Unlimited access >

Hauled a horse with ringworm

After reading up on ring worm I figured that letting it sit wasn’t the answer.
Last thing I want to do is screw up my trailer - functionally or cosmetically - it’s only two years old.
I will look into the Rescue product mentioned above. Any other suggestions are welcome as I think my friend is also going to have to figure out how to decontaminate her gear…

2 Likes

Equine ringworm is different than cat ringworm in your home for a lot of reasons, but here is my “battle plan”: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cO0-MZkjeBFHk22HnF1ILWzVfLVNYs4MThISMiHDj_w/edit?usp=sharing

2 Likes

The bleach solution is 1 part bleach to 9 parts water. It won’t ruin an alum trailer, but there are other options. This is just a cheap and effective one that I have used.

2 Likes

Holy moly that is quite the guide! If my cat ever gets ringworm, I’m totally equipped!
Thanks for sharing. Impressive work.
Hopefully my trailer doesn’t get lesions. :joy:

3 Likes

The only downside I have seen with Rescue is that it will peel paint from wood if left on too long (no experience with aluminum), and if you don’t protect your hands, it can cause dryness. I absolutely love it. Use it for everything: ringworm, COVID, EHV. etc.

The outcome of my total paranoia!!!

1 Like

I have bleach, water, and spray bottles. I wasn’t sure if I would need to scrub also. Bleach is always the cheap and easy go-to. I don’t want to bleach my padded panels or floor or anything. But that dilute might be fine.

Guess I’m spending the day tomorrow decontaminating my trailer.

Thank you…I’m guessing I did not use those proportions.

The price of Rescue seems high but it lasts forever!

Found it. Will be here tomorrow thanks to Jeff Bezos.
Now to see how this turns out for my friends horse…who wasn’t quarantined at the new barn and thrown in with the other boarders…. Ring worm running thru a barn will be much more of a problem than me spraying down my trailer.

2 Likes

I’ve used the 10% bleach for disinfecting leather girths, rubber curries, horsehair brushes, wood stalls, feed/water buckets, rubber mats, etc. Nothing was damaged and the ringworm didn’t spread beyond the one horse affected.

1 Like

I was just chatting with my barn manager about this. I haven’t seen any outbreaks in the last 3 years, even though we are in the muggy NYC area, since I have been back in the horse biz, But I remember a lot of ringworm (and scratches) as a kid in arid CA. I wonder if it has to do with crowding and management there? Hopefully it doesn’t spread too far or wide for your friends!

The situation was a recipe for disaster. If ringworm is the only issue we’re in luck.

You may have missed my story. Post 1 and 31 summarize the situation.
Makes total sense the the mare was carrying ringworm. Shared tack in a horse-traders barn. Lesions at the girth.

2 Likes

Sounds like OP found a product, but I’ll also put out there; Oxine. Its used to sterilize labs and animal hospitals. It doesn’t stain and doesn’t bleach color. Its also very safe to use; it’s the same stuff as you get in the white lightning soaking bottles.

You don’t need to activate it with an acid for it to disinfect either.

Virkon is my go to for ringworm and I used to deal with a lot of it.

That’s what I use to sterilize stalls, buckets, everything. They use it to clean poultry farms and it’s safer to breathe then bleach mixture.

1 Like

You can sterilize everything you can think of. However, the spores drop off the infected horse, and get everywhere, on the ground, in the air, in the arena footing which get airborne as horses get ridden, in paddock footing where horses roll, in brushes, on people, on tack, and you can’t sterilize a lot of this. And a single spore will, if given the right circumstances, will start a new infection. “The right circumstances” are the key. Usually getting onto the skin in the girth area, where they get pushed firmly onto damp skin is a scenario they find helpful (“girth fungus”), but can infect all sorts of places in an animal that is not already immune. Once an animal (or human animal) has had a ringworm infection, they gain immunity to future infections. So that’ the bonus. Because your horse WILL see ringworm spores, eventually. Or, if it is an older horse who has “been around”, it probably has already “seen” ringworm, and has immunity. Because the spores are everywhere that animals come and go.

In theory, this is true. However, in my experience, the spores like living in particularly attractive zones and don’t necessarily hang out forever everywhere that they touch. I used to work in a dairy barn. Only one area in one barn was affected. Young stock that hadn’t been in there before were almost certain to get it. Older ladies that hadn’t ever been in that area might get it if they hadn’t had it before. It never spread into the main barn, nor the other section of the affected barn.

So, while I would scrub the life out of my trailer and wash anything washable on hot, I wouldn’t spend too much time worrying about having brought ringworm into my horse’s environment in the OP’s case.

2 Likes

Yikes. I knew it lasted, but that’s nuts

“No good deed goes unpunished.”