What could this be?

[rosebud]

Brought Belle in from the fields today and notice she had thousands of flies lined up on 3 marks she has had on her chest for a while.
The marks are as if she’s had a cut there and it’s the scar/scab left from it although she’s never seamed to have any cuts there before. She has hair there although the skin underneath is very scalpy, flaky and bitty. They have seemed to have got bigger then when we first noticed them.
After we scraped the flies off, we noticed a few dots of blood on them as if the flies had been sucking at them.
Any ideas on what this could be?

Also after we brought her into the school where we do the daily check over on her foal and her, she came across a bit lethargic, with her head down, and didn’t seam to be her usual self.
We’ve check for mastitis because she is still feeding but her teats don’t seam to feel lumpy or any hotter then what they would normally feel.
Do you think these two could be related or just a coincidence? We will check Belle tomorrow to see how she is, just in case she was having an off day, otherwise we’ll give the vet a call tomorrow.
Here are a few photos of the marks on her chest but sorry if the quality isn’t very good as we only had camera on our phone.

 

[merlinsquest]

Sorry, havent a clue, but what a weird mark

Perhaps she smells differently there and the flies are attracted???

 

[ajn1610]

Not like anything I've seen before, weird!

 

[_jetset_]

Looks like she has scratched her chest one something like post and rail fencing and the flies have got to it and irritated it further. Or, it could be the opposite. She could have been bitten quite badly and scratched it spreading the area the antibodies get to (I know because I have done this myself)

 

[moscow_mule]

Does she lean over the fence to reach the "much greener other side"? If she does she may have grazed the skin which you may not have noticed,and the flies have found this weak spot.Other than that no idea, sorry.

 

[rosebud]

we dont think it would the scratching on the post and rail as we dont have that, we have electric fencing and she respects that.

 

[Gentle_Warrior]

midges

 

[equiweb]

Nettle rash or similar maybe

 

[RuthP]

I'm pretty sure they're fly bites. My mare is really sensitive around her chest and if I don't fly spray her there the midges bury themselves in her coat and ruffle it up leaving scabs. It sounds exactly like what you are describing so don't worry!!

 

[Darkly_Dreaming_Dex]

My cob gets this and he has electric fencing so i know its not a rub. The midges love whorls/scars/bare patches and work their way in causing these nasty weals. I use sudocrem until it goes down then fly gel or better still put on his bug rug.