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  Discussion on Mare Itching off hair
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New Member:
jcranger

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 2:31 pm:

My 21yrs black arabian broodmare has been itching her butt so much that she has rubbed all her hair off in that area. She lifts her tail and rubs her butt on the corrals or anything she can find that's better like horse fencing out in the pasture. Due to this I have tried to keep her away from that kind of fencing because she itches so bad on those types of fences that she rubs her skin right off. Her hair is not falling off on its own it just is off because she rubs it off. She has been out/stalled with the other horses and they are showing not sign of itching like her. Right now she is stalled alone for our bigger corral has a type of wire/crate fencing around the panels where she would itch her butts skin off. Right now she is in a corral without that type of fencing due to this.

I have tried bathing her whole body with Egyss micro tek equine shampoo and try to bath only her affect area (her butt) once a week with this. I also have used Egyss micro tek equine spray on her affected areas 2 times a day until the bottle was empty and she still was itching. I have tried none itch type stuff and just started trying bag-bomb a couple days ago. About a couple months ago we were feeding her alpha/orchard mixed hay 2 times a day when she started itching. So, thinking it was an allergy to orchard (for she has eaten alpha in the past with no problems), about a month we slowly changed her feed off orchard to 4-way hay (alpha, oats, timothy, and something else which I think is barley but not sure). She still is itching. She is pretty much up-to-date on her de-worming, though she just became due for one right now which I was thinking about giving her Strongid today or tomorrow. We try to de-worm our horses every 2 months. She had Zimecterin Gold in last time January (we were a bit late on this one) and Ivermectin Paste 1.87% October.

She is a broodmare and we did not breed her last year (could that have something to do with it). We were hoping to breed her this year but I wanted to figure out what was going on with her butt first. Here are some pictures. Thanks

Member:
annes

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 3:14 pm:

I have never seen the hair off like that but when my TB starts backing up to everything to scratch his butt, it is always a tick that I find in his sheath area or up between his thighs...every time. He was itching at the end of Feb this year and I was surprised to find ticks so early. Mares can also get really dirty in the fold between their teats and that can cause them to itch. I certainly hope you can find the cause ASAP because I am sure she is very uncomfortable - Good luck!
Member:
scooter

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 3:19 pm:

I guess she is itchy. My mare started the itching a couple days ago also. I cleaned between her udders and they were VERY YUCKY the itching has stopped and she is a happy camper now. When I was cleaning them I thought she was going to fall on the ground she was so elated. Do you clean your mares udders? They can collect alot of crud between them. Other than that I don't know other than some mares rub when in heat.
Member:
juliem

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 3:49 pm:

Since she is due to be wormed, why not use ivermectin and repeat in a couple of weeks in case it's lice or mites? I had two weanlings and one two year old do that earlier this year and never found a louse, but they stopped after the second dose of ivermectin. Likely a coincidence, but they gotta be wormed anyway, right?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Mar 14, 2008 - 4:48 pm:

Hello BJF,
If a thorough exam of the skin, see the article for some specific ideas of what to look for, did not reveal a cause you might have the clitoral fossa/vagina/cervix examined and if still nothing a rectal exam with the rectal wall, urinary, and reproductive track carefully palpated to see if there are any lesions that may be pruritic. If not I would consider a skin biopsy from a fresh edge of the lesion. The article also details some specific symptomatic therapy.
DrO
Member:
mrose

Posted on Sunday, Mar 16, 2008 - 7:16 pm:

If your visit to the vet and the worming doesn't solve your mare's problem, cold water hosing once a day for several days may help. I have no idea why; but years ago Tom McNair (then the trainer for Gleanloch) told me to cold hose my mare's rear end and it worked. I'd rule out other things first.
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