I will ask my vet this same question, and do my own research. But I for one, do like anecdotal information!
The current thinking is that it is environmental. But I have some people wanting to temporarily move horses to my farm (west of Austin) from a region where horses have it (east of Austin).
Has anyone had a horse or horses with it, and also horses in the same environment that did not? How can we be sure it is not some kind of weird virus?
Wait a minute. Doesn’t “cicatrix” mean scar?
Or is there a disease of the same name?
@ToTheNines I don’t think there’s enough known to say. Not every horse in the region where it’s seen develop it, so it doesn’t seem to appear to be viral, or at least if it is viral it’s not very virulent, or doesn’t cause problems in every horse. Best guess looks to be that it’s environmental.
Wow. I’ve never heard of this kind of “scarring”.
That really is scary!
@Simkie thanks for posting that link. I have never heard of this either. While it may be limited to a certain area of Texas ATM, that doesn’t mean it will stay there:(
I’m in southern Middle Tennessee and never thought Potomac Horse Fever would be in Middle TN; close to the KY border. I think we’re still at three cases with one horse euth’d.
Blah​:exploding_head:
OP here. I just had a discussion with my vet. The current thinking is that it is fungal, but they just don’t know.
It appears to be environmentally caused (triggered?) and with climate change, it seems to be moving further north in Texas. It is believed to be prevalent where the pastures are wetter.
If you’re in a risky area, good horse management dictates a mix of dry lot time with pasture time. And keeping pastures well mowed.
Thanks for that update:).
Maybe this is in similar vein (except it’s dangerous) to the slobbers from alsike clover? Certain weather conditions trigger the mold or fungus that sits on this particular clover and causes Slobbers when horses eat it? I dunno, just a thought.
I have been accused of keeping the pastures like a golf course and my horses come in at night. That and living a good day’s drive East hopefully is enough that I won’t hear about this from local vets:)
I have been messaging with a friend whose horses have it. From talking to her, it seems like that red sandy loam that is so prevalent east of Austin is the most likely soil where it occurs. This is anecdotal!!!
I did some digging, and everything I could find on pubmed and researchgate, even going back to the early 90s, all suggests it’s very environmental. A retrospective study on cases showed that being full time stalled was the best protection against it, which highly suggests it’s not contagious
But, nothing I found even hinted at possible causes, only that being older, and more exposure to grass in a fairly limited geographical range, were the big factors
JB, thank you so much for sharing that research. My vet said he would update his research on it, and if he has anything to add, I’ll post here.
I hear ya, if stalling is the protection, that would also be the spreader if it were contagious.
OP here. My vet told me today that there was a recent study (I think he said by Texas A&M) in an area where horses were prone to get cicatrix.
Horses out on pasture got it. Horses half stalled, half pastured, got it. Stalled horses did not get it.
All indications are that it is environmental and not contagious. In the study, horses that were half stalled and half pastured were exposed to stalled horses that did not get it.
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