Flakey Skin?

Question

My thoroughbred, Charlie, has very flakey skin. On her hips are little spots where theres no hair, on the exact same spot, both sides and it's very flakey. Also, on her back where the saddle pad goes theres a huge about 6 inch strip where the skin is exstremely flakey and loosing hair. I'm very worried she has rain rott. Right now I'm using Iodine to put on her right now and a ointment to bring up more mositure. What should I do or put on it?

Also:

She is out in grass pasture for about 6 hours, no mud then stalled in shaving bedding

Answer 1

how old is charlie?

it could be a minor skin condition

ive had this problem with one of the horses i used to ride, and it was just because mud built up on him, and made his skin dry.

so call the vet and ask him.

Answer 2

Hum, could you post a photo, could be rain rot but could be something else.

Answer 3

You should consult your vet to verify what it is and treat it accordingly. If you keep guessing and trying different treatments that don't work you might accidentally make things worse. Once you know what it is and know how to treat it your horse will heal a lot faster. If you wait too long there is always a chance that the hair will grow back in white or not at all. If its a highly contagious fungus like I had once that spread through my barn like wild fire (the vet said a raccoon or rabbit was probably in the paddock and had the fungus and it rubbed off onto the grass, so when my horse rolled he picked up the fungus and where ever he scratched or a brush that had touched his body touched caught and spread the fungus) It was a month of total head to foot body benidine baths/scrubs every day for 36 horses! I had to scrub and coat the stalls with special disinfectant and had to wait 2 months until the fungus would be surely dead so  I could put my horses back out on the grass again... needless to say it wasn't fun! So you should get that checked out as soon as you can. Not to say its like my experience (which the vet told me was extremely rare fungus). Hope Charlie gets better...

Answer 4

I probably would consult a vet to examine Charlie just so I would know if I were treating it correctly.

Answer 5

my horse had a similar problem, I bought him as a two year old and right after I got him home he got really flaky skin and when the flakes came off the hair came with it, he went almost completely bald, I just went to an Ag store and got a jug of bug killer, not bug killer literally but  its for horses and it kills lice and fungi's and bacteria, I put it in a weed sprayer (The stuff I bought was concentrated so I had to mix with water) that was clean and sprayed ALL of my horses from head to toe, than I sprayed all of my saddle blankets, cinches brushes, ect... anything that touches all of your horses basically.  Just make sure you do all of it at the same time, not like spray one horse one day than another the next because they can recontaminate eachother. My horse cleared up (none of the others had any skin problems) none of the others ever developed the problem ever and all of his hair grew back beautifully.

If she is itching at all it could be mites. you can use gardstar to douse her for mites.

Answer 6

It is probably some sort of fungal problem.

Try srubbing it with Betadine.  If you do, wash it thoroughly afterward.  It's ok for a horse to bleed a little while treating with Betadine.  It doesn't hurt them.

To get hair to grow back, use Preparation H.  I swear it works!  ;)

Answer 7

If its rain rot keep putting the iodine on it two times a day and don't put a saddle on til its cleared up.