Rain Rot or Not?

[Kimo]

Hi Everyone--

My mare has bumps and little scabs here and there. Some are on her face/chest/neck and others are on her belly. She is really, really itchy! She just about knocks me down trying to scratch herself. The worst area for itching is her neck.

She's shedding a terribly thick winter coat but she hasn't lost any hair where she keeps scratching. We've had a mild winter so I suspected she was sweaty off and on this winter, but we've had so little rain that I wonder if it's rain rot.

Also, I've heard that rain rot is not itchy and it tends to appear on the back/rump.

Does anyone have any ideas what this is? :confused:

Thanks!!!!

[artemis]

This happens to my shetland who has a really thick coat because of cushings disease. It is worse as the weather gets warmer.
I either clip him out or bath him depending on the weather conditions.
It is possible to buy supplements to stop itching.
It could be diet if you have changed any feed recently. ie from hay to haylage which some horses cannot tolerate.

[Jessey]

My long shot guess would be lice rather than rain rot, rain rot as you say normally starts (at least) on the top of the horse, and can when very bad work its way down and being big and flat the rump and back are the normal places.
Lice however tend to focus around the mane and top of the tail and the elbows so your description of neck chest and belly are what steer me towards that.
Lice are very common at this time of year, I have just treated all of mine for them :rolleyes: Contact your vet and ask for a lice treatment (you can get powders at tack stores but they are not really strong enough, I do use them for treating rugs and stables though) and give her a dose, You must also clean and treat all of you rugs, numnahas, brushes and areas around stable doors/gates (wooden ones) that they tyend to rub on or they will just pick them up again.
Lice look like head lice (the kind kids get in school but don't worry you can't catch them) and can sometimes be seen moving around deep in the coat if you look carefully, don't be fooled though, my guy had them bad but I couldn't find a single one, treated him and the itching stopped :)

J x

[Casey76]

Could it be a sweat rash? I don't really know, but just throwing ideas around :)

[Kimo]

Hmmmm... this is all very interesting so thank you for the comments. I'll take a good look at her coat tonight and try to pin point what's going on.

A question about lice--would they have bumps from it? She has bumps that feel like bites, and she has scabs, too. Again, this is just here and there and not covering her in any bigger patches than a few inches.

Thank you!!

[Jessey]

My guys got them last time, start as tiny raised bits (you can just feel a bump below the fur) then go a bit scurfy and scabby and if they itch enough can turn into huge open wounds.

J x

[Kimo]

Thanks, Jessey. I'll do my homework and report back. :)

[artemis]

I had a horse that was allergic to barley & he came out in spots.

[Kimo]

Hi Jessey,

Well, I think you're right about the lice. I finally got a good look at her coat in the bright light and I swear I saw something moving in all that dandruff. She has all the classic symptoms. So, onto treatment to eridacate the little nasties.

Thanks for the heads-up!

[Jessey]

Glad you have caught it, I missed it on our chap last year and he was in a bad way by the time we found the problem.

J x