weatherbeet/ rainscald any helpfull tips on treating

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nikkinoo

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Any ideas or remedies to help get off rainscald from horses body, mare is very sensitive on back so cant really go picking/scraping it off, (you could but she hates being brushed even with a soft brush)

Its not really bad just little flecks of it all over body,

Legs are bad with mud fever, which I am using green oil antiseptic gel and that seems to be working, but I cant use this all over her body.
 
You could use a diluted solution of hibi scrub and wash it every day til you get rid of scabs, or tea tree oil spray, equimins do one

Aloe vera gel is also brilliant, my horse recently had a small rub under his saddle cloth near his spine, I bathed it with hibi then aloe vera, took about a week to heal

If it was a small patch you could bath, then barrier cream

Any of the above !
 
When my horse got it a few years ago all over his thick coat he had lots of very small but very annoying scabs which pulled on his hair and his hair felt vile, almost sticky. The vet gave me some medicated antibacterial shampoo which I had to gently massage into the scabs about once or twice a week, then wash off, and dry thoroughly (I used kitchen roll to make sure I got him as dry as I could). This was to gently soften the scabs so they would come off or you could gently ease them off and you could treat the skin underneath. The vet also gave me steriod cream to put on once the scabs had come off but I avoided that and used aloe vera gel which someone else recommended and as the bits where the scabs had been were sore the gel was ideal as could just dab it on over the area without having to rub it in and it worked and all cleared up within about a week.
 
If her skin is really suffering you could also try suplementing her feed either with some cod liver oil or codlivine supplement, my horse a few years ago suffered an allegic reaction to something and all the skin on his body proceded to flake evre where, the supplments really helped also fed him alfa-a oil. The other thing we use at work is demoline cooling body wash it smell lovely and does wonders to there coats.:)
 
Please don't use Hibiscrub or anything to wash it with, it needs to be kept dry and Hibiscrub is too strong unless it's diluted so much that it's useless.

Ideally, you need to smother the sores with cream of some sort to soften the scabs; don't pick off but apply cream on top of the cream for a few days, sounds grose but it does work (it's the same for mud fever too). Then you'll find that they should have softened and start rubbing off as you put more cream on. When that starts happening you can gently massage the sores as you apply the cream and the scabs should almost fall off under your fingers without any pressure so she shouldn't object; they usually find the massage soothing and sometimes lean into your hands as if they want a good old scratch. Good cream to use is Sudacreme, udder cream (not the gel type, I used to like Cetriad, don't know if you can still get it) Protocon (which is magic to use in similar fashion for mud fever) or plain nappy cream, usually called zinc & castor oil cream. They're all very good; ideally at first, you need one that will slide on without rubbing in so I'd probably go with any of them except the Protocon and use the Protocon once you can rub it in and massage.
If the scabs are in the saddle area, you need to keep off them until they are well healed and haired over again so you're looking at a few weeks at the least; it would be no quicker if you washed and pulled at the scabs, this is just a more gentle way for her (and you!).
At the same time, have a look at her diet, make sure it's balanced and add some oil if necessary. Brewers yeast is very good for both skin and hooves. She needs to be well on the inside before she can get her skin back into good condition.

Tips for the future - don't over rug; never rug a wet horse (except with something like a Thermatex which wicks sweat/wet away; be careful how you rough off a horse to stay at grass after a season being stabled and watch for anything that lacks a bit of condition as they could be susceptible to skin problems too.

If she doesn't like brushes have you tried a washed piece of cactus cloth, they usually like that and it does a great job too, I've used it on a similar mare with great success?
 
Thanks every one for your advice, Maesfan also very helpful, I have lots of sudacrem (from my son) and zinc n caster oil, so will slap loads on of that,

she is being kept in now as she looks so down and sad, I have also added a new feed to her diet so hoping that she will pick up in the next day or two if not will give vet a call just to give her the once over,
 
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