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Discussion on New skin rash on mare
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 - 12:48 pm:
My daughter's Paint Mare just developed an unusual rash that I am having trouble diagnosing, maybe you can help.
History:
17 year old Paint Mare, pregnant 4 1/2 months.
Eating, drinking, feels good, normal excretions.
Pastured at night only at this time of year, limited time in sunlight. We have not been riding much lately in the sun during the day the past few weeks.
Has had rain rot on lower rear legs off and on ever since we bought her two years ago. Only other skin condition since we bought her was an acute allergy to a new fly spray, which caused generalized hives and swelling of the face and eyes last summer.
Eats Southern States Legends "Show and Pleasure" pelleted feed. Orchardgrass hay.
Stall bedding is Equine Fresh Pelleted pine sawdust. Stall kept clean and dry.
Fescue pasture at night, lots of grass available but I admit has its share of weeds and clover, along with poison ivy. (no time to spray this summer!) I'm terrible at identifying plants, so could not tell you if any toxic plants are in there, but I would not be surprised. I do know that this mare tends to avoid anything but grass when eating.
August 8th through 17th she was boarded at a friend's barn while we were on vacation. They also pasture at night, but have very poor overgrazed pasture with lots of weeds thanks to the DrOught. I did request that if her individual lot did not have much grass that she be given hay at turn out. We used to board there and they have always been good at complying with my requests, so I assume this was done. While she was there she was fed a good quality fescue hay and brought in during the day.
First noticed symptoms two days ago. Sudden onset generalized small wheals on neck and shoulders, and one side of the gluteal muscles on the rump. No scabs. They do not appear to be itchy. Hyperemic and thickened muzzle in white area, with lightly crusty appearance and a few scratches. She acts like her nose is sore and doesn't want you to touch it.
The only attempted treatment so far was that I gave her 250 mg benadryl PO last night and a cool hose down. My daughter was supposed to use a medicated shampoo but has not started that yet.
No real response to benadryl this morning, I don't know whether to continue it because of the pregnancy. I certainly did not want to give her any steroids.
What do you think? She seems to feel fine...should I run bloodwork to check her liver?
Do you typically see scabs at the onset of dermatophilus or can it start in the early stages as wheals? And can it affect the nose?
Your thoughts on this matter, along with any ideas for treatment would be greatly appreciated. My equine medicine expertise has faded, as it has been 20 years since I dealt with horses medically.
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 - 12:52 pm:
Oh yeah, one more thing. The other horse is on stall rest (no pasture except for selected hand grazing) and has no problems at all.
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 - 12:55 pm:
And another thing...(hopefully the last addendum) We have had extremely wet conditions the past week, with sudden renewed pasture growth. Even if it does not rain the dew is extremely heavy in the morning.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 - 5:28 pm:
Alsike clover?
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 3, 2008 - 11:48 pm:
I'm not sure. Like I said I've been out of large animal work for so long I have forgotten all the toxic plants. I need to find a picture of the plant in my references...don't know if there are any on this web site, I may have missed it. This is the third year on this pasture and nobody has had any problem, unless she got some at the boarding facility (where she used to live for 3 years, and never had a problem there either) Of course last year it was so dry we had almost no grass. Now we have tons of nice green grass, along with tons of late season weeds that are so typical in this area even if you do spray. Today I noticed her nose and white lower lip were redder in the morning than this afternoon after being inside all day. None of her other white spots, blaze, or legs are affected. The wheals are subsiding tonight. I am seeing some tiny scabs where the wheals were, so I'm hoping the problem on the neck and shoulders is just rain rot. The nose still has me worried although it is not severe...I don't want anything to escalate here.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 4, 2008 - 8:17 am:
Hello Linda,
Yes dermatophilus often presents with wheals that then turn to a crust but these lesions will usually be painful with dermatophilus. The nose sounds like classic sunburn but certainly not consistent with the stabling history. For more on hives including histamine dosages see Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Bumps / Nodules / Warts / Tumors » Hives, Wheals, and Urticaria in Horses.
I don't see an indication in your post for a liver panel but this is a decision that must be made by someone examining the horse.
DrO
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Member:
lindas
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Posted on Thursday, Sep 4, 2008 - 11:44 pm:
Thanks Dr. O.
Gypsy is doing better. She has some scabs on her neck but nothing like I expected...I'm beginning to wonder if she fell asleep in a fire ant hill! My daughter has given her a medicated bath two days in a row now and the nose and neck are looking better. The nose now has little miliary scabs all over the white part, on the distal 1/3 of her face. It is less red than it was. I agree it looks exactly like sunburn except for the life of me I cannot figure out when she might have been exposed to excessive sun. (unless my lovely teenage daughter slept late while I was at work a couple of mornings...now that's a possibility!) When I asked her about it she said she didn't remember. I guess that means guilty! 
Just curious...have you ever seen a horse that you thought had poison ivy? We did think of that because that is the area that would have been exposed while grazing.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Sep 5, 2008 - 8:06 am:
No, I have not diagnosed poison ivy contact dermatitis in horses.
DrO
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Member:
gaelwolf
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Posted on Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 - 3:06 am:
Hello - a question on a rash that has appeared on our mare's under neck - above the chest and in a 10" x 6" section - bumps about the size of a quarter - that don't seem to be sore, itchy or warm. Noticed 4 days ago - tried dose syringe of Benadryl for a few days (small dose)- no help - and today they are getting larger.
Does anyone have any experience with this or suggestions - I have not taken her temp but will tomorrow morning. She is acting fine.
She is an 8 yr. old TB/Spanish Barb mare - and her feed has not changed...
Thank you for any insights you might be able to provide.
Teren MacLeod
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 - 7:24 am:
Hello Teren,
It sounds like you are describing localized hives and either local infection or a contact irritant could look this say.
Assuming normal vital signs I would consider local treatment with a good antimicrobial shampoo. Rinse and dry well. Then if I felt it was a local irritant, OTC cortisone cream will probably relieve the swelling. For possible infection, early bacteria or possibly fungus, a daily 4% chlorhexidine spray might be the treatment of choice. Undiluted Betadine could be used but would need 2 or 3 times daily application.
DrO
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009 - 3:31 pm:
Teren, hope your mare improves soon. If you do a search on HA for hives, you'll find quite a few discussions including mine. We had a stallion that got them all over his body several different years in a row and it was very difficult to clear them up.
I'm curious about your name as I'm also a MacLeod. My interest in family, geneology and history makes me wonder how closely we're related!
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