need help

[ponienut]

I brought home a little mare three weeks ago that was in terrible condition. She is coming along nicely but this morning i noticed her back feet looked funny. They have white spots on them and above her hoof line on her little legs she has terrible crusty white clumps that have made sores. I will get a picture and post it after I clip the hair away from the sores.

Does anyone know what this is and how to treat it?

 

[DrivinTime]

Sounds like scratches, aka grease heel... I think it's a fungus, like rain rot. I'll check back to see your pics, and let you know if it looks like what I've seen.

I have used Tea Pro Wound Spray and Desitin (or zinc oxide ointment) and that worked pretty fast. I spray on the Tea Pro, let it soak in and then gently try to peel off the scabs. Then I towel it dry a bit and smear on the Desitin. Takes a few days, and if it's pretty bad you may have to repeat the treatment each day for a few days.

Of course, I'm not a vet (not even close!), so you may want to check with a vet, especially if it gets worse.

Best of luck with your little one!

 

[Marty]

If I am understanding the area correctly, the back pasterns, this sounds to me like scratches, which is actually rain rot located down there. The best treatment for it is to keep the horse in the dry. You can pick off the scabs and treat with bedadine or any other medicated cleaner but the key is dry ness. Hope this helps.

edited to add: it's bacterial not fungal and there are lots of things on the market to get rid of it. Try jeffers equine

 

[Danielle_E.]

this is what is sounds like to me as well. It goes by different names, "scratches" "greasy heel", "mud fever", etc. etc. If left untreated the sores will grow like small clusters of "grapes" and it's very itchy for the horses, and will grow at a very fast rate. You will need to clip the areas that are affected and wash twice a day with an antifugal product. If you are into herbal you can apply tea tree oil to help heal or an antibiotic. As everyone is saying, keeping the area dry is a must and it's difficult at this time of year and because of where the sores are. I had this happen to one of my full size horses many years ago when we were boarding. It took approximately 3 weeks to get everything under control. If you do a search on the web you will find alot of help and suggestions and also pictures of what it looks like.

 

[DrivinTime]

If I am understanding the area correctly, the back pasterns, this sounds to me like scratches, which is actually rain rot located down there. The best treatment for it is to keep the horse in the dry. You can pick off the scabs and treat with bedadine or any other medicated cleaner but the key is dry ness. Hope this helps.

edited to add: it's bacterial not fungal and there are lots of things on the market to get rid of it. Try jeffers equine

Ah, thanks, Marty - I forgot about the drying part! And it's bacterial, huh? (In my mind, it's filed under "icky stuff" - not so helpful, for sure.) And hey, have you ever heard of putting sunscreen on white hocks as a preventive? (Again, it's rattling around somewhere in my brain, not sure if it's fact or fiction.)

 

[FoRebel]

Sounds like scratches to me too... wash it, keep it dry, put antifungal stuff on it... We also used generic desitin (diper rash ointment) to keep it gone on our big horses when we were boarding because they had a peet bog that the horses would like to stand in.

 

[stormy]

Back in my race horse days we used to mix vaseline or A&D ointment with Iodine to dress horses with greasy heel. Not easy to get the two to mix though but something you might have already at home.

 

[ponienut]

I cant figure out how to get the picture posted. But i was able to get the hair trimmed off and get some oil on the cruties to soften them and am little buy little picking them all off. I will keep it clean and dry with some meds if it does not clear in couple of weeks i will call the vet. Wish i knew how to post the pic, it keeps asking me for a url? oh well, something else to learn.

Thank you all for your help.