Yellow crystal scabs in winter

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horseyhazel

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Hi,
We have a shaggy new forest pony who lives out all year round. For the last few years, from October through the to march (ie when he's got his winter coat) he develops scabs which sometimes grow to be quite large on his neck and chest mainly. The scabs ooze yellow which then crystallises to form a scab. We have spoken with the vet about this and they said it is some sort of dermatitis and not to worry. One of our thoughts is that it's linked to him getting sweaty so this year we've had him clipped to see if it improves the condition. They don't itch or bother him.
Just wondered if anyone else has this problem and if so what do you do to help it?
We hibiscrub the wound too.
Thanks in advance
 
I think the first thing is to stop the hibiscrub, it will just irritate the skin. It is better to use some kind of soothing cream, you will probably find the best one by trial and error. My mare gets the same kind of dermatitis, although hers is on her legs and while sweat certainly irritates it, I have found that it is her feed which causes it. She now has nothing containing moasses or wheatfeed and it was under control unti she had to take some anti-inflamatory powder recently for a sore eye which had sugar in to make it palatable. The scabs started again but now that the powder is working its way out of her system, they are improving. I soften them with Leovet's Silver Cream which is the best that I have found for her.
I must add that I am appalled at your vets lack of concern, they have obviously never suffered from dermatitis themselves.
 
horseyhazel said:
Hi,
We have a shaggy new forest pony who lives out all year round. For the last few years, from October through the to march (ie when he's got his winter coat) he develops scabs which sometimes grow to be quite large on his neck and chest mainly. The scabs ooze yellow which then crystallises to form a scab. We have spoken with the vet about this and they said it is some sort of dermatitis and not to worry. One of our thoughts is that it's linked to him getting sweaty so this year we've had him clipped to see if it improves the condition. They don't itch or bother him.
Just wondered if anyone else has this problem and if so what do you do to help it?
We hibiscrub the wound too.
Thanks in advance
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Hi horseyhazel. Yes very familiar with these. We have welshies that live out & get these. They quite often get them in the long coat that hasn't been clipped & maybe they've got a little warm under all that fur, or sometimes under the rug too, most likely for the same reason. As you know with your NF, the hair on natives can be incredibly dense & we certainly find with the welshies that it just doesn't 'breathe'. We now blanket clip them & rug more (they're shown) & have less of this problem. I also use a weak hibiscrub solution to remove the crust & do not apply any cream at all. I find that adding more gunk makes the problem worse and just letting the area dry, open to the air works better - but that is simply my horses & my input!
 
It's dermatophilis aka sweat scald / rain scald. It thrives in warm,moist environment. Oily preparations will make it worse. You need to remove scabs with dilute hibiscrub ( half teaspoon in 200ml warm water) or Naff 'love the skin hes in' may do the job. If it is very sore ask your vet for flamazine ointment. Clipping will help avoid the condition. If it is very bad you may need antibiotics.
 
I moved my 3yr old from living out in the wilds of Durham to being stabled in the South. He was stabled over night and got exactly the same. It never occurred to me that it was anything other than a sweat rash. I had him neck and belly clipped.It was rank when the hair came off! It looked normal on the surface, but the layer of hair near the skin was wet, stinking and matted! Once it was off I hibiscrubbed him and we never had a problem after that :)

Hes now a rising 6 yr old, I started rugging him in just a sheet about 2 months ago. He never seemed hot and his coat seemed quite short. He was clipped a couple of days ago. Two, yes TWO wheelbarrows of hair came off! He didn't have the yellow scabs, but he did have matted bits close to his skin under the hair. His coat was 3 or 4 inches long, but you couldnt tell as it was flattened down. Its now all off apart from the legs and he has a funky clip round his back legs as he was matted on the inside
 
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