Weird "stuff" in his feathers - any ideas?

[Hovis_and_SidsMum]

I was grooming Hovis last night and once again have found weird little pieces of stuff in his feathers?
It looks like dandruff - its right in near the skin in all his feathers and looks like really small bits of skin. They don't budge if I just use a brush but if i use a comb through the hair it comes out.
It doesn't look like these little bits are alive in anyway nor are his legs sore /red / irritated.
Is it dandruff?
I've not had a horse with feathers before and he was fully clipped when i bought him so really only now are his feathers coming back properly.
Do i need to wash his feathers in something special to get rid of it?

 

[alicep]

the pony i ride has (sort of) feathers and when i groomed him last i noticed lumps of what looked like skin. He isnt red or sore either. i think its grease to be honest. maybe a good shampoo will remove some of it and maybe comb it through whil its soapy??

 

[meandmyself]

Probbably is scurff.

You can buy medicated shapoos that should shift it.

 

[Theresa_F]

Little black bits - grease.

Easily removed with hot water and fairy liquid. What you might want to do is use pig oil and sulphur to prevent grease/mites - PM me if you want the longest email in the world on how to look after feather in hairy horses.

 

[Ezme]

Tesco's basics shampoo is great, make sure you get in there, best with your hands and you can feel whats going on, and wash it all away. If it comes back maybe ts feather mite residue? Is he stamping?

 

[bedbug]

My new horse has this also. Same as you he is not sore or itchy, skin is not broken but he is really molting on his feathers (but he is everywhere). when the vet came out to give him his injections she had a look and gave me some shampoo to put on them, but can't remember what it is called but it is actually for dogs.

I keep worrying about mites but nothing crawling in there just is very scurfy but then so is quite a bit of his coat but he was a bit of a resuce case by his previous owner 12 months ago and had terrible skin problems.

 

[carys220]

If it's hard it could be bits of bone, can't remember it's proper name but my horse had extra 'toes' on her fetlocks and they disintegrated at certain times on the year.

If it's dandruffy and greasy then it's probably Scurff, my haffy mare has got this all over, the vet said it's due to her losing her winter coat...? She's starting on a conditioning feed to put some weight on and apparently this will help with the scurff too.

Do you have any pics?

 

[Hels_Bels]

scrub them with hibiscrub! we have a lot of cobs which all get this and it's becasue the dirt stays in the feathers and like water wen they get wet takes longer to dry out! just keep scrubbing them and brushing them!

 

[dwi]

I can second the hibiscrub, I took a more drastic approach with D's feather this year and cut them all off but when she used to have them I found shampooing her legs with hibiscrub really effective

 

[hairycob]

I had just this problem with our extremely hairy cob. I followed Theresa_Fs instructions and it really worked (makes your hands soft too!)

 

[yvonne36]

I had this with my last horse. He was a hairy cob with huge feathers. It looked like dandruff but the hair came away in clumps. He wasn't itchy either but I had the vet to check him.

I had to shave his legs which broke my heart, wash with hibi scrub and treat with benzol benzoate. It was some sort of mite.