This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Hair and Coat Problems / Itching / Irritated Skin » Rain Rot and Rain Scald: Dermatophilus »
  Discussion on Scabs allover my horse
Author Message

Posted on Friday, Jul 19, 2002 - 7:30 pm:

We have an eight year old appaloosa whom we have had for two years. He has been completely sound and healthy during this period. On April 27 we sent him to a horse trainer. After about two weeks, possibly three, we noticed scabs on his withers and were told it was bug bites. But they were rather thick and hard unlike bug bites. He continued to get worse and began losing weight. We brought Repel-X bug spray out and sprayed him but to no avail. On June 22 we went out to ride him but he was so covered with scabs that it was not possible and we called a vet. She said he had an allergy to bug bites and recommended spraying him twice daily with bug spray. We brought him home and began that regimen. Nothing improved. Also she had given him a steroid shot and some banamine on June 22. After about 10 days and nothing had imporoved, we called another vet who began treating him with penicillin. We soaked the horse with warm water and then the vet sedated him and we scrubbed him with a betadine scrub and used brushes to peel off the scabs. We did this three times. Nothing seemed to be working so the vet dhanged to the antibiotic Naxcel. We were able to administer this three times but he became so afraid of the needle that we could no longer inject him. By this time, our vet had gone out of town for a week. We thought that we had seen some improvement with the naxcel. The vet ordered a blood test and took biopsy samples from four locations. The blood test gave these hi/lo readings: glucose 59, creatinine .9, total bilirubin .7 AST(SGOT) 166, globulin 4.7; CBC hemnoglobin 9.4, hematocrit 26.2, WBC 12.7, RBC 5.64; Differential neutrophils 9906 fibrinogen 600.

I began using a cream that contained tea tree oil and among other ingredients, aloe and cortisone 1%. As the scabs softened with the cream and I could peel them away on his face, if I could rub it in and get the complete scab off, it did not come back at all. The skin remained smooth, no scabs. Underneath the scabs, the skin is a pinkish gray. In his mane and most places on the body, the scabs are very hard, stick hard to the skin, and when they come off, hair comes with.

We took him to another vet who called the lab (in Colorado) who evaluated the biopsies and they told him after having had the samples about four days that it was not a fungus. He told us that they could not tell in that little time whether it was afungus or not that that took about three weeks to culture. However, two days later, he got more results from the lab and they said their tests showed is is an auto immune disorder.

I am perplexed because he had no symptoms of any problems prior to going to the trainer's facility where he was boarded night and day for the period mentioned above. Now he has lost about 150 lbs and is covered everywhere but his muzle with scabs. Can yoiu help us -- we have had so many different opinions from several different vets. Also, is thee some definitive, specific test that would show that it is an autoimmune disease and please let us know how long it is before a fungal culture can be evaluated. Also, thee were no skin scrapings sent, just four cored out skin samples that were about an eighth or sixteenth of an inch thick, just ahead of the areas where the scabbing was worst.

It has not spread to other horses, but I can tell you that a neighbor who had her horse there for training came home with a few spots that they treated with a product called "Microtek" and it cleared up. Also, another friend had a horse there that developed similar scabs (hard, oozy, weepy). I do not know the condition of that horse.

Incidentally, the trainer fed oat hay which we do not, and he was on different water. Also, this horse had never been ridden -- he was sent there for breaking. He was a very strong bucker but a very sensitive and gentle animal. He was ridden hard and heavy every day and was put up wet. We have checked with the trainer and he is unaware of any other horses developing this kind of a problem.

The vet, Joe Grohs, says that there is no effective treatment that will get rid of it. They say that the scabs on his body are a symptom of the disease and the minute you stop treatment it would come back maybe even worse.

I am curious whether an autoimmune disorder would come on so suddenly -- this horse was superbly healthy until about two to three weeks into training. Why did my aplications of tea tree oil/cortisone cream work on him?

Posted on Friday, Jul 19, 2002 - 9:36 pm:

Dolores,
Are the scabs really all over his belly and legs, too? Do they run together, or are they all the same size? Do they hurt to pull off? Has the hair grown back on the places where you used the tea tree oil?

Holly

Posted on Saturday, Jul 20, 2002 - 12:25 am:

Holly, I sent this mesage once but I think I was disconnected and didn't
send. The scabs are literally all over except on his muzzle by his nose and
the front of his neck and an area on each side of the neck. His legs are
just covered as is his barrel where they appear to run together. Many hard,
large knots of scab in his mane but they are discreet scabs. On his rump,
the scabs are larger but discreet. On his belly and inside his back legs,
after the scabs were softened with soaking and a shampoo, the scabs/hair
just appeared to slide off. On his face, forehead I removed the scabs and
rubbed in the cream. Hair hasn't grown back but I only did this on Monday.
On Monday, his face was smooth where I had removed the entire scab and
rubbed in the cream. Yes, it hurts to pull them off so we hafve to soften
them. By the way, the name of the equine leave-on wash is Teaclenz by
Healing Tree Products of McMinnville, Oregon and the cream is Tzon healing
cream. I don't think the vet is currently giving him anything but bute and
baths to make him comfortable. Wehn we gave him naxcel, it seemed to
improve him. Also, in the areas on his flank where scabs were removed and
the leave-on shampoo applied, the skin remained healthy pink with no scabe,
although there was a lighjt, yellow crusty, thin bit of stuff there but it
appeared to be going away. He is staying at the vets now so I don't know
what is happening. I have heard of a treatment with chapparell which is
apparently an immune system stimulator/homeopathic remedy. I can't bear to
let this horse go until nd unless I have exhausted every possibility. The
vet said that instead of his immune system attacking the lesions, it is
attacking the skin. If we got rid of the lesions, mightn't it stop
attacking the skin? He mentioned some treatment called gold salts and is
investigating that. Thanks for your prompt answer and we are waiting to
hear.

Posted on Saturday, Jul 20, 2002 - 9:40 am:

Thank you for the thorough description, Delores. I have never heard anythng like it. The actual scabbing and scab removal with the removal of hair and moist skin underneath definitely sounds like rain rot, but I have never seen it cover a horse in the way you describe, especially after betadine washes. This is very interesting to me and I would really appreciate it if you send updates on the horse's skin condition and results of the vet's treatments.
Best wishes,
Holly

Posted on Saturday, Jul 20, 2002 - 10:32 am:

Why not post pix for DrO to look at?

Posted on Sunday, Jul 21, 2002 - 3:34 pm:

Dolores,
I answered this post back in the autoimmune forum.
DrO
I will try and consolidate them soon so all the posts and replies appear together.

Posted on Monday, Jul 22, 2002 - 6:15 pm:

Eqyss Microtek (the product your neighbor used on her horse) has done a fabulous job for me with rain rot and other skin problems, hair grows back nicely. But it sounds like your horse needs the big guns!

Best of luck.

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 24, 2002 - 1:08 pm:

My horse had a very serious case of rainrot last year due to the rain and humidity in Florida. We tried everything. The Microtek is truly great and I still keep it around for early onset on skin problems, but this problem was way beyond that. This is what the vet and I did to solve the big problem. aka "the big guns"

A shot of antibiotics (sorry, I can't recall exactly which one)at the exam, Uniprim powder in the feed once a day for 5 days, and a daily scrub with Nolvassan scrub for one week. Leave the scrub on for 10 minutes to soften the scabs, then gently rub them off with a plastic or rubber curry while rinsing. It was a real pain to bathe him every day like that, but it sure worked and one week solved a problem that had been evading all attempts for months.

Of course you may not have rain scald, but it can get very severe. I'm happy to say that now that I have my boy on my own property and can look after him myself, I've not had such problem. But I keep Nolvassan and Eqyss in my tack room at all times now just in case. Anything that looks like it might even think of becoming a skin problem gets scrubbed early! :-)

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 24, 2002 - 1:13 pm:

Oh, I just read your post in the other forum about the Azium. I didn't mention this in the post above, because I didn't think it was relevant until I read your other post. But my boy is also on dexamethazone for his heaves. I had to wean him off the medication the week before the treatment and stay off of it during that week.
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC