Sunburn swelling on my coloured's back, but not sure? Please help.

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lrequine

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Hi guys.

After riding today I noticed a swelling on a very specific small section on the top (and surrounding area) of my horse's back and I started to really crap myself. When I touched it he shrivelled up his skin, went to nip me etc. However after I was done with my irrational flip-out based on my inexperience of sunburn in horses, I thought about that as a possibility. He is a coloured, and that 'specific and surrounding area' that is swollen is a white section that goes across the top of his back and over either side, therefore like much of the rest of his body, that area is pink. Also, when I looked a bit more, I could see that most of his white sections were swollen in comparison to his black areas.

Obviously I will deal with sunburn accordingly but, I just wanted to know your thoughts. I know this sounds silly but I just want to be more sure that the swelling on his back is due to sunburn. He's normally a very sound horse, never had any serious problems anywhere with him, his saddle fits, which is why it does not make sense to me that he would have a back problem for any other reason?

Your opinions and experiences are much appreciated :)
 
Our coloured has different coloured skin on her white bits. Some is dark and some pink.

The pink bits get sunburn occasionally, particularly when we clip her in the summer (she a cob so its allowed)

You can easily tell as the skin goes red like ours would.

I use fly rugs to protect her in very hot weather.
 
This sounds very much like what happened to our coloured in the sun earlier this year. All his pink skin was very tender and raised. Does his coat feel strange almost like velvet ? The vet thought it was sunburn but took bloods and his liver enzymes were very raised. We think the burn could have been made worse by a reaction to something he had eaten.
He recovered quickly, off work for about a week and his enzymes are returning to normal. He now wears a special sun deflecting fly rug and comes in for a few hours in the middle of the day or more if it is really hot.
 
I would keep horse in until the sun eases off (tuesday I think), as swelling and pain will just increase if the horse gets hot again. Lots of cold hosing, but don't put anything on it - I speak from experience and an expensive mistake *sigh*.

If the swelling goes down in a few days, then you have a good idea that you were right, and need to take serious precautions. If not, you need the vet out.

Dare I say it, if it was Shy, I would have the vet out to check tomorrow, just to be on the safe side, and to get bute if he needed it - must be incredibly painful.

Let us know what happens :)

ps I would post this in the vet section too and get some prof advice. xx
 
frazzled said:
This sounds very much like what happened to our coloured in the sun earlier this year. All his pink skin was very tender and raised. Does his coat feel strange almost like velvet ? The vet thought it was sunburn but took bloods and his liver enzymes were very raised. We think the burn could have been made worse by a reaction to something he had eaten.
He recovered quickly, off work for about a week and his enzymes are returning to normal. He now wears a special sun deflecting fly rug and comes in for a few hours in the middle of the day or more if it is really hot.
Click to expand...

Yes his skin is 'raised' and 'tender' as you describe it, do you think a visit from the vet is worthwhile? Or should I simply take the precautions that you took? I did also think about bringing him in for the daytime and out at night, at the very least until his skin calms down..
 
We could trace the swelling exactly to his pink skin if that makes sense. As Shysmum says lots of cold hosing and keep in until swelling goes. Nothing vet was able to give, just needed time.
With regards to fly rugs you can get sun reflective ones that actually deflect the suns rays and they don't get too hot and have good UV protection. Our boy looks like space pony in his :)
 
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