Ear plaques

[KBC]

My latest lease horse has plaques in his ears, and it makes him very touchy around the ears.

His owner accommodates him by unbuckling his bridle and putting it on, to avoid the pull on his ears.

I, of course, am happy to do whatever she wants, it’s a zero issue, but I have never come across ear plaques that cause this much issue before. Makes me wonder if it’s a root cause for other hard to bridle horses.

I was wondering though if there are treatments, or if he is better in the winter if I could bridle him “normally”?

Again, discussion and education only, I am happy to handle her horse her way.

[sparkygrace]

I bought a horse with bad ear plaques and treated bridling the same way. My vet made a cream to treat the plaques, but the touchiness never went away. I think the cream contained Desitin? It was a long time ago.

[endlessclimb]

I’ve found the more you mess with them, the worse they get. I’ve ridden horses you have to bridle the same way.

[Grey_Pony]

Many years ago I bought a mare with the same condition. The funny thing was, you had to unbuckle to put the bridle on but could slide it off the normal way. I think the act of holding the ear to get the crown piece over was painful (or reminded her of pain). My thought was that someone in the past tried fussing with the plaques and it hurt-as @endlessclimb said.

[sparkygrace]

Mine was the opposite. I could slide the bridle on over his ears, but had to unbuckle to get it off. Before I bought him, my guy had lived out in a herd for almost nine years with very little care.

[Showbizz]

We have had several over the years in training. Usually they are worse in the summer. We’ve had training horses we’ve treated due to the owner’s wishes, but honestly, I think all that handling makes it much worse. Work around it and your horse will trust you more. I would personally never treat one of my own after seeing the trust issues it’s created with other horses.