What's wrong with my pony's face?

[Angelbones]

Just wondered if anyone else out there has a pony with this problem?

Floss keeps getting these balding patches on her face, which she then rubs til raw. She also has a very itchy main and tail. She has been allergy tested and came back negative for sweet itch but positive for various pollens etc for which she is being jabbed, positive for alfalfa so has a new diet and for hazel which has been removed from her environment. I've stopped adding oil to her feed as was told this can make skin problems worse, and removed the garlic as again was told this can make things worse. She also has a low sugar diet. She is currently on Global Herbs Super Skratch (no effect yet). She has been fine over the winter but broke out again again a couple of weeks ago, very quickly rubbed herself raw and managed to get an infection which was treated with antibiotics. Vet has us bathing her with Malaseb and putting on Flamazine cream (this is approx the 4th year we've been through this). She is in at night, and turned out during the day surrounded with electric fence to stop her rubbing. I've tried sudocrem to ease her soreness, and Eurax to stop itching but with little effect. She has also had several vet prescribed antihistamines but no effect. Her crest and main are incredible thick so today we have pulled out a huge amount, firstly to help us get the shampoo and meds in really deep, and secondly in the hope that it'll be easier for her to shed skin cells, get more air in there, stop it getting so hot etc as she was really scurfy deep down and didn't seem to lose hair naturally.

To be honest we are at out wits end about how to help her. She is obviously in real discomfort and we do everything we can to stop her rubbing. Given the chance she hurtles in from the field and dives onto the hay manger to rub frantically. Other than this she is in good health, not off colour at all, and in great shape.

Any clues anyone? Please?!

 

[glitterfuzz]

Does she wear a fly mask? We had a horses face go like this after wearing a mask tha had been washed. Took the mask off, issue went!

 

[Angelbones]

Thanks Glitterfuzz, she has worn one in the past but currently doesn't. Neither option seemed to help her. We invested in a Boett complete body & head rug thingy but that just got ripped to shreds. Oddly enough she isn't bothered by flies at all, and we never see her rub her face, just her neck frantically, and there is obviously evidence of her rubbing her tail. We are just going round in circles it seems, ho hum. x

 

[megwan1]

a bit of advice - be really careful using sudacrem as i used on a pony i had just once and it wasn't even very sunny but it basically fried his face and he had the worse sunburn i've ever seen and even the vet said it really bad, vet also said that the ingredients in sudacrem mean that it will have caused this to happen and ever since he had really sensitive skin to sun mainly because the weather layers had pretty much burnt off!!!!!!

hope ur girl gets better

 

[m3gan]

I had the same problem last year, and it was while wearing a face mask, which I had washed , as in previous reply, I think it might have been the softener in the wash, which I thought would make it more comfortable for him! I used dermapred to heal his face and it worked well.
I am trying him on Equus sweetitch tablets ATM for his itchy main and tail plus hoping he will not have the face trouble again. He also wears a Rambo sweet itch hoody, which worked well last year and so far this year.
I hope it improves for your pony , it is awful when it happens, good luck! x

 

[suzysparkle]

I was going to suggest ringworm but it won't be as the vet will have ruled this out. To be honest, with all the things that have been tried and failed, I would be looking for a good homeopath. Quite often when conventional methods fail alternatives really help. I woudn't try and diagnose and buy remedies from boots, but see if you can find a practitioner that will come out as they will have much more potent remedies. I used to get constant throat infections, Dr kept giving me antibiotics but they kept coming back. I had a course of a very potent homeopathic remedy and haven't had one in 4 years!! Another thing to try on those patches is calamine lotion. I got scabies (YUCK) years ago and was so itchy I wanted to rip bits of my skin off. Calamine was the only thing that gave any relief. Dead cheap from the chemists.

 

[Ezme]

QR Like this!

Scrooge and one calf got it yet none of the other horses or cattle (or sheep) got anything at all. We just kept washing it with hibiscrub and it eventually healed. We didn't have him long enough to know if it was a recurring thing

 

[DuckToller]

I am surprised it isn't sweet itch as the itchy mane and tail point to that, plus the bald bits on the face match the patches where my sweet itch pony rubs, although he doesn't rub them raw, just bald. Very frustrating for you.

I have just been given some info on a new treatment called Fidavet Cavalesse, which is for (quote brochure) summer skin allergies caused by a Type 1 Hypersensitivity reaction. It is a natural food supplement containing nicotinamide, which is formulated to maintain a healthy skin in those horses prone to allergies at turn out. It is an oral solution and there is also a topical gel. It is new out and only available via a vet at the moment. Might be worth asking about?

The only other faint possibility I can think of is lice - has anyone checked for them?

ps does she have it all year or just summer?

 

[QUICKFIRE]

Have you got any buttercups in your field?

 

[Angelbones]

[ QUOTE ]
Have you got any buttercups in your field?

[/ QUOTE ]
Funnily enough I commented today that we had a lot but they aren't in her paddock and its the first the we've had them. Some ponies can be allergic to them I believe?

 

[Angelbones]

O[ QUOTE ]
I am surprised it isn't sweet itch as the itchy mane and tail point to that, plus the bald bits on the face match the patches where my sweet itch pony rubs, although he doesn't rub them raw, just bald. Very frustrating for you.

I have just been given some info on a new treatment called Fidavet Cavalesse, which is for (quote brochure) summer skin allergies caused by a Type 1 Hypersensitivity reaction. It is a natural food supplement containing nicotinamide, which is formulated to maintain a healthy skin in those horses prone to allergies at turn out. It is an oral solution and there is also a topical gel. It is new out and only available via a vet at the moment. Might be worth asking about?

The only other faint possibility I can think of is lice - has anyone checked for them?

ps does she have it all year or just summer?

[/ QUOTE ]

Thanks Llewelyn, I'll definitely ask about that. I have a new vet who I have more faith in. She was skin scraped but no lice, but will have the new guy take another look. Very many thanks.

 

[QUICKFIRE]

Buttercups can cause a lot of problems, only said this because of one little grey I used to own had the same symptoms as your horse was just a thought.

 

[Nuttymanxmare]

C gets like this in the summer

The vet is leaning towards it being photosensitivity. She had a liver test done last summer which was clear thank god but she not only gets it on her head but on her legs too. (both white areas)

She has to stay in most of the day when the sun is strong as suncreams dont help.

 

[Tnavas]

Could be a fungal infection. Buy some Nizeral from a chemist. Dilute with warm water asn lather up well. This will kill the fungus. Do this for a few days. You don't need to rinse it.

The hair will grow back in a few weeks.

Wash whole horse with it too rubbing well into mane and tail.

 

[Rouletterose]

I had something very similar with my mare last year, we realised after a while that it got lots worse after she had her bridle on that I had just cleaned and suppled. In the end she was allergic to the "Stubben" conditioning cream, changed that and it cleared up.

 

[LadySolaire]

This is what my two year old is going through at the moment and has a few patches on her body but mainly on her face. She keeps rubbing her mane & tail constantly. The vet is coming out on wednesday to take a look at her

 

[Angelbones]

Oh, do let let me know what the vet says please? I'm about to start mine on Cavalesse from my vet as he couldn't narrow it down any further. In the meantime I'm applying Eurax to her face to help with the itching and allow the hair to grow back but of course this doesn't sort out the root cause. Good luck with it. x

 

[LadySolaire]

I will let you know after the vet has been his initial thought is some sort of bug under the skin as she is itchy in places that she has not lost any hair like her neck and if i bring her in she is constantly rubbing. On her face she has broken the skin where she has rubbed so much. I feel totally helpless at the moment but reading your first post has made me think it could be food based so i am off to the yard in a minute to have a look what is in her food i am also going to take her off the garlic just as a precaution even though she has always had it. I am thinking food as she was always only fed a token feed when i brought her in up until about 3 months ago where she is now being fed everyday this was because the yard i am on had no grass and she was loseing to much weight

 

[JanetGeorge]

I have a mare who tested negative to Sweet Itch - positive to sheep sorrell, horse flies and a few other things. But my vet and I are both 100% convinced it IS sweet itch! The tests are formulated in America and the theory is that the American midge is very slightly different to the European one. We treat her as if it's Sweet Itch and it works!

 

[punk]

Have you given your pony Bute for anything recently? It can cause photosensitivity I'm told by my vet!

 

[the watcher]

I would second the Nizeral form the chemist - really good for anything with a fungal origin, I would also reverse the regime and keep her in by day and out at night in case photosensitivity is the problem

 

[Pidgeon]

try cleaning it off every day with baby wet wipes and applying liberal amounts of pure aloe vera. Worked on Pidge, this was after vet treatment, skin scrapes etc etc

 

[LadySolaire]

The vet came out on wednesday evening and is going down the mites route first, he has taken a few hair samples and a skin scraping and also gave solly an injection for mites. He has also given me some shampoo to bath her in and some deosect to dilute and spray on her over the next two weeks. Once i get the test results back he said we can go from there as he sais i would be very unlucky to have a horse of just 2 years old to have allergies. I will let you know what the results are when they come back