So embarrassed about the state of my poor horse

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Luce1504

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I feel so guilty today, as despite my best efforts with suncream and a net covering her nose my mare has got the most horrendous sunburn. I just feel so guilty as it could be prevented and I wish I'd kept her in during the day now, but I thought with sunblock and a net she would have been fine especially seen as this is our 11th summer together and I classed myself as a pro at dealing with this but I have obviously been caught out this time
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so she is slathered up with after sun and stuck in her stable feelin sorry for herself at the mo. Has anyone any miracle cures for sunburn?

Also she has always had a tendency to get scabby legs which have been seen to by the vet and they are not due to mites and it isn't mud fever (she has lots of feather). I have been treating her over the winter with pig oil and sulphur after reading about it on this forum, but this week she has had a massive flair up and the back of her knees are just solid with scabs and are the worst I have seen in a long time. I have just been out to buy some sudacrem and I'm gonna hibiscrub her feathers and then put sudacrem and sulphur on them. Does this sound like the best plan?

My farrier is coming out in the next hour so I'm going to see what he thinks about them too, but I will be so embarrassed when he see's her as currently she looks like a R.S.P.C.A. case with her burnt peeling nose and her scabby legs.

Cookies for reading this far!
 
re the nose. Have you tried E45 total sun block factor 50? Used to work an absolute treat for my little mare - who had a very pink nose.

re the legs. wonder if it would be worth clipping the hair off the worst affected areas to enable treatment to work better.
 
As she hasn't had the scabs until the sun came out and she obviously gets bad sunburn could she have a photosensitivity problem? Might be worth asking the vet to look into it. As for the nose zinc based creams last a long time though she may look a bit odd with a highlight green nose!
 
Thanks for the reply, no I haven't tried the E45 sun block but have never had a problem with the sun block I usually use. I think she must have somehow managed to scrape it off but even so the net should have been covering it too
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I will go get some to give it a go though as there is no way I'm letting her end up in this state again.

With her legs, I really don't think she will let me clip them without a major fuss and plus I have done it in the past and it hasn't made any difference as it has just agitated the area, and also I am hoping to do some shows with her later in the summer, but if her legs continue to worsen I may not be left with any choice and they may well have to come off.
 
The E45 sun block does not come off - the horse, the door, the walls, your clothes........

Really, it's great.
 
I might be able to help with the scabbiness - my chestnut came up very scabby and miserable last year and I couldn't get to the bottom of it. In desperation, I fed him something by Pegasus Herbs called Herbal Skin Mix and it totally cleared it (whatever it was). Genuine recommendation, I don't work for them or anything, I just found it really helpful! Plus the poor thing cheered up no end when the scabs went.
 
Not sure what to suggest about the nose but re. the legs, out of interest what bedding is she on, as there is a cob at the yard who has horrible scabs on the back of his knee and he was on straw, as soon as he came off straw it cleared up?
 
Photosensitivity isn't something I had thought of, but she has always had bad sun burn with having a completely pink nose (she's the coloured in my avatar).

She did have scabs in her feathers earlier in the winter but by using the pig oil and sulphur they were reduced to 2 very small patches behind her knees and even they appeared to be decreasing. Then all of a sudden this week they have exploded to be worse than ever, I was wondering if it could be related to her being hot and her legs getting sweaty rather than an actual photosensitivity problem?

I think I will try the hibiscrub, sudacrem and sulphur today after the farrier has been and then if i don't see an improvement in the next couple of days. I will get the vet involved but tbh they have been pretty useless in the past when it comes to dealing with this.
 
As she suffers from sunburn on her nose the legs sound like she has a photosensitivity problem as already mentioned, ask the vet because there are steroid treatments to help control it.
 
Right thanks AmyMay you have got me sold with the E45! will I be able to get it in Tesco? as I can get my OH to call there on his way home from work.

I will look into getting her the skin suppliment too then as this is an ongoing problem so if I can attack it from the inside and out then hopefully I can get rid and make her feel better.

She is kept on shavings, has been on straw in the past too and she had the scabby problem then.
 
My old mare had a big white blaze and 2 white socks, she used to get MF in winter and sunburn in summer. If she had a good summer/winter that had a roll on effect on the next season if that made sense?

She was photosensitive and the white hair used to fall out of her face and legs. I used baby sunblock factor 60 as it was the strongest that I could find and applied it 2-3 times a day, she also had an equilibrium muzzle guard.

Equilibrium brought out sun chaps last year and they were god send. they protected her legs from the sun and she had minimum hair loss in her last summer on her hinds and no scabs or pink bits.

A lot of the time I brought her in during the day to be safe and it kept her out the flies too.

Good luck, I know what a struggle it is!

ETA - I gave my mare a liver tonic as I *think* liver damage can cause photosensitivity. I had my mare blood tested and seh was fine but vet said it would do her no harm to give her a boost.
 
will be back on to check on posts later- the farrier will be here any sec so need to get back outside to the yard. Thanks everyone.
 
I don't think its the equilibrium one, but she was wearing something that is basically of the same design yesterday and still managed to get burnt
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Thank you everyone for your replies
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Some horses are very sensative to the sun and warm weather, specially a lot of coloured cobs with pink pigmentation etc
Don't beat yourself up about it and I'm sure your horse does not look like an RSPCA case, sometimes these things creep up on us and get very bad very quickly if not picked up and treated sooner.

At least you are doing something about it and will be able to take better measures in preventing it from happing again or indeed getting any worse.

Its trial and error, what works for some horses doesn't always work for yours, so if people are 'talking' then maybe you should remind them what you have done and just because one kind of lotion or well known potion or the way they manage their horse might not always work out for yours.
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sorry I missed your previous post about buttercups, no there aren't any buttercups in the field. TBH there isn't much of anything in the field they are in at the minute as they are still at home on the winter grazing.
 
I saw this thing in horse magazine once, involving richard maxwell. But it was a horse that suffered with scabby legs who was loads better when clipped. (he was clipping a hard to clip horse) so maybe clipping would make it better?
 
I used to have a horse that would get very badly sunburnt on his nose dispite sunblock. We tried everything (even E45) and it didnt work, i think the sunblock used to dry the skin out and actually make it worse as the skin would start to crack.

In the end out of despiration, we attached half a tea towel to the nose band of his head collar. It worked wonders!! He did look completely stupid, but it worked. Obvisously you have to make sure the head collar is safe to wear out in the field, and that the cloth is attached properly. Also that it isnt too long so that it interfers with breath, grazing, drinking etc.

Might be worth a try, sound stupid, but it worked for me.

Good luck,
N xx
 
Aloe vera gel is great for healing skin quickly, and might help those scabby legs too. x
 
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