sore skin - allergy?

[eventerbabe]

something has set kezzie itching again. He only ever itches in the stable and only ever his tail. The skin on kezzie's dock is rather scaly, lumpy and scarred from whatever was done to him before i got him. He also has scarring under his dock (you can see areas of skin that have lost their normal coluration). At the moment his skin is flaking off in large areas under what tail hair remains. The surface of the skin is cracking and in 2 areas he has large cracks. There don't bleed or weep and are dry. We have tried benzyl benzoate, various lotions, potions and creams, washes, shampoos etc. Vet advised benzyl benzoate but i refuse to apply it to broken, cracked skin. I've been washing the skin with dilute pevodine and we are going to try sudocream to calm the skin and hydrate it a bit as it looks so dry. any ideas what could cause this? vet relates it back to what happened before we purchased him but something must be causing the fraer up.

[Nookster]

Not sure going to be any help but was wonder if an antibitotic cream might help ?

[Palomino Mare]

the lumpy scaley stuff doesnt sound uncommon to me. my pony and my firends horse who have had sweetitch (so bad that hair didnt grow on the dock) have tails like this.

bit odd though that this has flaired if his itches are under control. how often does his tail get washed?

i agree with not putting the benzyl on broken skin, what about liquid savlon and then like you suggested lather it up with sudocream?

[courage_uk]

Right !!!!
i have a cream which might help you here, but i cant for the life remember what it is called, just wanted to post now so you come back later and look at your thread, i'll pop down the farm at lunch time and get the name of this cream for you .... its brillient its done wonders for my horses, healed up cracked heels which basically needs moisture... so should work on flakey tails

now.... for your original question, sounds dafft but has your pony been stressed last few days >? i get stress eczma and i was just wondering if it might be similar just a thought :rolleyes: i know it might be daft and probably is, but you never know

any way i'll finish my tea and i'll pop down the farm for you now xx

[eventerbabe]

cheers very much :) it's not flamazine by any chance? just remembered i have a pot of that left from him injuring his leg and it's antibacterial. he's not usually a stressy pony but he's stabled during the day and they've been working in the shed behind the yard. Both my horses hate the guy who runs the farm so if he was banging about he may well have got a bit wound up?

[Nookster]

Another thought on the Eczema (dry skin) front

Have you tried Aqueous Cream (rather cheap and works wonders on Eczema)

How does it work?

Aqueous cream is a light, non-greasy moisturiser that provides a layer of oil on the surface of the skin to prevent water evaporating from the skin surface.

It is made from a mixture of emulsifying ointment (which contains paraffin oils) and water, with phenoxyethanol as an antimicrobial preservative.

Dry skin results from lack of water in the outer layer of skin cells known as the stratum corneum. When this layer becomes dehydrated it loses its flexibility and becomes cracked, scaly and sometimes itchy. The stratum corneum contains natural water-holding substances that retain water seeping up from the deeper layers of the skin, and water is also normally retained in the stratum corneum by a surface film of natural oil (sebum) and broken-down skin cells, which slow down evaporation of water from the skin surface.

The skin dries out when too much water evaporates from its surface. This increases as we get older, and is made worse by washing, because hot water and soap remove the layer of natural oil on the skin surface.

Moisturisers such as aqueous cream are helpful for all dry skin conditions, particularly eczema and dermatitis, which get worse when the skin is allowed to dry out. Used regularly they help restore the skin's smoothness, softness and flexibility by helping the skin retain moisture. They should be applied frequently to prevent the skin drying out.

Aqueous cream can also be used in place of soap when washing to prevent drying the skin.

In conditions such as eczema, using a moisturiser regularly, even once the skin has improved, can help prevent flare-ups of this condition.

[Rosie1994]

I am also having problems with my mare and her skin/tail. 3 years ago I was at another yard and she got itchy in the summer.I had owned her 9 years and it had never happened before, so I just put it down to hot weather. She rubbed her back on trees and actually broke the skin. She had antibiotics, shampoo, cream and antihistamines which she stayed on all that summer. The next year, but exactly a month earlier, she rubebd again in exactly the same place on her back, again made it bleed and was treated the same by the vet. Vet referred her to a dermatologist who thought it may be pollen allergies. She rubbed mainly her saddle area and rump, mostly left mane & tail alone. SHe has intradermal skin tests which showed that her strongest allergies were infact midges and mosquitoes and she also has some more minor pollen allergies. I continued to try and treat her for sweet itch, as I had been doing anyway and then I moved to my present yard in August 2006. As soon as she moved she was brilliant, no rubbing at all, not on any antihistamines. My present yard is very open, always windy, no trees or water nearby.
But, last week she started to rub her tail, and one day after my leaving her in stable for 1 minute, she rubbed her tail and rubbed the skin at the very side of her tail, where tails joins body. She almost broke the skin, but not quite, but it was quite sore and red. So, the past few days I have not left her in stable unattended. I've washed her tail in a shampoo I had from the vet and I've been using a gel with aloe vera & tea tree which seems to really help. I am covering her in fly repellant and she has a fly rug on. She has nothing to rub on in our field, only when she comes in. My vet has prescribed a antihistamine called Ucerax and wants to keep her on a high dose of 24 tablets a day for 2 weeks. I do wonder if the rubbing becomes a habit - a very hard one to break.
I also use Aqueous cream, I've been slapping that on to the surrounding areas, of her rump. Does seem to help and it certainly cant do any harm.
I am currently trying to cover all possible edges in my stable, so that if she does rub, she cant do too much damage. It is an absolute nightmare!

[NoviceNic]

Have you tried Pig Oil and Sulphur? The sulphur will eat any bacteria and the oil will moisturise the skin. Maybe worth doing a small patch test first. Cant hurt trying can it. :)

[coss]

would green oils be of any benefit i wonder?

[montys helper]

all my horse have a good itch at their bums and docks when they come in form the field, i sometimes but some itch powder on or louse powder,not sayin they got lise but it seems to work. put some e45 on it if its sore n cracked

[courage_uk]

hi sorry for a late reply .... but hte cream i use i this ...

'horse sense' protection plus ... natural bacterial salve... its pink and contains citronella too to keep flys at bay... but it heals up all sorts on my chap from, his cracked heels to minor cuts and my friends pony's sweetitch

its about 500ml tub for a tenner i think

hope it helps ;-)

http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t82/courage_uk/DSC01517.jpg

[eventerbabe]

fantastic, cheers for that :) i'm sure our local tack shop sells that stuff so will have a look tomorrow. We've been trying the sudocreme all week (mum couldn't get aqueous cream) with a minor improvement. i think we'll work our way slowly through all the suggested creams til we get one that works!