Wow! That looks so much better. Have you ever had this much improvement before? Fingers crossed it will be gone for good.
Certainly not this quickly! Isn’t that awesome?! I’m excited! 
I actually also bought a pair of Cashel fly boots this summer, and the horse made it clear he did.not.like them. I do think the sox are worth a try if your horse would be cooperative about getting them on and off and you are in a position to change daily plus check at least 2x a day.
Your pictures look promising - fingers crossed for you! I hate to be a debbie downer, but my experience is that the crud adapts i.e. the condition is not as much a disease as a healing problem. Good luck!
Bummer on the boots. How frustrating to have success with the sox but then not have a way to continue. Dealing with on/off/fiddling multiple times a day long term just isn’t my jam, either.
I totally agree that this is a healing problem versus, say, an infection. I think the triamcinolone is what’s making the difference here. It’s a pretty heavy hitter anti-inflammatory. Then we add the chlorhexidine to prevent infection of the open sore and an emollient to prevent scabbing and keep the wound bed moist. I love how relatively easy it is, and wow, it’s just working so well!!
I’ve been using this same system on other scabby leg things in my herd (+/- level of triamcinolone based on response and exactly what it is) and have just seen such nice results. They can be so long to heal, especially this time of year with the flies. I’m sold! :yes:
We’ve had a similar reaction on just one horse this year. It seems to be associated with the huge increase in biting flies that we’ve had.
Im controlling it and seeing good healing by plastering the whole area in a mix of salt and vaseline
if I wasn’t seeing any real improvement I’d be getting a vet involved.
Well, if your horse has these recurring scabs in the same places for 8 years, I’d invest in a culture to find out what is going on with this horse and these wounds. It doesn’t cost that much. But I know you don’t want to involve a vet.
Since that’s the case, try coating your treatments with Desitin or something similar to act as a barrier - keep meds in and water and flies out. Try Shoo-Fly horse boots if they don’t sit on the wounds. They’ll keep the flies off and they don’t have to be removed regularly. If it’s a healing issue, all wounds on this horse would be difficult to heal, and that implies an immune system problem.
Th called Pink Clay. One application and the scabs disappeared. It is quite expensive but seems worth it.
Yes! I grew up near the beach and this was common wisdom about kids’ summer cuts and scrapes.
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I have a horse that has 1 of these scabs on hind white pastern. I used to keep her on a program of benign neglect - just leave it alone. Then she got a nasty bout of cellulitis a few years ago. Vet thinks the scab point is the trigger, but he didn’t know more than that - like how to treat/prevent it from coming back. If I don’t do anything scab is black and gets rather pronounced until it falls/scrapes off. Then it oozes a yellow/orangy serum and here comes a cellulitis flare up. So I started putting Equiderma lotion on it 3 days/week. The scab isn’t black anymore or raised, it stays soft, close to the skin and is pale pink. I also give her a 1/2 dose each of Uckele’s poly copper and zinc daily. Thought I’d found the magic combo to keep her healthy…until today. Guess none of my efforts have been working cuz cellulitis is back again. Gonna save my $$ and stop buying all this stuff as it obviously had no effect except maybe cosmetically minimizing thickness of the scabby thing. 
@Lusoluv unfortunately I’ve also played the cellulitis game. Until the scab is HEALED, it can be an entry point for bacteria–just making it prettier doesn’t cut it. I also did not find equiderma enough to heal these things. Nothing has worked anywhere near as well as what I’ve described here in this thread, I am honestly just floored at the improvement.
@ohmyheck and @betsyk for the first time ever in my life there is ocean nearby but the thought of hauling there every day is daunting! :eek: I’m sooooo glad what I’m doing is working so well :yes:
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Has your horse had lymphangitis? When I was researching earlier this summer for a friend whose horse has lymphangitis, I found this: “Dark, wartlike growths might develop on chronically afflicted horses’ lower limbs. These are very painful to the horse when peeled away and will bleed significantly. Frequently, these are mistaken for mud fever, or scratches.”
They look great in the current pics, though!
 his toughest (and longest lasting) scab. He also has a slit on his heel bulb where an abscess came out like a hundred years ago that gunked up with the same scabby-and-forever-growing texture. My farrier freaks out about it twice a year like clockwork and I have to remind him that it’s been there ever since “that” time… It hasn’t been altered as much as the “main”/origin scab, but I’m hopeful that if I keep going it might also help that?
Crazy that after ALL OF THE THINGS we’ve tried over the years this is actually seeming to make a difference. I sure would love to end his annual(ish) cellulitis episodes in the leg that has most of the scabs!
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@PNWjumper I am SO EXCITED it’s working for you. Yay!!!
I use the nasal spray. Nasacort? It’s cheap and available. I get three pack from Costco and it’s like…360 sprays for 30 bucks. Looking at it now, 0.57 oz x 3 bottles. Best price I’ve found.
I have another horse with that same wtf is that from an abscess blow out. She’s all better with this approach, too. Fingers crossed for your guy!! I found that really rubbing in the triamcinolone helps break up the scabby stuff.
Btw, TOTALLY feel you on the ONE MORE THING. But damned if it doesn’t help, right? :eek: :eek:
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I have been following this thread and finally joined the forum due to the wealth of knowledge here…
I have a mare who’s been driving me nuts with similar issues - but only about 8 months at this point and not years. Thank you for sharing all your trial and error. In almost 20 years of horse ownership I have never experienced something so annoying!!! I’ve had the vet involved but I think I will try the triamcinolone as one last ditch effort before calling them out again.
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Where do you get the triamcinolone? Prescription? OTC?
