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  Discussion on Mane hair loss including root ball
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New Member:
tmpk9bru

Posted on Sunday, Mar 8, 2015 - 11:21 pm:

Hi Dr. O,

My 6 year old TB is rapidly losing her mane. She is a bay with a black mane and tail. She is not the only horse on the property that is also losing her mane hair. There are several horses that are also being affected. We recently had a new barn manager take over our barn in November who changed the horses feed and hay. My horse has been at this barn for 3 years and has had no issues up until just recently. It is extremely cold here in CT so all of the horses are blanketed, some of which have blankets with neck covering. The hair loss area is not being affected by blanket rubs. The hair is not breaking and is falling out from the root with the root ball attached. There is no sign of external parasites or fungus or other skin irritations. The vet is stumped but did say that she believes that this is a herd issue because other horses are affected as well. The only commonality between the horses that are affected is the first cutting hay and water. All of the horses affected are on different types of grain and supplements. The vet took blood and recommended that although she did not detect fungus she wants us to treat with betadine every other day for 5 days. The blood was examined for Selenium but came back negative. The horses are of all different breeds, sex and ages. The hay that they have been on recently had a very high percentage of alfalfa one of which they have not been on before. I am unable to test this hay because we recently ran out and a brand new shipment of another kind of hay replaced it. There was no transition period between the old and new. This hay is purchased from NY and supposedly contains timothy and alfalfa. There has also been an outbreak of unexplained lameness issues that are believed to be abscesses. Again, its winter, we have about three feet of snow on the ground and most of these horses are not being worked hard because it's been averaging about 10-20 degrees above and well below zero, if that. My horse has not had any lameness problems and she is being lightly worked at least 2-3 times a week either ridden, lounged or free lounged in our small indoor. She is on a Dynasty 14-10 grain, Smartpack cocosoya and MSM. She is not blowing her coat at this time as it is still too cold. She is not losing hair from any other area on her body and neither tail or forelock. Tina
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Mar 12, 2015 - 6:23 pm:

Hello Tina,
What were the Se results?

When multiple horses are affected with the same condition, infection or toxicity are most likely. There is nothing in your post that is diagnostic so the next step would be biopsy. Betadine (povidone) every other day? Should that not be twice daily (the stuff evaporates) and if you suspect a fungus how about instead using a over the counter antifungal (jock itch or athletes foot prep) these would be more effective than povidone. Talk to your vet about this.
DrO
New Member:
tmpk9bru

Posted on Saturday, Mar 14, 2015 - 2:44 pm:

Dr. O,

The test results for SE were negative. I have removed the blanket with the full neck covering to get air to that area and the hair loss has seemed to slow down a little. Still falling out but not as much. We have since located another horse with similar hair loss in our barn. As for the Betadine, again, I was following the vet's recommendations. Again she did not suspect any fungus when she examined the three horses and just prescribed that as a fail safe. I will talk to the vet about the biopsy. Is it normal for horses that wear the high neck covering to lose mane hair that extreme? Most of the horses that are losing their mane hair are wearing blankets with neck covers. If the horses are taken off of the suspected hay will their hair loss decrease and begin to grow back over time? Thanks for the reply. I keep trying to send photos but the computer won't let me send them.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Mar 17, 2015 - 7:55 am:

What does negative mean? Selenium is an essential nutrient. You can have too little selenium also with similar clinical signs. I am not familiar with the high neck blankets but I suspect make and fit could factor into the answer of the question. It certainly seems plausible. What is the hay suspected of?
DrO
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