Losing Her Fluff

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

EquaDogi

New Member
Joined
May 17, 2014
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
Rosie was born last father's day at the petting zoo at the wildlife park where I work. I took her home over the winter and returned her for opening weekend no problem. She was super fluffy and happy as a clam.

Up until this week. Starting monday she has been losing her fuzz and has been very itchy. At first we thought it was her winter coat, which has been coming out in clumps, but the fur left behind is too short to be her summer coat and seems to be broken hairs. Theres minimal scabbing and no visible bugs or oozing. (See pics)

any thoughts on what it is? At first I thought rain rot but it doesnt seem scabby enough, and came on awfully fast. The other animals dont seem to be picking on her, and I never see her pull it out herself, but its currently limited to her shoulders and withers.

also I will have to find a way to neaten up how she looks for the public, and dont really want to clip her all down that short, as it does get pretty cold here. Any thou would be appreciated! Rosie loves being with the public and I want to get her back to it as soon as possible!

20140517_153751.jpg

20140517_153740.jpg

20140517_153808.jpg
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Looks very similar to what I had happen to one of my horses several years back - it ended up being a fungus that got in the winter coat. If I remember correctly, the vet had me scrub him down with betadine once or twice a day. After about a week or two his coat started growing back. I, too, would probably consider clipping for two reasons: 1) It will be easier to keep the coat clean (as there will be much less fur to wash), and 2) she will look better/ healthier once she is out in the public. That being said, I don't think I'd have her out or with other animals untll it starts clearing up or you verify for sure what the cause is. (Don't want to spread anything just in case). Just my thoughts, but you could obviously have something completely different going on than what I experienced with my horse. Best of Luck!
 
I would clip her. It will greatly help clear up that (fungus?) she appears to have. More than any other medication. The skin can't get healthy with thick dirty hair.
 
Do you see any lice crawling aroundvon her? Its probably too warm for lice to still thrive but you never know. I would clip her and bathe her with an antifungal and antimicrobial wash. Does she appear to be irritated and trying to rub herself on stuff to scratch an itch? Maybe some anti itch ointment would help soothe her. If it gets real bad id have the vet do a skin scraping to figure out what is causing her hair loss.
 
I don't know what that is but that hair has to come off. That's nasty and she's way hot under that. Use a #10 blade and put a blanket on her at night or sheet during the day if its still chilly. Bathe her in something decent with aloe or mediation and take it from there and see if it clears up.
 
Clip her with a number ten and put shapelys mtg on that short spot. Won't be short long!

How cold is cold? I'm that horse mom that clips when it's consistently 35 f at night. My guy will go Absolutely insane if I don't - no amount of brushing satisfies him he wants it OFF. A blanket at night and he's fine. Remember they aren't people, their thermoneutral zone is a lot different. If you're cold chances are even a clipped horse isn't.
 
I definitely agree with everyone on the clipping with a #10 and then using either a fungal shampoo or even spray. I had my boy have some kind of spot fungus here and there, I think it might have been rain rot, coming out of this past winter because he was so furry do to the frigid temps we had. You would have never known it was there until he was clipped because the hair was so thick.

After his 1st clip (#10) I used some funal spray on the small spots and kept doing that and by the time I clipped him again to clean him up it was gone.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top