:eek:
MY gelding is all of a sudden is losing his mane, forelock and tail. He has a sleek shiny coat and his feet are great. I was told maybe selenium deficiency so got him a block. He hasn’t touched it; so think that’s not the issue.
He was gelded a year ago, has been on the same feed for about 6 months, no pasture change or anything.
Lives at home and none of the other horses have this problem.
Anyone else ever had this problem?
It seems my 2 horses have less tail than I remember. I looked up selenium deficiency and that wasn’t one of the symptoms. I think my goats have something to do with our lack of tail :mad: .
Interested to see what others say about your horse and what mineral if any he may be lacking. No matter what the cause I feel your pain.
Horses have no idea if they are Se-deficient or not, so his ignoring the Se block means nothing. You must have his blood level checked, so get that done asap.
That said, it would be usual for his feet to be unaffected if his hair is falling out, so it’s not likely to be an Se toxicity or deficiency (symptoms are the same, so if he’s toxic, he shouldn’t be touching an Se block anyway, which is why it must come to testing the blood).
Your vet should also probably be looking to do skin scrapes along the mane and tail to see if there’s mange or some fungal issue.
It was a vet actually that told me about the Se deficiency; she also said it would be weird if it was a SE deficiency because his feet and coat looked so good. But to get the block just to see if he was craving it. We are pulling blood this coming week to see what is going on; if anything. Mange and mites have been ruled out also.
My husband thinks I’m crazy!!
Horses don’t crave Se, and they don’t avoid it if they are toxic (and they wouldn’t be toxic in the first place lol)
How much, exactly, is falling out?
The pasture HAS changed - it changes with every season. So it’s very different from what it was 6 months ago.
In mentioning 6 months, does that mean something about his management did change? New barn/feed/pasture?
What I meant about pasture not changing meaning he has not moved; I keep my horses at home. As I mentioned did change feed 6 months ago. And started him on ExcelEQ about a month ago.
Can you describe the hair loss? Location, amount, what it looks like? Are you sure it’s not another horse chewing on him?
As for Se, you’d need to evaluate with blood work. Horses don’t self regulate that well as JB said. They’ll get to toxic levels or get deficient–they don’t “know”.
In the meantime, if the hair loss started after you started on the Excel EQ, I’d stop that for now.
Where are you located? Are you in a selenium deficient area?
What is the feed you changed to six months ago? How much do you feed daily?
What else, if anything, do you feed?
