Patchy hair under blanket

[elise]

One of the other borders at my barn has an old QH named Beau. The owner himself is 80 years old and the horse is over 27 years old but no one knows exactly. Beau's got the usual old horse issues, arthritis something feirce in his legs and he's dropped weight the past years. In any case he's a pretty happy guy and since I've moved my horses in we even took him out on a trail ride this past fall. I've never seen a happier horse than Beau was on his trail ride, he's an ex-Shriner horse (parade horse) so I think he loves having a job.

Ok I'm getting off track! Since Beau isn't the chubbiest of horses we blanketed him this winter to make sure he had it as easy as possible. He eats slower than the others so we think he probably doesn't get quite as much to eat so when I go out I put him in the barn with some hay and just let him go at it. I think the barn owner might even be leaving him in at night with hay so he can take his time. I think it's really helping. It's hard to tell since he's so fuzzy with winter fur.

Again I'm off track! I took off his blanket on Saturday just to check him out and make sure he wasn't dropping weight or anything. Brushed him a bit as well. He's a bit splotchy though. I don't know anything about blanketing horses, is it normal for the horse to get kind of patchy hair under a blanket? They aren't really on edges where I'd expect rubbed spots. His skin looks ok so I don't think it's any sort of condition.

So I guess I'm just wondering if this is normal over the winter or if anyone has any ideas waht it could be?

 

[Cloverwood1]

Is he out with other horses? Looks suspiciously like bite marks to me! My horse gets these in certain spots, even through his rugs - not the thick rugs, but his lighter weight ones.

Have to say though, he does have rather a lot of them. How often do you remove his blanket?

 

[elise]

I was thinking they looked like bite marks too but since there were so many of them and under a blanket I kind of ruled that out. He generally stays away from anyone that might bite him, he's kind of a loner and the other horses usually protect him.

This is the first time I've taken his rug off. But I know they've had it off him atleast 2 other times, probably 2 weeks or so between each removal. But it could have been removed more often, I just don't know about it. We all kind of keep an eye on him since his owner doesn't get out to visit real often especially in the winter.

 

[Sam and Blake]

is it his own rug or has any other horse worn it?

 

[elise]

I'm not sure if it's his own rug or not. None of the horses at my barn are rugged so it's either a new one or it was from someone else. I assume it was new as it was in pretty good shape up until recently, doesn't look like it would have lasted more than one season.

 

[Cloverwood1]

So he's wearing that same blanket for two weeks at a time without having an 'airing'? Could be he's getting itchy underneath and scratching himself. I personally would never leave a horse with a rug on for so long without giving a few minutes every day or so to take it off and give him a good groom.

Difficult situation though as he's not your horse!

 

[teabiscuit]

does he sweat under the rug? mine did one year - they had middleweight breathable rambo's on they were out 24/7 in winter so like you rugs were removed once a week to check condition. The only problem we had was they developed a skin condition that looked exactly like rain scald-caused by them sweating underneath the rug. we solved it by using lightweight breathable rugs.
the symptoms were: hair becoming clumped together in lumps, mainly on the back and top of the hindquarters, then the hair fell out leaving bald patches, but it took a couple of months after the clumping started for the bald patches to show.
It doesn't look like this in the pictures-the patches seem too big and in the wrong places, but i thought i'd suggest it just in case.
i bet he was a real stunner in his younger days-he's a beautiful colour.
edited to say after another look at the pictures, they may be caused by the process i've just said-if they are, you may have notices small hardish lumps as the hair clumped together?
edited again to say that i think our problem was caused by the fabric not being 100% efficient at letting the sweat out. Also maybe overheating caused it? bit of a mystery really, and the same thing happened to a nieghbours horses, she used modern breathable fabric rugs too.

 

[Lora]

Nice of you to care for old beau He's lucky to be in a neighboring stall to yours. He's a fuzzy cute boy still!

I'm with the others there, that blanket probably needs taken off regularly and a little brushing here and there helps to improve the circulation in skin. He probably is biting it if it's too hot or he gets itchy.

if he has a great winter coat, maybe you can leave the blanket off a while? I had to do the same with mine since it was rubbing in places. (some one at the stable adjusted it meaning well, now I gotta undo what they've done) You said he's in a barn at night and he does look really fuzzy. Not sure how cold it gets there, but we're nearing 50 degrees this week in Ohio.

 

[elise]

I actually don't know how often the blanket gets taken off for airing or anything. I just know of one specific time they took it off and then when I took it off, so it could be coming off more often.

I spoke with a friend of mine and she mentioned that Beau had rain rot and perhaps the warmth under the blanket is making the rain rot work it's stuff. She suggested putting some betadine on him when I get a chance and first warm day give him a good bath.

 

[Jessey]

Rain rot under rugs is supprisingly common (well, I have found it alot) especially in older horses who have just started wearing blankets or just started wearing warmer ones, I think we often think they need more to keep them warm when really they don't, they then sweat into that thick fluffy coat and it just stays damp next to the skin (it doesn't seem to matter how good a fabric you have the thick coat just hangs onto the damp) so unless they get very regular airing or less/no blanket it does keep getting worse.

I would definatly wash with betadine and try to keep it dry, having the blanket off daily when he is in to eat his hay could really help get the air in to help it heal.

Another thought, check he doesn't have any lice/mite, our old boy had them last year and he itched himself raw, looked kinda like that.

J x