Fighting scratches again.

[CindyCRNA]

I have my arsenal so I am just venting. I put my Holsteiner on copper/zinc and thought that would be the magic bullet. Trimmed his legs all summer. Towel dried his legs after riding and let him stand in front of fan. I was so cocky! I had a routine that worked! Yeah, no. He had a couple on his legs the last 3-2 weeks. No big deal. That time of year in a humid mid-west. Yesterday he blew up!!! Leg slightly warmer than the others, slightly stocked up but he had been stalled a couple of days so he stocks up a little.

My aresenal: 2% chlorhexidine scrub
Equiderma zinc oxide / chlorhexidine topical paste
Starting on SMZ’s in the am
On order: Equisheild CK (chlorhexidine/ketochonazole/hydrocortisone) shampoo and spray

Vet comes on Mon. I assume a full round of antibiotics as I don’t have enough SMZ’s. So I assume the new routine will be daily spraying of his legs with the Equisheild spray and I’m washing his jumping boots in hot bleach water.

[walkinthewalk]

I put my scratches prone horse on an extra 3,000 IU of Vitamin E for something else and his scratches are pretty much non-existent.

What minimal scratches he did get dried up on their own. By minimal I mean less than five tiny spots right under his fetlocks:)

Also, just for kicks, try washing the legs in Dawn dish soap and warm water, then thoroighly towel dry. See if that helps at all:)

[Palm_Beach]

@CindyCRNA

I have my arsenal so I am just venting. I put my Holsteiner on copper/zinc and thought that would be the magic bullet. Trimmed his legs all summer. Towel dried his legs after riding and let him stand in front of fan. I was so cocky! I had a routine that worked! Yeah, no. He had a couple on his legs the last 3-2 weeks. No big deal. That time of year in a humid mid-west. Yesterday he blew up!!! Leg slightly warmer than the others, slightly stocked up but he had been stalled a couple of days so he stocks up a little.

My aresenal: 2% chlorhexidine scrub
Equiderma zinc oxide / chlorhexidine topical paste
Starting on SMZ’s in the am
On order: Equisheild CK (chlorhexidine/ketochonazole/hydrocortisone) shampoo and spray

Vet comes on Mon. I assume a full round of antibiotics as I don’t have enough SMZ’s. So I assume the new routine will be daily spraying of his legs with the Equisheild spray and I’m washing his jumping boots in hot bleach water.

So sorry you are dealing with this! I had one that was bad, and the copper\zinc thing didn’t work either. What works for me as a preventative is at least a half cup of ground flax a day along with 10,000 mg of MSM. It took at least 3 months to kick in, and now 2 years later, the horse has no skin issues whatsoever. Even the hot humid summers.

[DinkyDonk]

My Appendix gelding had the same thing–scratches on his one white foot. Battled it for 18 months, consulted 2 vets, got special “scratches goop” from one. Nothing helped. Put him on added vitamin E and Ester C. BOOM! Cleared up with no more intervention from me. Realized then that his immune system was compromised. Had him tested for PPID/Cushings (he was 17) and he came back positive. If your horse is 10 or older, I would have the blood test done to check for it.

[Xanthoria]

For me what works on bad scratches in a wet muddy field is ALL of the below, every day. No exceptions.

1. Clip legs (ok, only do this once…)
2. Wash with chlorhexidine
3. Dry thoroughly. Totally dry. Hairdryer.
4. Apply goop (triple antibiotic x anti fungal x cortisone creams)
5. Cover w gauze, vetrap, etc.

[purplnurpl]

Nah dude, just wash real good then slap some furazone on those legs n wrap um up.

wrapping is best but sometimes ya just can’t cause of location or whateves.
I have great luck with no wrapping.

[Palm_Beach]

When my horse was getting scratches, I used Entederm. Rubbed it in, no wrapping.

[CindyCRNA]

We will see how today looks. Starting SMZ’s today. Hoping I made a dent with the chlorhexidine scrub and zinc oxide/chlorhexidine paste.

[Simkie]

Some musings, as I have one with stubborn scratches. For her, I think it might somehow be related to her melanoma (circulation issues??? We’re working on starting a course of oncept) but this has certainly been on the mind lately…

Is this the usual time of year for your horse to get scratches @CindyCRNA or is it usually more of a chronic year long thing, or spring thing? Did you see any improvement with the copper and zinc? Horses start shedding and working on their winter coat at the solstice, and I know mine are shedding hard right now. I wonder if the copper/zinc need goes up when that happens (copper is needed for that dark pigment in the hair) so a horse that was hunky-dory earlier might now be a little deficient again when it’s growing hair.

Also, I think flies are definitely playing a role for me. As is normal in late summer, they’ve just EXPLODED. UGH. And they’re chewing on the horses, despite fly spray. I wonder how that impacts these things on the legs. I’m debating buying fly wraps to see if that helps.

This paper here is also terribly interesting. Copper is so useful topically for skin healing. I picked up some copper oxide and added it to my chlorhexidine ointment, and do think it’s working better than straight chlorhexidine.

Speaking of goos, I’ve taken to applying the chlorhex, then covering with an emollient layer…one of the bag balms? (I’d have to go look in the barn for which one.) But that helps to protect the chlorhex from immediately rubbing off, and works nicely to soften the scabs. I wonder if swat would work the same with the added bonus of repelling the flies…

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹It’s a puzzle for sure!

[Xanthoria]

@purplnurpl

Nah dude, just wash real good then slap some furazone on those legs n wrap um up.

wrapping is best but sometimes ya just can’t cause of location or whateves.
I have great luck with no wrapping.

See I tried this and a dozen other goops and methods on a bad case and it didn’t help one bit. For me, total scratches obliteration in days if I followed all the steps. Total ongoing misery if I didn’t! As always, YMMV!

@Simkie agree on coat change deficiencies and copper

[CindyCRNA]

@Simkie , it was this time last year too. They are not chronic but when they blow up, yehaw! I have the Equishield CK shampoo and spray coming. I am thinking I will have to spray the legs every day starting in July thru Oct.

[Simkie]

@CindyCRNA

@Simkie , it was this time last year too. They are not chronic but when they blow up, yehaw! I have the Equishield CK shampoo and spray coming. I am thinking I will have to spray the legs every day starting in July thru Oct.

I’d wonder about the additional demand for copper that growing a coat causes, along with the impact of the flies. Do you use fly boots? Curious of that would change anything.

[CindyCRNA]

@Simkie

I’d wonder about the additional demand for copper that growing a coat causes, along with the impact of the flies. Do you use fly boots? Curious of that would change anything.

No fly boots. He gets a scoop of Uckele copper and a scoop of zinc. His previous owner said it was never an issue till they moved to the midwest

[Simkie]

@CindyCRNA

No fly boots. He gets a scoop of Uckele copper and a scoop of zinc. His previous owner said it was never an issue till they moved to the midwest

Yeah, I hear that. Where’d he come from? I have such a hard time with cellulitis here in New England :-/ You move across the country and horse keeping can really change, it’s crazy. What’s your weather been like? Hot and dry, or humid and wet?

Maybe consider fly boots next season and see if that makes a difference.

What color is he? He’s getting a full scoop of copper & zinc, not half of each?

[CindyCRNA]

@Simkie

Yeah, I hear that. Where’d he come from? I have such a hard time with cellulitis here in New England :-/ You move across the country and horse keeping can really change, it’s crazy. What’s your weather been like? Hot and dry, or humid and wet?

Maybe consider fly boots next season and see if that makes a difference.

What color is he? He’s getting a full scoop of copper & zinc, not half of each?

Hot and HUMID. He came from So Cal.

[Gamma]

Fly boots–the standy-up kind (Shoo Fly). It’s only mid-August if you can get them shipped two-day. Otherwise Equispot helps keep the gnats off if you are super diligent about applying it every two weeks (and try to time it when it won’t rain immediately).

[CindyCRNA]

@Gamma

Fly boots–the standy-up kind (Shoo Fly). It’s only mid-August if you can get them shipped two-day. Otherwise Equispot helps keep the gnats off if you are super diligent about applying it every two weeks (and try to time it when it won’t rain immediately).

I would think fly boots would make scratches worse.

[frisky]

I used to be one of those people who thought I could do good cleaning with betadine/chlorhex, put on some kind of antibiotic goop, keep it dry for a week and call it good. Until this year when my horse spent a month in soft fit boots. A week after the boots came off, her leg blew up. Painful. I am now swearing by the spray on DRY lamisil. Only Lamisil was hard to find in drug stores around here and slow to arrive on Amazon. Look for the athletes foot section in Walgreens or your basic health care section and find the DRY SPRAY on anti fungal. It took 3 weeks to get this thing under control. Maddening.

[Simkie]

@CindyCRNA

I would think fly boots would make scratches worse.

Why do you think that?

I only think they’ll help. Flies in the scabs are just going to make things worse. And flies chewing on the horse might have been the thing that set everything into action to start. I’ve been eyeballing those loose, open at the top ones Gamma mentions, too.

[CanteringCarrot]

@Simkie

Some musings, as I have one with stubborn scratches. For her, I think it might somehow be related to her melanoma (circulation issues??? We’re working on starting a course of oncept) but this has certainly been on the mind lately…

Is this the usual time of year for your horse to get scratches @CindyCRNA or is it usually more of a chronic year long thing, or spring thing? Did you see any improvement with the copper and zinc? Horses start shedding and working on their winter coat at the solstice, and I know mine are shedding hard right now. I wonder if the copper/zinc need goes up when that happens (copper is needed for that dark pigment in the hair) so a horse that was hunky-dory earlier might now be a little deficient again when it’s growing hair.

Also, I think flies are definitely playing a role for me. As is normal in late summer, they’ve just EXPLODED. UGH. And they’re chewing on the horses, despite fly spray. I wonder how that impacts these things on the legs. I’m debating buying fly wraps to see if that helps.

This paper here is also terribly interesting. Copper is so useful topically for skin healing. I picked up some copper oxide and added it to my chlorhexidine ointment, and do think it’s working better than straight chlorhexidine.

Speaking of goos, I’ve taken to applying the chlorhex, then covering with an emollient layer…one of the bag balms? (I’d have to go look in the barn for which one.) But that helps to protect the chlorhex from immediately rubbing off, and works nicely to soften the scabs. I wonder if swat would work the same with the added bonus of repelling the flies…

It’s a puzzle for sure!

I never thought about copper in a topical application. I’ll have to see if I can find any. Usually an antibiotic ointment, anti-fungal cream (like for human foot fungus), and a zinc oxide paste together clear things up quickly for me. I do have a chlorhex cream too but it’s kind of thin, so actually, applying something over it may help. I could use the zinc paste for this or the Swat I ordered from America. Food for thought.
”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹

My horse just developed scratches over the last week when we finally got rain again. His copper and zinc is adequate, (was tested about a month ago) but I can understand an increase being required during a coat change.

”‹”‹”‹”‹”‹I also clip the legs and thoroughly dry before putting the horse away and applying medication.