Girth itch???

[equinestr]

Hi everyone, first time horse owners here with much to learn! Take it easy on me.
I own a 5 year old QH gelding who stays out in pasture 24/7 unless taken out for schooling and have never seen this before.

My trainer emailed my mom a couple weeks ago telling her my horse had contracted a fungus from poor grooming (I make sure he’s 100% but also have my trainer school him and have a lease contract on him with another girl until I’m back) He’s ridden 4/5 days a week. From what I heard there were bumps in the forth area behind the elbow and on the shoulder. I visited him two weeks after and it turned into a very dry, scabby wound. The treatment instructions I was given was to simply apply an iodine scrub onto the wound afternmy rides and send him back to pasture. The girl who leases him sent me a photo (though it isn’t high quality I have attached it)

Its now been about 3/4 weeks and when I rode him Saturday (he hasn’t had a saddle on for as long as we noticed the fungus) it didn’t seem any better. I don’t kmow if a vet has seen my horse because my trainer handles all of that including any medication or treatments.

Is this girth itch? What do I do?
Please give me any advice you can as I am quite frustrated with this situation and feel stuck in a ditch right now.

[NancyM]

Yes, that looks like a skin fungus infection to me. It’s a bit harsh to assign blame for things like this, a SINGLE fungal spore (microscopic) gets pushed into the skin by the girth, combined with sweat and warmth, and it takes root. It happens. It happens more when a horse has not had contact with this fungus before, some immunity is gained by a previous infection. These things are common among young racehorses.

Since it is dry and crusty, it doesn’t look like it has progressed to being bacterial as well (it can). Try an anti fungal cream, like tinactin. You can get that at the drugstore, over the counter. It’s kind of “hit and miss” to find the fungal cream or treatment that will work to kill it, keep trying others if your first selection isn’t working. It’s OK, it will heal fully, and he will have a better immunity to this particular fungus in the future.

But other horses at the barn may be susceptible to this fungus, it can spread to vulnerable horses through use of brushes, tack etc that may be carrying spores. It also will have deposited spores into the footing in the arena, in bedding and just about everywhere on the ground, where the spores will be introduced back into the air, and float around, land on other horses, and hope to grow there too, passing on the infections if a horse is vulnerable. So everyone has to be on guard for more girth itch issues in other horses, and there isn’t a lot you can do about that, except treat it when it happens, and wait for it to heal. Don’t wash this, getting it wet helps it to spread.