Skin Problem, I really need help !!!!!!!!!

[Victor60]

I purchased a 6 year old Irish Sports in October with large bare patches on his back and smaller patches on his neck and top of tail. The patches are flakey like dandruff around the edges but the centre is almost waxy with no hair.

I was told that it was rain scald from being left in a field for months and that it would clear up in a couple of months and just to apply Aloe Vera. I have been doing that and also had skin samples taken by vet for mites etc and they were all clear. 6 Months on and there is no real improvement although a few hairs have come through. I am worried that he will scar and even people like chiropractor have said that they would have expected it to have improved more than it has.

Can anybody help with some ideas, please ????????

??

 

[gummybear]

I would definately recommend Microtek spray. I have had a look on google and the weblink I have found for them is http://www.eqyss.com/pet_microtek_spray2.asp, although most tack shops should sell it. A friend of mine used it on her horse that had rainscald and it was great. You can get a shampoo or a spray that you leave on. definately worth a try. Let me know if you get it and how you get on.

 

[the watcher]

I am surprised the skin samples taken by the vet didn't reveal any cause. If you believe it to be rain scald and there are still signs of weeping around these patches you could try a dandruff shampoo (not Head and Shoulders, the kind you have to get from a pharmacy). If the skin is pink and healthy but just bald then aloe cream or juice should help, along with the gentle stimulation of the skin when you massage it in

 

[Victor60]

Hi There, thanks for the response, there is no weeping at the edges, it is all dry and flakey like dandruff at the edges and dark waxy in the middle, really not sure what it is so it is difficult to know what I am treating. It is so frustrating when we cannot work out what it really is so do not know how to treat it. Tried oil in with feed to try to help the coat but that does not make any difference. It is not really sore but just a bit uncomfortable which is why I think he is a pain to mount.

The vet took skin samples from various areas but nothing showed up, the only thing he said he might try is a Biopsy but I did not want to put him through that unless I cannot find any other solution

 

[Victor60]

Hi

Thanks for the advice, it looks good stuff and covers a range of problems so I will give it a try. I will let you know how I get on, thanks for the tip, fingers crossed !!!!!!!!!

 

[Daisychain]

Put him on msm, it is fantastic for clearing up skin conditions.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Victor, is he a coloured horse? Coloured horses quite commonly suffer from patches of dermatitis as the white areas of their skin is not the safe GREY of a grey horse, but is pink. Pink skin can get badly burnt and patches of dermatitis can appear that can be hard to clear up. My rescued coloured gypsy cob was covered in them and I eventually cured them by smothering them in Bepanthan (the expensive baby nappy cream!) and (in the summer) total sun block cream AND Bepanthen! The other thing you might need to consider is whether these could be flat sarcoids. If you google Prof Knottenbelts article on sarcoids, there are pics of what these can look like which might help. I do hope you can get to the bottom of it! x

 

[Pidge]

does it look anything like this? Pidge is ISH and had this when I bought him. It was totally black and waxy. Tried different creams from vet with no success at all. Even had skin scraping and testing from vets to see what it was. Then after this wiped clean thoroughly every day with a baby wet wipe and then liberally applied pure aloe vera gel and well you can see the before and after shots here - Slowly with the aloe vera the black bits flaked off leaving pink skin underneath and then woohoo the hair started to grow back