Ear fungus...?

[Lora]

Ok, anyone here dealt with ear fungus on the inside of ears before? it's spotty white wads inside his fuzzy ears. Am I supposed to have done someting to prevent this and didn't know any better?

He's a bay so it's obvious as heck it's some growth thing. What should I do?

[becs]

I thought there was a thread on here before about this - I seem to recall the overall view was it was common & harmless? have you searched on NR? will go & nose in horsey manuals.

[jamsinthecat]

it is probably aural plaque, may mare has them. they look like fungus but aren't they are actually caused by an allergic reaction to little black biting flies. the vet said to me to leave them alone, don't try to pick at them or put anything on them - the only thing he recommended was using a fly veil with ears for turnout to stop the little flies from biting in there in the first place. hope this helps

[becs]

Nothing in my books I'm afraid.

the vet said to me to leave them alone, don't try to pick at them or put anything on them - the only thing he recommended was using a fly veil with ears for turnout that's what I vaguely remembered - vets saying just leave it.

[Sammii]

I can honestly tell you, that it is common. We cornered the vet about this during the Summer last year, and it is called Aural Plaque, it's a reaction horses have to midges and flies biting inside their ear. This Aural Plaque protects the skin and prevents the flies from biting futher.

Leave all as it is, by scraping it off/out is opening up the ear to more bites! If possible, put a fly fringe with ears on so the matter doesn't get any worse :)

[Lora]

it is probably aural plaque, may mare has them. they look like fungus but aren't they are actually caused by an allergic reaction to little black biting flies. the vet said to me to leave them alone, don't try to pick at them or put anything on them - the only thing he recommended was using a fly veil with ears for turnout to stop the little flies from biting in there in the first place. hope this helps

Yes that helps immensely :) Thank you all so much!

[popdog]

My horse had aural plaques when I bought him. I was told by the vet to leave them alone, apparently they are form of fungal growth that can be irritated by fly bites. The following summer I made sure that he went out in a fly mask with ear covers and basically forgot about them.

I looked in his ears in the autumn and they had gone! There is pink skin (he has dark skin) where they were (looks like the pigment has gone) but no sign of the crusty warts. I think the fly mask helped.

I've heard of people putting Canesten on them and picking them off, but I decided that I would leave them alone as I didn't want to him upset him by making his ears sore.

[Ginger Thing]

One of mine has these, and I keep meaning to try something I found mentioned on this forum. Have a look on

www.dermafas.com - plenty of lovely photos of aural plaques and nasty cuts etc!

Mine is 17hh and quite headshy, so don't know how I'd manage to actually apply it :confused: - probably end up with me wearing it :rolleyes:

[blackhorses]

A few of my lot have the same thing and have had it for years and it has never got worse or better or caused any problems so I just leave well alone!-If it ain't broke don't fix it!!:D

[Trio]

What are aural plaques? – 19/02/2007
Horse and Hound > Articles > Horse care > Vet advice for horse owners

H&H staff writer

Headley Britannia, the 2006 Burghley winner, suffers from aural plaques, which are a form of hyperkeratosis or thickening of the skin inside the ears more... etc etc


this article from H&H in Feb had really good info on this- her horse has it and she does nothing about it and doesn't affect performance at all. :)