infection of the skin) Well the vet thinks, but not 100% sure.
I have had to full clip her apart from her head and leg's, i have to wash her all over in virkon's disinfectant and she is on a 6 day course of antibiotic's.
 
Stabling him is not an option! He bangs the door to breaking point and also stiffens up when in. He's never sweated up under the LW and his ears/front of nose have not been cold - until last night, hence the move up to a MW.

Sorry to hear about your girl though
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I was thinking of you V and was hoping you'd reply. I don't think it's a food reaction pre se and I do think it's odd for an older horse too.

I'm considering clipping his neck and body out, so I can get to them to treat properly...
 
[ QUOTE ]
Hi it sounds just like what my filly has got, (bacteria infection of the skin) Well the vet thinks, but not 100% sure.
I have had to full clip her apart from her head and leg's, i have to wash her all over in virkon's disinfectant and she is on a 6 day course of antibiotic's.

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmmm well I was contemplating clipping him out, apart from his head and legs and scrubbing him allover in malaseb. I'll talk to one of our vets on monday - I have some norodine granules left over from the summer..... Will seek advice - thank you!
 
Could they just be grease spots? Clogging of the pores? One of my horses got this at the start of every winter and I just clipped him out, used Dermobion on cracking the spots and they cleared up.

How big are the lumps? In terms of size I mean.
 
Yes sounds like some sort of infection, bacterial or fungal, or is it at all possible, for a horse to get some form of non-lethal herpes? I know they can get it and feel ill, can they get this and not feel too bad? Perhaps he had a poorly day a week or so ago, which would trigger it? And especially since he had it last year at this time? (That's the confusing thing about this whole scabbing; he was supposed to have had it last year...)
 
This is what my filly's skin looked like once i had clipped her
First she only had a few on her then she had them all over her.
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good luck on monday
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They could easily be Tia. He never had anything like this, other than rainscald one winter when he was 7, when I had him last. Oooo I have a tube of dermobian somewhere.....
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Well some are the size of a 5 pence piece, but there is one on his back that looks like more than one have merged and is about the cicumfrence of a golf ball - though obviously not that proud!!
 
The pale spots in his coat in this pic, are where they were on him last winter - photo taken at his retirement from the RDA in April this year
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He hasn't shown me any signs of being sick or sorry - no nasal/eye discharge, always impatient for his dinner, gallops to the gate when he sees me coming.....
 
Are 5p's the teeny things the same size as dimes? I don't remember my guys being as big as that to be honest. They were more the size of little nodules, only a few mm's diameter.
 
LOL - which is why I want to bring him back into work! Esp. as I now have a job where I will have EVERY weekend off!! AND I am now light enough to ride him
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LOL - yes!! I nearly said dimes!! I try and get pics when I go up in a mo - should get a move on really - goes dark in 2 hrs!
 
From your desciption its a yeast infection!!! Use Nettex descabber to soften, then when they drop off use their follow up disinfectent. Then Camerosa or good old Canestan to clear up the yeast under the scabbiness.
 
i think rain scald as well , Joe had these we had to moisten scab pick it off dry it really well and i apply tea tree oil and it cleared up in a couple of weeks !!
this is what it was called -OzOil Tea Tree Spray 'E'
this was recommended by our vet nick

good luck hope you find out what it is ....
 
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