What's happened to his feathers?

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gill84

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Our spindles farm horse lost his feathers over winter and they aren't growing back! Not even sure how it came about. The frost? The mud? Who knows, but anyway has anyone else experienced this?
He's got them down the back of his leg and in his heels still, but on the front of all 4 feet it's like all the feathers been razored off up to his fetlock?! Its bizarre and isn't showing signs of growing back. Any ideas? It happened literally over night.
 
No nothing. We thought maybe he's been rubbing them on something but all 4 feet are so identical it would be impossible. I must get a photo later and put it on
 
Maybe he's got mites in his feathers and has been scratching?

Order some pig oil and sulpher, you can get it ready mixed on eBay. That'll help it to strengthen and grow back.
 
He does scratch for mites in the spring/summer and we treat them but this is his 2nd winter with us and it didn't happen last year. Plus it's the fronts of his legs where the hairs gone and it's his heels he rubs when it's his mites crawling about so I'm not convinced its that. We've got sulphur and pig oil too so we could try that to stimulate the hair growth, but does anything else do that too?
 
There was a horse on our yard last year that used to chew his feathers and had none at the front. He had feather mites and could only reach them at the front.
 
Mud burn can cause the feather to be lost. Use pig oil and sulphur to prevent mud clinging to the hair. I've seen it before.

Mites are more active in the warmer months but I think this is more likely to be due to mud.
 
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