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Rain Rot

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Are there any easy treatments for rain rot? Quite a few are getting it this year and I wanted to try to treat it before it gets worse.

accphotography Sat, 11/07/2009 - 20:20

It's really, really, really bad this year in KY. Most horses at our farm have it and have it BAAAD. it's virtually impossible to get rid of this year. Virtually every one of us is having to use a prescription medication DAILY to keep it at bay.

A couple of things you can do to help:

1: Clip the area. I know it might look goofy, but seriously. The more the area can breathe and the more sunlight it gets, the better.
2: Keep it CLEAN. Castille soap is great if you can wash the areas with it. Be very careful not to touch anywhere else on the horse with your hands or tools after you've touched a bad spot.
3: If you can't get a prescription, use baby oil. Soap with the castille until the scabs soften and come off, let dry, apply baby oil.

CMhorses Sat, 11/07/2009 - 21:46

Does it harm them if nothing is done about it? I know many have had it in the past and we never did anything other than remove the scabs. I know my parents will not have the time to go around and try to treat a bunch of different horses that are purely pastured and not even fed grain or anything really. The main one I worried about is April, since she is 25 and I wanted to make sure she could stay insulated for the winter since she is already skinny, but she only has it on her flank area.

accphotography Sat, 11/07/2009 - 22:14

It can definitely scar. If it gets bad enough it can cause a fever and everything else that follows that.

The only thing that can effectively treat truly BAD rain rot is work IMO. Every time I get Lace's close to cleared up (I mean virtually totally healed), we leave town. When we get back they're full blown again. They recede again within 3 days treatment. I just have to stay ON it or it comes back.

Clipping the area so sun and air can get to it is probably one of the best things that can be done in your situation.

lipigirl Sun, 11/08/2009 - 08:31

Rugging a horse seems to prevent it - I have only had it in a horse that was not rugged and or the rug was allowed to get too wet and or sometimes certain rugs do not let the skin beathe, but if I have a great rug that does not get saturated and lets the skin breathe, then they never seem get it. So my advise to you both is rug the ones you really can't afford to get it.

TheRedHayflinger Sun, 11/08/2009 - 11:00

i've never had it on one of my own...but a friend rescued a TB a couple of years ago and he was COVERED in it (hair was falling out in clumps and no new growth coming in...plus he was about a 1 on the body scale)....I gave her this stuff I had, and it really cleared it up quick, it was called WellHorse.

Morgan Sun, 11/08/2009 - 11:17

I've gotten a few young horses that had their back covered in it. I just brushed and used clam coat (its a mix of oils, tea tree and some other stuff). The scabs loosened and once I picked them off it cleared up.

critterkeeper Sun, 11/08/2009 - 13:00

I have just been buying that stuff from TSC made especially for rainrot. I brush them, sponge it over their affected areas. It contains oils, so it works kinda like the baby oil. ;)

I have noticed though that this year is horrible, even though everyone has shelter from storms, they prefer to graze in the drizzle...grrr. Fortunately I only have 2 with it right now... :)

[b]Old farmer treatments[/b]: I had one guy tell me to use seven dust (and when I told him that doesn't work on a fungus, he said 1/2 the time it isn't really rainrot but lice :roll: ) and if that didn't clear it up to bathe them in bleach water (now you know THAT doesn't feel good). Oh and lets not forget the burnt motor oil treatment (like a dog with mange)... :hammer

Dilutes Sun, 11/08/2009 - 16:44

Last time I used just home brand white vinegar and sponged it on thoroughly. Once the scabs were lifting off, I gently (as possible) removed them and kept up with the vinegar. Once the scabs were gone, I kept up with the vinegar in the mornings but in the afternoons put on Vit E cream. I find it helps keep the skin soft to encourage hair growth. Once it was pretty well healed, I stopped with the vinegar and Vit E cream.

CMhorses Sun, 11/08/2009 - 23:31

The vinegar thing sounds interesting. Keep in mind I am talking about 10+ horses with varying degrees of the stuff, and we do not own a single blanket. I've seen rain rot worse than this so I am not really worried about it too much.

NZ Appaloosas Mon, 11/09/2009 - 00:24

[quote="lipigirl"]Rugging a horse seems to prevent it - I have only had it in a horse that was not rugged and or the rug was allowed to get too wet and or sometimes certain rugs do not let the skin beathe, but if I have a great rug that does not get saturated and lets the skin breathe, then they never seem get it. So my advise to you both is rug the ones you really can't afford to get it.[/quote]

GOOD LORD NO! The worst cases of rain rot I've seen have been on covered horses...the covers get wet, warm, perfect environment for the bacteria/fungi to grow.

Diane

lipigirl Mon, 11/09/2009 - 11:45

sorry will have to agree to disagree there, some rugs if left wet on do cause rain rot or if the horse sweats a lot in one but I have never had it on a horse with a really good rug.....JME !! :D

NZ Appaloosas Mon, 11/09/2009 - 16:38

Y'all probably don't rug the way they seem to here...I've seen horses rugged during summer with more covers than I'd use when I lived in the blustery northeastern USA winters!

But if rain rot is already there, creating a nice warm environment for the buggies doesn't seem a good idea.

Diane

lipigirl Mon, 11/09/2009 - 17:00

Totally agree with that Diane, and yes we may have different hugs to you guys too but I don't over-rug anything, would rather under-rug but feed up instead.

Andrea Wed, 11/11/2009 - 10:04

Since they are essentially sores on the horse's skin, I would think you'd want to treat it just to prevent any other diseases or infections.
It blows my mind that your parents wouldn't take care of the horses or that you would consider leaving them untreated. It's sad.

CMhorses Wed, 11/11/2009 - 11:50

[quote="Andrea"]Since they are essentially sores on the horse's skin, I would think you'd want to treat it just to prevent any other diseases or infections.
It blows my mind that your parents wouldn't take care of the horses or that you would consider leaving them untreated. It's sad.[/quote]
The stuff I'm talking about looks like nothing more than flaky dandruff, not some oozing sores. We have NEVER had any problems before leaving them with it, it was just something the young ones usually got. Maybe you would have some understanding of whats going on if you actually owned 27 horses, which all but 4 are completely pastured, not fed grain, not even seen daily and if you lived on a 120 acre farm; believe me, they know how to take care of themselves as they have been doing it for years, the only ones we have ever had coliced or get sick are the ones fed grain with the exception of smokey getting sick from moldy hay. My parents both have 40 hour a week jobs, mom does not even get home until it is dark now that daylight savings happened, and my dad only feeds the horses, so I'm sorry if they do not take care of them to your liking, I'm tickled that my stalled minis even get fed daily or tied out to eat grass or that the stallions in small fields get the run ins scraped out and cleaned regularly. Many things "blow my mind" that you do but I don't go and complain about it on a public forum or even tell you in private because thats rude and offensive and if you want to do things that I think are wrong then go ahead, because its not my business to tell you otherwise.
Heres some other things that will probably 'blow your mind', we don't get teeth floated, but I have been wanting mom to get the grain eaters done, even the 25 year old that has never had teeth floated eats fine, barely drops any food at all since she eats natural stuff that wears them down better than grain, they don't get vaccinations unless we are going to sell them, they don't get grain daily (except ones in stalls or small pens) they don't get flymasks in the summer since they loose them, oh and most don't have a real shelter because they know how to use the woods and whatnot, and before you complain about that, go give some wild horses some shelters even though they know how to cope with the elements just fine.
Sometimes people just piss me off and I HAVE to rant; just because you raise your horses a different way sure as hell does NOT mean my way is wrong and horrible as we have 27 fat healthy horses out in those fields.
I apologize to everyone else for this, but I felt it should be said.

NZ Appaloosas Wed, 11/11/2009 - 19:38

Don't worry, CM, there are those out there that I consider are considerably more "abusive" of their horses, and intentionally, albeit thru' some thought of "kindness"...it breaks my heart to be driving around with the air conditioning on and seeing horses wearing canvas rugs which are very apparently covering another type of rug...you just know that that horse is as hot as h*ll and miserable. All the research into colic, ulcers, etc., seem to indicate that a grain-heavy, stalled lifestyle is the major cause of those conditions, and NO vices such as windsucking, cribbing, stall weaving are ever seen in a wild/feral situation. I look at this way...neither Animal Control nor SPCA are knocking on your door, so don't fret. Chances are what the horses have, reading your last description, is scurf, which is basically just scaly/shredded dried skin. If you are capable, timewise, of giving the afflicted horses serious and solid grooming (I'm talking more than an hour at a time) for a length of time, it should go away. I've bathed horses in dandruff shampoo that have had this (and the only time I've had to deal with this was in the NE after a winter of covering, btw. LOL).

Diane

CMhorses Wed, 11/11/2009 - 20:16

Whatever the skin condition they have, I have always heard it called rain rot, so thats what I thought it was (and what it still could be) but my mom brushed her little mare and got nearly all of it off over the weekend and i gave April a good bum-brushing (thats where she had it) and she just loved it even though i was trying to be gentle not to take her fur off since its all clumpy from the condition.
And the majority of ours do live in a feral type situation, of course I mean they live on pasture, get hay bales in winter and water troughs if the ponds dry up, so they are healthy, and happy, since they have lived their entire lives that way. *also I do want to note that we do not feed them moldy hay, just usually the outside of hay bales that stay outside have a moldy bad area they they normally pick around, but Smokey either has a weak stomach or is not as smart about what he eats*

lipigirl Thu, 11/12/2009 - 08:48

NZ is correct, over pampered horses get sick and bored, I like to try and give mine as natural life as possible, it's not always easy. It annoys me that my Lipi had no vices until he went to a home where they insisted on salling him every night - I asked that he could live out. Now he rubs his tail out of boredom !!!! Horses should be out in a herd having as natural a life as possible.

Oh and CM I am jealous - wish I had that much land !! :love

CMhorses Thu, 11/12/2009 - 10:37

That's why I like the way we raise ours, and even better, I can just yell for a few min and if they are close enough they will come running (talking about the older mares and mini field). The cool thing about having so much land is it really cuts down the cost of having horses food wise since the majority pasture graze until winter, then are given hay bales.
I am 90% sure what they have is scurf (or at least not rain rot) from what I could read about it on the net, wish I had some pictures.

colorfan Thu, 11/12/2009 - 12:28

just an observation; On a short summer coat the scurf is easily shed from the coat, I think when the horses coat gets a bit longer it traps the scurf. I have seen some horses that when you brush them the coat can look very gray because the scurf is so thick.
My personal experience is some horses simply seem to have more than others. Pastured or stabled. This condition may be itchy but is not painful.

Rain rot has tiny scabs and some not so tiny scabs, they can be painful when the scab is picked off, usually there is ooze underneath.
Rain rot seems to cluster in the wither, barrel and shoulder region. On a very badly infected horse I found a few scabs on the haunches and croup. Rain rot is very contagious, and does cause the horse some discomfort, wether from the scab pulling hairs as they clump and dry together for from the condition itself I don't know. Probably both.

A thorough grooming will remove scurf but not rain rot.
Rain rot is caused by Dermatophilus bacterium .

I have used a product called MTG, which is a sulfur/oil and ? on both conditions with good success.

The oil helps sooth and soften dry skin/scabs and the sulfur is antibacterial &anti fungal agent. It also keeps bugs off sores and wounds.

Andrea Thu, 11/12/2009 - 14:59

Rainrot and "flaky dandruff" are two totally different issues. Why not figure out what they have before asking people on internet boards of remedies?
Rainrot will not go away on it's own. It breeds in moist conditions which is why you need to get the scabs off. Otherwise it will get worse or they'll get a secondary infection.

You're right. I don't have 27 horses. The reason I don't have 27 horses is because I KNOW I wouldn't be able to take care of them. I am only willing to take on what I can handle. But you can BET that if I did have 27 horses, I WOULD be out there treating them if they had rainrot. I do work 40 hours a week. I do have 2 grade school kids. I also know what it means to take care of what I CHOSE to be responsible for.

Being able to pasture your horses is great! I would love to throw my ponies in my back yard. Does that mean I get to neglect to get them when they got sick or injured? Like it or not. If you don't have the means to take care of your horses when they are sick or injured, maybe that should open your eyes and your parents' eyes.

I've been dealing with Pigeon Fever with Frodo for over a month now. Am I tired when I get home from work and doing homework with the kids? Yeah. Do I still go out and take care of my "responsibilities"? Yup. Did I call a vet to see what was up? Yep. Did I call the vet out again when I wasn't sure if something was right? Yep.

I don't care if you float your horses' teeth or not. If they are keeping their weight on great! You're lucky! Don't care about fly masks or shelter. What I have an issue with is not providing the basic needs of an animal. Such as water and nutrition. And Medical support when they need it!

And any time something I do with my ponies blows your mind, feel free to bring it up. I may even agree with you. My mind is open enough to discuss it and maybe even admit when I'm wrong. Go figure.

[quote="CMhorses"][quote="Andrea"]Since they are essentially sores on the horse's skin, I would think you'd want to treat it just to prevent any other diseases or infections.
It blows my mind that your parents wouldn't take care of the horses or that you would consider leaving them untreated. It's sad.[/quote]
The stuff I'm talking about looks like nothing more than flaky dandruff, not some oozing sores. We have NEVER had any problems before leaving them with it, it was just something the young ones usually got. Maybe you would have some understanding of whats going on if you actually owned 27 horses, which all but 4 are completely pastured, not fed grain, not even seen daily and if you lived on a 120 acre farm; believe me, they know how to take care of themselves as they have been doing it for years, the only ones we have ever had coliced or get sick are the ones fed grain with the exception of smokey getting sick from moldy hay. My parents both have 40 hour a week jobs, mom does not even get home until it is dark now that daylight savings happened, and my dad only feeds the horses, so I'm sorry if they do not take care of them to your liking, I'm tickled that my stalled minis even get fed daily or tied out to eat grass or that the stallions in small fields get the run ins scraped out and cleaned regularly. Many things "blow my mind" that you do but I don't go and complain about it on a public forum or even tell you in private because thats rude and offensive and if you want to do things that I think are wrong then go ahead, because its not my business to tell you otherwise.
Heres some other things that will probably 'blow your mind', we don't get teeth floated, but I have been wanting mom to get the grain eaters done, even the 25 year old that has never had teeth floated eats fine, barely drops any food at all since she eats natural stuff that wears them down better than grain, they don't get vaccinations unless we are going to sell them, they don't get grain daily (except ones in stalls or small pens) they don't get flymasks in the summer since they loose them, oh and most don't have a real shelter because they know how to use the woods and whatnot, and before you complain about that, go give some wild horses some shelters even though they know how to cope with the elements just fine.
Sometimes people just piss me off and I HAVE to rant; just because you raise your horses a different way sure as hell does NOT mean my way is wrong and horrible as we have 27 fat healthy horses out in those fields.
I apologize to everyone else for this, but I felt it should be said.[/quote]

Morgan Thu, 11/12/2009 - 16:55

wow, an argument about....rain rot? :shock:
I've truly never given much thought to the stuff :lol: I just pick it off, put the oil on and away it goes. I do have one horse that seems to sprout patches on her legs for no reason and would try to flatten me if I picked at them so I just dab the oil on top and leave it at that. When I got Dusty his back was covered in scabs with his winter coat (he'd been living in a muddy paddock with a ton of other horses, no shelter, no grooming at all) I just brushed his back every day and picked off the scabs that came loose. That's all it takes to clear it. I rarely ever groom normally unless I'm riding or the horses is going to be seen. They usually go the whole winter without the touch of a brush except to knock out the dirt in the saddle area for a ride (brushing a winter coat is pointless most of the time, it's so static you can't do anything. :hammer ) They get one or two scabs that I pick by hand and that's the end of it. I blanket only for winter rain, ice and freezing wind. I didn't blanket at all in AL except the thin rescues, but the weather is a little harsher here so I feel bad for them.

Threecritters Thu, 11/12/2009 - 20:00

At this point it could be moot...but my vet recommended to me several years ago using an iodine shampoo. Just lather it up on the affected area and then rinse. In the winter we just use a little bucket of warm water. This may not be much of a fix for 27 horses but...I thought I'd throw it out there in case someone else could use the info. I've had fantastic luck with it the few times my girls have gotten a little spot of it. Seems the muscley stock horses get it in the crease along their spine when they're fitted up and a wet season comes. Just my two cents :D

NZ Appaloosas Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:18

[quote="accphotography"]Couldn't it be mange?[/quote]

Can horses get mange? I'm presuming you mean like the mange dogs get, ACC.

Diane

accphotography Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:27

Yup, yup. It sounds alot like it to me too. Obviously it's not always as bad as the photo it shows in this link though:

http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/in…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From what I understand mange CAN be easy to treat with the right medication. Sometimes as little as one does will take care of it... if that is what it is for sure. That's what hubby thought it sounded like and he's got far more skin condition experience than I care to acknowledge. :rofl

NZ Appaloosas Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:33

[quote="Andrea"]Rainrot and "flaky dandruff" are two totally different issues. Why not figure out what they have before asking people on internet boards of remedies?[/quote]

And different people from different locales often call the same thing by different terms. And often, the same "word" has different meanings, depending on where one is. Quite honestly, a question like this IS exactly why the vet section is a public section...how else is CM expected to learn that there is a difference, and she's using a term incorrectly, unless she is [i][b]educated[/b][/i] otherwise? As was once told me by a highly intelligent, highly educated geneticist, back in high school, "there are no dumb questions, just dumb people who don't bother asking".

A word to the wise, don't ask for cheerios here in NZ, and probably Australia, if you want breakfast cereal...

Diane

NZ Appaloosas Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:35

[quote="accphotography"]Yup, yup. It sounds alot like it to me too. Obviously it's not always as bad as the photo it shows in this link though:

http://merckveterinarymanual.com/mvm/in…" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

From what I understand mange CAN be easy to treat with the right medication. Sometimes as little as one does will take care of it... if that is what it is for sure. That's what hubby thought it sounded like and he's got far more skin condition experience than I care to acknowledge. :rofl[/quote]

But wouldn't there be hair loss? (I'm on dialup at the mo', so not keen on pulling up a vet manual! LOL)

Diane

CMhorses Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:44

[quote="Andrea"]Rainrot and "flaky dandruff" are two totally different issues. Why not figure out what they have before asking people on internet boards of remedies?
Rainrot will not go away on it's own. It breeds in moist conditions which is why you need to get the scabs off. Otherwise it will get worse or they'll get a secondary infection.

You're right. I don't have 27 horses. The reason I don't have 27 horses is because I KNOW I wouldn't be able to take care of them. I am only willing to take on what I can handle. But you can BET that if I did have 27 horses, I WOULD be out there treating them if they had rainrot. I do work 40 hours a week. I do have 2 grade school kids. I also know what it means to take care of what I CHOSE to be responsible for.

Being able to pasture your horses is great! I would love to throw my ponies in my back yard. Does that mean I get to neglect to get them when they got sick or injured? Like it or not. If you don't have the means to take care of your horses when they are sick or injured, maybe that should open your eyes and your parents' eyes.[/quote]
I am pretty sure that we have NEVER neglected or ignored an injury or sickness. I know we have a stallion right now that has to have a leg bandage changed daily for probably another 2 or 3 months. And I'm sorry if I had always heard it called rain rot, thats like saying if you always heard an earache called a headache you wouldn't know the difference or even think to research it to make sure it was the same thing because you had always called it that. I know what they have is definitely not rain rot now that I looked into what rain rot really is and am still pretty sure it is scurf from my research on that, and all that it would take to fix that is a good brushing. Also note I didn't say all 27 had it, I said a few, maybe but probably not even 10 have it as I have only seen it on 3 and did not check the rest when I was home over the weekend. Also I do want to note that we have been trying to downsize but since we CAN support and take care of that many we are not going to sell them for cheap, so we are holding onto them until the market gets a little better and they get trained better, Also note that a good portion of them are over 15 years old, and not many people even want an older horse that was not trained to ride and can not be bred, or bred for very long, so I have no problem keeping them so they can live out their lives.

Also I'm sorry but a big LOL to you if you think we don't call the vet out when something is up with one of them, and it is completely pointless to call the vet out when this is something we have seen before, never caused any bad side effects or problems, no sicknesses or anything. Sorry if we don't want to waste alot of money on vet bills when the vet is not needed. Btw, a lot of things can be taken care of yourself if you know what you are doing. Also lol again if you think they don't have water when I clearly stated that we give them tanks when the ponds are getting low, and they almost always have mineral blocks and get field rotations as well to make sure they have enough food to eat, and good food to eat.

Acc, I am pretty sure what they have is not mange. No oozing sores, or sores of any kind, no hair loss. Really just looks like bad dandruff that gets caught up around little clumps of hairs, and it isn't sore at all if you scratch on it.

accphotography Fri, 11/13/2009 - 00:49

I thought there WAS hair loss?

I don't think the oozing sores are mandatory if it's not a bad case.

It could just be scurf though.