Horse w/ weird skin?

Question

I just took in two rescue horses. Had vet out the other day to give them the once over. Pretty healthy, good personalities. I got pretty lucky. Both are rideable. The older one (Palomino) is about 11-12 yrs. His skin feels really strange..almost "crunchy"...but it's not..just has a different feel..The vet gave me Bio-Meth for both of them, which I am giving.

Then last night, he (horse) tool his back leg, reached up towards the front to scratch. Well, when he did this, the skin in his mid section looked like an accordian! (like someone took a piece of paper, and folded it back and forth a hundred times)

He drinks fine, eats fine...hoping the bio-meth will help. Does anybody know what I'm talking about?? I have other horses (not from a rescue) that I have never seen this on...just seems strange. The other horse that came with him ... his skin is fine.

Answer 1

We have a Clydesdale with the same problem... get the medicated Selson Blue for super dandruff, it will help soften up his skin a bit if you scrub him good with it. If the bugs are really bothering him, slather a ton of vaseline over areas he gets bitten the most (usually belly, neck, chest) before he gets turned out. Just use fly spray when he's in the barn, you don't want vaseline all over your tack. The vaseline will come off slowly when he's turned out, so I would turn him out overnight, around 12 hours tops before re-applying. Udder cream may also help moisturize a bit.

Answer 2

find a shampoo that will help the skin and give him a bath once a week

Answer 3

You might try giving him a bath with some quality horse shampoo.

My horse uses his hind leg to scratch by his ears quite often, and has the similiar folds in the skin when he does it...it amazes me that he can do this b/c I had only ever seen foals doing it. He'll even do it with me in the saddle, amazing balance!

Answer 4

Sounds to me like you may have a couple of problems.  Rainrot is the first one that comes to mind and the second would be lice.

Rescue horses are not always in the best flesh and depending on the food/nutrition he had could be the reason his skin is so poor looking.

Part of the wrinkling could also be due to lack of water and minerals.

Lice on horses is alot like you have described.  But a vet could tell you in a second exactly what it is... but to me it sounds like rainrot and lice.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

that sounds WEIRD.

lol its probably just dry.

but you should seriously call the vet and ask.

Could be flaking... or the remains of a bad sun burn. *shrugs*

sorry not much help here. :)

just call your vet and have him take a look at your horse.

also buy some flax seed!!! it makes their coat healthier... which would make their skin healthier too. :D

Answer 6

Micro-Tek is the solution to everything ;) No seriously, my horse had a mysterious skin problem on her neck and shoulders and even the vet couldn't fix it (he gave her Malaseb shampoo and antibiotics and a steroid powder and she actually got WORSE) so I tried Micro-Tek gel (it comes in shampoo, too, but it was winter) because I'd heard good things about it....It actually solved the problem! I still don't know what it was, though. *lol*

http://www.saddlersrow.com/store/item.as...

Answer 7

It is best to consult a vet.  He would be the professional that could analyse this problem and give advise.

Answer 8

Are you sure he is well hydrated?  Poor skin turgor, where you can pinch it up and it takes awhile to return to flat, is a sign of dehydration.  The other thought I have is that he just doesn't have sturdy fascial attachment of his skin to underlying tissue, or not much fat on the superficial fascia.

The skin would also be more susceptible to infections, etc. in this situation.

ADD...Enreco Horseshine is an excellent flaxseed product..just add to daily feed...can order online.

ADD...if the vet was not concerned, give it a week and observe the skin for improvement...keep track of anything that persists to seem abnormal and go from there. I'd also be sure the horse is urinating in normal amounts, as long as you're observing...could be related to poor skin tugor.

Answer 9

Are these horse's underweight?  

If so, that may be the reason for BOTH of your problems with the palomino.  Ever seen a person who's lost a LOT of weight?  Same thing might be going on with your gelding, those folds of skin are just that, there's not enough meat on his bones yet to fill out the skin.

As for the "weird" feel to his skin, try giving him some corn oil with his grain.

Answer 10

Sounds like a fungus. My pony had a similar thing going on on his neck. The skin almost looks like it is wrinkled but if you pick at it, it is flaky and scaley underneath.

Fungasol is a good topical treatment. Good Luck!

Answer 11

Sounds to me like an untreated and advanced fly allergy.

Years of bug bites without treatment for the allergy contribute to a thickening and stiffening of the skin that sounds like what you got.  It's hard, and lumpy, and folds funny.

Unfortunately, fly allergies do not respond well to desensitization treatments.  Your best bet is to call the vet in; there may be an effective antihistamine to try, and to protect him from flies and bugs as much as humanly possible.

Keep him in in the daytime when flies are out and in the early evening/morning when mosquitos are out.  Use flyspray religiously - the  7 day kind like Flysec Super 7 will reduce the work on this.  Fly Mask, Fly leg tapes, fly rollon stuff down the centerline of his abdomen.

Worm him really well.  This condition makes him susceptible to a bug the lays its eggs in the scratching wounds, hatches in the skin, and generally torments him until it matures and emerges, leaving a big hole for more of its kind (if I remember the name, I'll edit it in!)

Good Luck with him!  He's probably really glad he's been rescued, especially given this tormenting condition.