small bald patches

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ct1

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Morning people. My Gelding has developed a small bald patches close to his flank. Its about 1cm and it bald. There is no flaky bits and isnt irritating him or itchy. It isnt red at all. He has another tiny one on his neck where it looks like the hair is coming away now. I dont know what it is ( im getting the vet up this week) The patches arent where his rug is rubbing him. Does anyone have any ideas? I know this may sound silly but the times I have noticed them are if I have been away for a couple of days or a night away and I havent seen him. IYou dont think it could be stress related ( a bit like alopecia?) Thank you. Hope you can help
 
My mum's horse gets these, small bald patches appear then the hair refried and he gets another one somewhere else. Her vet is baffled and wanted to take skin scrapings and investigate further. As they don't bother him mum decided not to investigate.
 
He has his outdoor rug on with a hood up 2 his ears and there isnt any redness at all. I will pop a pic on 2night xx
 
My horse has had similar things for years, although they were worse when she was younger. She had them when I bought her and my vet said at the PPE that one could do a biopsy of one were concerned, but as they didn't seem to be troubling her, he didn't think it was worth the money and hassle.

They mainly appear around her neck and chest, but now she doesn't get so many of them there any more. Currently she has them around her eyes so she looks like a raccoon.

About ten years ago, a slightly mad (for many reasons) yard owner told me I needed to do something about it or all her hair would fall out. Hmmmm.... it didn't.
 
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Mine has 2 of these at the moment, i put it down to him one of my other horses biting him when they play fight and pulling his hair out.
 
Did you find out what this was? We have a minature on our yard that has these very same symptoms and i have never seen it before. Is it almost as if the hair just fell out? Very bizarre! Hope your little man is okay!
 
Hi. The vet took some hair folicles to send off. She rang me 2night still curious.she said the hair has 4 stages of growth and normally the hair folicles each show a different growth but my boys showed all the same. One on his bum has just started to grow back after 8 weeks but the other 2 are the same. We are waiting for more tests to come back and i will keep you posted. Its bizarr !xx
 
My horse has got two, one smaller than the other, vet was out for vacs the other weeks so looked at it, he said it looks like the hair has been taken off and will grow back with the next hair cycle. Don't know how it's happened as its under his rug not in an area where you'd think it be easy to knock some hair off! Odd!
 
There is a cob on our yard with bald patches and vet has diagnosed mites. Not saying that is what your horse has got although it is a possibility along with ringworm and lice.

Have you any photos?
 
The vet doesnt seem to think its ring worm or mites but we are waiting for those test results to chhome hback. I have a photo but i dont know how to upload it
 
My horse had a couple of patches late into last winter and currently has another two. They don't bother her or develop any further, so just wash with neem oil shampoo and apply sudocrem.
Her rugs are regularly washed in horse friendly shampoo and rotated, so thought it was possibly due to getting too warm when whizzing around in the field. She doesn't have them during the summer when she's rug free.
 
The vet called this morning to give me the results of the tests. Its not ringworm ( phew!!). All her research leads to Alopecia areata. She says it is seasonal and something to do with the immune system fighting against the hair folicles. The bald patches havent spread and havent got any bigger so hopefully they will grow back in time.. Just thought I would update you all. She said there is no treatment to give.
 
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