What could this be?

[Ashley]

I have an old mare (somewhere around 30). She is blowing her coat so I have been brushing her. However when I brush her the hair comes out by the root. she is pretty much bald on her neck, shoulder, chest, face, and under her belly. She has been blanketed all winter until this past week when I pulled the blankets. I need to get stuff on her for lice just in case, but didnt see any on her. The skin isnt pink or inflamed, rather normal, but dry.

None of the other horses have this issue, so what could this be?

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

fungal infection maybe? overheating? lice?

i'd call a vet, but i'm overly paranoid whith my girls

 

[Ashley]

I dont think fungle, and am going to treat her for lice just in case but I have lived here for 4 years and havent had lice at all. I never had a horse do this, and her buddies are all fine.

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

thinking about it, i had a young mare do this, but she came from a bad home where she wasnt fed well. perhaps now that your mare is getting older she may need a different diet?

or maybe its just really dry skin? dry skin can make a horse do crazy things...

 

[Ashley]

She has a pretty good diet. She has free choice grass/alfalfa hay. She also gets Front Runner Summit and alfalfa pellets.

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

She has a pretty good diet. She has free choice grass/alfalfa hay. She also gets Front Runner Summit and alfalfa pellets.

maybe try giving her a supplement for her coat? or try to put something on her skin for dryness? i think there are some animal shampoos that are powder that you could sprinkle on her...maybe that would help? just tryin to throw some ideas around...

 

[Bess Kelly]

With aging the intestinal tract changes and they cannot readily absorb some nutrients. A good senior feed will address this with added supplements for digestion and age related issues. So this might help, might not.

Don't know if the blanketing is usual for her but, any chance that had an impact?

Try some oils in her diet for skin issues? As they age, these glands and processes change also. Just things I'm throwing out there for consideration.

Have several here who are closing in on 30 and I see drier coats, etc. Added flax in their diets has helped as has skin products added to rinse water after a bath.

Don't have any with coats falling out to just skin -- so I'd be asking a vet for some help if it isn't comeing back fast (as I'm sure you will

).

Let us know how things go with her thru this situation. We can all learn.

 

[Dee]

We got a mare this summer that came with lice and wad just on a bad diet. She was loosing her hair too. The vet said it was an infection because she was allergic to lice. I can't remember the name of the meds she was put on for 10 days, but her skin cleared right up and her hair grew back like a weed.

I would have your vet out.

Hope it goes well! Let us know when u find out what it is

 

[stormy]

Just for a differant view, my first horse, a quarter horse gelding, blew his coat early every year and would be bald on his chest and flanks for a while, don't know why, never caused a problem except I couldn't show him early in the year as everyone would think he had some horrible skin disease! Was apparently normal for him.

 

[Genie]

One of ther Dr.'s on the forum will have a better idea but I have heard a fever will cause the phenomena

 

[Marty]

My first thoughts she may have gotten clammy under the blanket and got something fungus related and also too much alfalfa in the diet.

What I would do for starters is to de-worm with zimectin gold, dust for lice, reduce alfalfa and start adding some corn oil to the diet. Also Farnum has a great product I've used for decades called Super 14 or Super 17 which is amazing for a healthy coat.

 

[Ashley]

This is the 3rd winter I have had her, and she has gotten blanketed all three. Prior to that she was never blanketed but was also skin and bones come end of winter.

She doesnt do well on Senior which is why I have her on the grain I do. Neither of my seniors do good on senior. They have been on this feed for going on 2 years.

I also dont think she is getting to much alfalfa. She gets one 2 qt. scope of pellets, of which she normally dont eat it all, she tends to pick around it. The hay is a light mix, more grass then alfalfa but a touch of it in there because my other horses dont get grain.

I will try adding flax, she has been on wheat germ oil.

 

[chandab]

This is the 3rd winter I have had her, and she has gotten blanketed all three. Prior to that she was never blanketed but was also skin and bones come end of winter.

Well, this has been a doozy of a winter, so it might be possible that this year, she did get clammy under her blanket, even though it wasn't an issue in the past.

Have you tried different brands of senior? They definitely are not all created equal. Just throwing it out there.

 

[Katiean]

When I was much younger, I had a friend that had an big appy mare. For the 3 years that she still had the horse, she would shed right down to the skin and then grow her summer coat. The last year she had the horse the mare was shedding that spring just like normal. She had the vet out for vaccines. The vet told her he wanted to run some tests on the mare. She had some kind of a liver condition. She passed that fall.

 

[Ashley]

When I was much younger, I had a friend that had an big appy mare. For the 3 years that she still had the horse, she would shed right down to the skin and then grow her summer coat. The last year she had the horse the mare was shedding that spring just like normal. She had the vet out for vaccines. The vet told her he wanted to run some tests on the mare. She had some kind of a liver condition. She passed that fall.

Yes I have tried several brands of senior as well as prior to my getting her she got senior. This the best grain I have tried for her. She holds her weight very well with this grain.

She has been unblanketed for about 2 weeks now, this just started the last few days so I really dont think it has anything to do with the blanket. HOwever, when they are blanketed I do check them daily for temp as well as rotate blankets as needed if they get wet or to dirty.

I will add that I have discussed and thought about putting this mare down before next winter. She has a few other things going on and I think its just getting close to her time.

 

[weebiscuit]

She has been blanketed all winter until this past week when I pulled the blankets. I need to get stuff on her for lice just in case, but didnt see any on her. The skin isnt pink or inflamed, rather normal, but dry.

None of the other horses have this issue, so what could this be?

Is there some reason you blanket her all winter? I have never blanketed a horse during the winter. Gads, their coats are thicker than those of big horses, and are able to withstand temps to 40 below if they are out of the wind. Unless you are living in the Arctic, I would think blanketing her would not be a good thing for her skin at all!

 

[ohmt]

Any way she may have been in a stressful situation right before it started happening? We shipped a mare from here (north dakota) to texas last spring and when she got there all of her hair fell out! She had never been off the farm so the vet said it was due to the stress of the long haul. It grew back after about a month.

I know it's probably not likely as it since it seems you've got her on a pretty regular schedule but wanted to throw it out there just in case.

 

[Ashley]

Nothing has changed here. No movement, no new horses everything is the same. Only thing different is the hay but I changed that way back last summer.

This is a big horse I am talking about. Both of my older big horses are blanketed in the winter or they struggle to hold the weight and stay warm. If theres any nice days they do get to have it off.

 

[chandab]

Is there some reason you blanket her all winter? I have never blanketed a horse during the winter. Gads, their coats are thicker than those of big horses,

As already posted, Ashley is talking about a big horse; but that said, I happen to have two minis that don't grow a woolie mammoth coat in winter and sometimes with these nasty winters we get they need blankets, sometimes all winter, sometimes just here and there.

 

[Katiean]

Yes I have tried several brands of senior as well as prior to my getting her she got senior. This the best grain I have tried for her. She holds her weight very well with this grain.

She has been unblanketed for about 2 weeks now, this just started the last few days so I really dont think it has anything to do with the blanket. HOwever, when they are blanketed I do check them daily for temp as well as rotate blankets as needed if they get wet or to dirty.

I will add that I have discussed and thought about putting this mare down before next winter. She has a few other things going on and I think its just getting close to her time.

What I was saying was that the mare had liver problems and that is what caused the near total sheding before her summer coat came in. She had been sick for a couple of years and no one knew it.