What are these patches?

Sorry it’s not very clear. My 2 yr old has these bald type patches. Look quite dry and very flakey. He has them on his mane line, his face and in places like his armpits. He seems to have a lot of dandruff as well?
 
His coat looks awful actually. Really dandruffy and seems to be coming out in lumps rather than loose hair if that makes sense.
 
Some horses do moult oddly but the face rubs and the scurffy skin are classic signs of lice. It might be that some eggs escaped the first treatment. If you can get it, Coopers Fly Repellent Plus is very effective, otherwise I would ask the vet for something. Louse powder is notoriously useless.
 
I was really worried it was the start of sweet itch but hopefully not. I will deosect him again. Can’t say his field mate is showing any signs of lice at all tho
 
Sweet itch, starts along the mane and the top of the tail and has to be very severe before the horse stats rubbing on other parts of the body. But if you are concerned about it, ask for a vet's opinion.
 
Sweet itch, starts along the mane and the top of the tail and has to be very severe before the horse stats rubbing on other parts of the body. But if you are concerned about it, ask for a vet's opinion.

I’ve previously had one pts due to severe sweet itch so very familiar unfortunately but I’m pretty sure this is more like something like lice etc as you say. I would be absolutely devastated if it was sweet itch but luckily he doesn’t really appear that itchy with it
 
Looks like ringworm to me.
You know... I’m starting to wonder! I deosected him tonight and they are definitely more than just a scruffy bit here and there. Is it not contagious tho? His field mate has nothing of the sort. They do play very rough and bite.
On closer inspection it seems it’s worse under his mane and on his neck and face. His shoulders backwards inc his rump whilst a bit dandruffy are clear of these patches?
 
I have an anti fungal shampoo prescribed by the vet for my other horse for something unrelated last year- that will do for my youngster won’t it? Malesab or something like that if I remember
 
The face looks like ringworm and the neck looks like lice.

TBH I would clip the fur off and have a look at what is underneath. Then I would treat for both.

If it is under the mane I suppose the neck could also be like a rain scald from being sweaty.

Malaseb is wonderful stuff.
 
He’s just a scabby fecker then basically 😅
He has bern very warm actually recently. Yesterday was 20degrees here and he has a lot of fur left. I deosected him tonight and really separated the hair etc and just can’t see anything apart from dandruff. I’ve had a horse previously with lice and if you rummaged around by the mane etc you could occasionally see one. I’ve never seen anything on him apart from dandruff. Will give the deosect a couple of days then hit him with the shampoo
 
He looks as if he would benefit from being fed some linseed to help his skin, when you have got rid of whatever is causing the problem atm.

Ye he receives nothing apart from hay and grass so decided I will buy one of those field mineral licks and will feed a small amount of chaff with some linseed
 
I’m wondering now as it’s clearly worse on his neck under his thick mane whether it’s some sort of sweat/rain scald. My other horse whom he shares a field with has absolutely no signs of a anything similar
 
I can pull lumps of hair off
... they are all stuck together from the base


That can also happen with ringworm, but is usually in circles, hence the name. Ringworm is a fungus. Rainscald is usually clumps of hair a few mm in size, though you can get a lot of them over a large area.

If it's rainscald it should stop if you use hibiscrub over the whole area, keep it open to the air and dry.
 
Ye probably will although think it may be ringworm as there seem to be more patches appearing on his face this am
 
Ye probably will although think it may be ringworm as there seem to be more patches appearing on his face this am


Canestan, or the Tesco equivalent.

The reason the other horses aren't catching it if it is ringworm is that they may already be immune, it's a very common fungal infection, and usually pretty harmless.


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Canestan, or the Tesco equivalent.

The reason the other horses aren't catching it if it is ringworm is that they may already be immune, it's a very common fungal infection, and usually pretty harmless.


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Makes sense as he is only 2yr so they others are probably more immune to it
 
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