strange bite or could it be ringworm?

[Molly's mum]

Really welcome some advice if possible please. when I fed my girls this morning I noticed that Ruby (9yr old cob) had a what looked like a wound on her the side of her face just below her ear. My first thought was she'd been rubbing but when I looked properly I could see a round bald patch (size of 10p) with what looked like two puncture wounds or bites evenly spaced in the centre...my first thought was a snake bite but I couldn't be sure what it was. for once I didn't have my phone with me so couldn't take a pic but I did put some wound powder on it. The girls are 'at home' with me so will go over in a little while to make sure she's ok and will photograph it then. I use a roll on fly treatment around their eyes and down their noses so I know for certain it wasn't there yesterday which makes me think its a wound of some sort. Has anyone ever seen anything similar? could it just be ringworm...erupting suddenly? though we've never had ringworm in the 6 years we've had them...nor for the previous 5 years they were in the field before I took them on.

Just for clarification...My girls are rescues (I have no previous experience of horses prior to taking these two on. They are spoilt with love and care but not ridden and haven't been out of their usual field for probably over a year....I should say they are in a large field with lots of space but are currently in a electrified track because Ruby is a typical cob with weight issues. She's a healthy weight on this system and overall both girls are very happy and well and vet is also very happy with them.

thanks in advance for any thoughts offered.
Molly's Mum

 

[Tiddlypom]

It'll be easier to offer any advice after you've got the pics.

Could be anything, but it's not likely to be anything serious. I'd clean the area with cotton wool which has been wetted in sterile saline (cooled boiled water + salt is fine), then have a good look.

 

[Firefly9410]

Ringworm is a fungal infection, no worms or bites involved so no puncture wounds.

 

[ycbm]

My youngster recently lost a patch of hair around a fly bite that looked just like ringworm. If it hadn't come up in a huge lump first, I'd have thought that's what it was.

 

[PurBee]

Its horse fly season right now so could be a bite from them. When they bite me they leave a visible puncture wound, so she could have been bitten twice in the same area by them. I’ve noticed they like favour certain areas of the horse, so highly likely to have several bites in 1 place.
On the head they prefer the cheek, just behind ear, gullet - recently we’ve had swarms of them and they seem to favour head/belly/underneath between legs, inside legs.
The bites can itch like crazy at first if the horse isnt used to them, so very feasible your pony had been itching it against a post/shelter overnight and you’ve been greeted today with the inevitable itched away bald patch.

Antimicrobial wound cream helps disinfect/keep it clean so good to use on unknown bites. many fly sprays dont work on horse flys. These past few days i’ve been testing horse flys and spraying directly onto them biting the animal and they dont fly off! Theyre bug*ers! True vampires - seems once they know blood is to be sucked from the animal they’ll go for it no matter what!

Apparently Citriodiol Oil, from eucalyptus trees - is about the most effective for the worst biting insects - far more effective than even straight eucalyptus oil according to studies on oils.
hard to find products with it in. Works on ticks/midges/mozzies/horse flies Etc. I’ve only found it so far in human fly sprays small bottles so wouldnt last long for a horse, but could be worth getting for sheath/face.

Always patch test a small amount of any spray on the horse to see if within 24hrs any reaction occurs, like bumps on the skin - allergy. Before spraying the whole horse with a new product.
Horses can have reactions to the most commonly used products too - i once sprayed mine with nettex mud-off during winter so mud wouldnt cake into her coat when she rolled in wet mud…which she loves to do. I was greeted within a few hours with hives/bumps all over her body. So patch test spray small circle side of neck to see if any reaction occurs.

 

[Molly's mum]

Thank you all for the replies. There wasn’t much point me snapping the wound today as it’s still covered in the wound powder I used earlier which leads me to suspect it’s slightly moist.

Its horse fly season right now so could be a bite from them. When they bite me they leave a visible puncture wound, so she could have been bitten twice in the same area by them. QUOTE]
We’ve not seen many horseflies this season yet but even so they generally don’t seem too bothered normally…must say it’s me the blighters go for!! I’ll monitor it and see what happens over 24 hrs. Thanks again

 

[lamlyn2012]

I agree sterile salt water to clean wound. 1 teaspoon salt to 1 pint warm water. It's important to dilute carefully as if it's too strong it can kill living cells. Get an antibacterial ointment to put on it. I always use flamazine, which is a silver ointment. Don't use wound powder or sudocrem.
Battles summer fly cream is antibacterial and will keep the flies off so that would be good to use too. It is important to keep the flies off or it may get infected.