My mare has dry skin, like really dry skin. I took her to the vet, they took blood, hair samples, dry skin samples and skin scrapings, nothing out of the ordinary showed up, She has thinning hair and bald patches over her face and head and along her flank. She also had what I have always called rain rot, (mild). the vet didn’t think it was rain rot, it is those little bumps that if you pick at them a bit of scab and a tuft of hair come out.
Anyway, the vet said to bath her in Clahexadine. It is still too cold here to actually bath so have just used a cloth and hand washed her face and head and along her wither where she seemed really itchy. I can’t tell if this helped.
one: does anyone have any suggestions on how to treat or feed that may help alleviate her dry skin?
two: I was thinking of clipping her to make it easier to brush, clean off the scabs and to bath her any downside to clipping her?
thank you
Feed a cup of flax a day. And make sure of her zinc and copper levels.
My horse used to get like this in the summertime, although not as severe. His face (mostly forehead) would go almost bald and had crusty gray bumps. I tried every topical on the planet with no luck. I started him on ground flax (Omega Horseshine) and that solved the issue. A lot of coat/skin issues are solved from the inside, not the outside.
He hasn’t needed that in a few years, but last summer his skin/coat all over his body was getting dry and dull. The grain he was getting wasn’t particularly high in fat, so I started him on Amplify and that resolved the issue. Any fat source should work, like oil or a higher fat grain.
Both are pretty inexpensive options. I fed 1/2 cup of flax and 1/4 pound (in the scoop that comes with it) of Amplify.
thank you, I want to get a copy of her blood test results so I can compare them to the NRC…
Oh no, don’t use Clahexadine on the face. It causes cornea damage. I’m shocked the vet would say to use that.
Betadine is safe for facial use.
One of mine gets allergies every spring and it mimics rain rot. I give her Benadryl (we started back in March, she will continue on it until next fall) and it seems to help her immensely.
What?? On her face is precisely where the vet recommended to use it and I have already done a hand wash with it on her face!! Being careful not to get very close to her eyes but still…on her face.
Since she is new to me I don’t know if this is a regular spring occurance.
How long does it take for the Benadryl to make a difference? How much do you give?
I have seen this during the spring when the winter coat blows out. Good regular grooming and flax oil/ ground flax in the feed. Some friends swear by equiderma (sp?) lotion but I haven’t seen notable differences from it.
Oh yeah I’d not use it at all on the face. My vet says it’s not worth the chance that you could get it in the eyes and cause issues, especially if you expect to be doing it long term.
Thank you Stormy, I did a search and sure enough the first two articles I opened both said not to use on the face or head at all. Since I already did wipe her down with it all I can do now is pray there is no damage.
I have put a call into the vet to talk with her about it but doubt I will hear back. Their call back record is not good.
I wouldn’t panic. My vet was on the team that published the some of the first info on eye problems and Chlorhexidine and they mainly documented it in horses that had been scrubbed up for surgery on their heads, which uses a lot more of it than what you would have used. They also apparently used to use it as eye drops for horses with eye infections… which caused eye damage. 
Adding a Vitamin E supplement will help with skin issues.
I missed the second part of your question, sorry! I start it before she needs it in the spring, but the first time I found out she had allergies after I got her it took about 3 weeks of daily Benadryl for her to stop having hair loss.
I feed 10-12 pills nightly. She weighs about 1000lb. It’s 25mg per 100 lbs. I get a generic brand off of Amazon that comes in a 400 ct bottle. It’s about $8.
If the allergies are really bad you can feed morning and evening. But I’ve found it’s not necessary
I was also going to suggest Vit E.
I had the name wrong, the product is Stanhexadine.
StormyDay, I have a few questions please. How long do you have to give your horse Benadryl, a few weeks or until winter returns?
How was she diagnosed as needing Benadryl?
Thank you,
She gets it all summer long. We start somewhere around April and end somewhere around the end of October. I’ve found most horses tolerate it really well.
Chestnut mares are notorious for needing allergy help. She is allergic to something in the grass around here and it makes her skin on her legs crack and peel. The Benadryl stops that from happening. As it’s not for respiratory use she only needs it once a day, but if she had stronger symptoms or a cough I’d do 2x a day.
My vet recommended it to see if it would help instead of going to dex since she’s laminitis prone.
I don’t know why, but about 30-40% of the horses I encounter need some sort of allergy help. It seems to be getting worse in horses.
thank you!
