Flea Dirt on Horse?

Anyone ever seen this before, it looks like flea dirt on my mare. She’s had it all winter and just figured it was winter gunk and she needed a bath. Today she finally got her bath and none of this washed off, as she dried it came to the surface. Do horses get fleas?

Lice?

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Possible, never dealt with anything like this before, just figured it was winter build up until it wouldn’t wash off.

This looks like skin gunk. It is very hard to wash off as it gets tacky when wet. I KNOW this isn’t flea “dirt” because that is digested blood from its host. Since your horse is grey, it would have turned reddish brown and run off. Since it’s sticking and not turning red, at least you know it’s NOT that :slight_smile:

You may have to wash/rinse her a couple times. Also do a vinegar rinse to help loosen the gunk.
I’ve had 3 greys, but I deep curried them periodically through the winters, so never dealt with this. However, there are a few lesson horses where I board that never get deep groomings (winter or summer) and frequently get this dark gunk when finally bathed - usually in the summer.

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That is dead skin

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Another vote for it being dead skin bits.

Dead skin combined with oil from her hair. You probably will need a strong soap and a lot of elbow grease to get it off. I’d try dawn dish soap. I don’t love using it all the time, but it should eat away at the oils. Don’t dilute it.

So I got a better soap and spot washed inside her front legs and chest as they were the worst spots. I gave the area a good scrub with the soap and rinsed well. There was no improvement. Sprayed her with a fly spray the covers lice and the dirt that came up to the surface was nuts! Going to treat as lice for a week then give another bath in a cleansing soap and see what she looks like.

You may have blistered her and that’s why she has dead skin all over. Grays especially can have sensitive skin. The more stuff you put on her the worse she is likely to get.

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Lice don’t make dirt like fleas. You usually see the lice themselves, or eggs. It’s not flea dirt, as @Lusoluv said flea dirt is digested blood and turns reddish brown when wet.