When I couldn’t get scratches to heal up I strong-armed my vet into a referral to a dermatologist at Davis. My horse was diagnosed with photo sensitivity (pastern leukocytoclastic vasculitis). A steroid spray (gentamicin) cleared up the scratches completely and keeping my horse in fly boots 24/7 and never shaving his white legs has meant that in 3 years they haven’t returned.
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what fly boots do you use?
I use shoofly leggins
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THE BEST fly boots, in my humble opinion.
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I did not see that they are UV protecting on their product description? Are they? I heard amazing things about them and one of the horses I take care of has had the same ones on for 3 years HAHA.
The material itself is not any type of special UV protection that I’m aware of but generally any covering will block some UV.
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Saw no mention so far of PPID/Cushings? Have you had the horse tested? How old? If he is older than 8 or 9, I would consider it. PPID notoriously depresses the immune system and makes it hard for them to fight even mild infections. Both my mare and a close friend at the barn had serious issues with scratches in our PPID horses. Hers was actually asymptomatic in every other way except for the persistent scratches. She’d have never caught it otherwise.
That said, if it has gone on this long, a vet needs to look. I did the same storebought cocktail and washing/drying regiment last year. Eventually I think their skin just gets so screwed up from the constant fiddling that you need antibiotics on board. She essentially had, as you describe, just pink skin from the chronic inflammation. It was so distressing.
That said, I combat her skin issues (APHA) with good vitamin mineral supplements, including Remission, omega-3s and vitamin E. The best skin stuff that worked for her was always boring ol’ MTG, although IMO what works for one animal’s skin is hard on another’s. I keep her legs trimmed quite short year-round, feathers be damned, because I’m convinced that the long hair just holds moisture and filth closer to her skin. If possible, it’s nice if you can turn them out in a trimmed field so that the long, dewy grass isn’t getting their legs constantly wet.
Great idea. I was just listening to a Humble Hoof podcast w Dr Van Epps and he was saying the same thing. Every horse should be tested starting at age 10. And yes, like you are saying, I had a horse with infections and various problems and yep, tested + for PPID and it all calmed down after starting Prascend.
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I delt with Scratches from hell a few years back. My horse almost had to see a dermatologist!
Originally was diagnosed with photo sensitivity - leukocytising vasculitis or however its spelt so we started using Sliver Winnies for turnout, which were pretty cool. I wouldn’t hastate to use them again.
We tried cream wise:
Vet made up salve
Diaper cream with mixes of all the things
Antibiotic cream
Steroid cream
Horse ended up with cellulitis 3 times, so was on antibiotics for that, was also treated with an another medication but it was an antifungal I think, but given orally, we were desperate.
What ended up clearing it up was Athletes fungus cream, sliver whinny, fly boots in the summer and an ice boot while it was inflamed. I guess the working theory is that it was a ring worm of sorts, even thought it didnt look or act like ring worm and no other horse was effected.
Horse has been good for about 2 years now with no sock and no fly boot, but I will put fly boots on as required
I have one who I have fought scratches with off and on for… forever. It seems anything topical will only work once, and the next time around I have to find something different. The biggest thing that has helped get them better, and then keep them away, is supplemented copper/zinc/vitamin E. I’m still trying to clear up the last remaining stubborn scabs from a bout last year where he came off supplements because of my stupid lapse in ordering; everything is now on auto ship.
But something cool I’ve noticed recently is his improvement with currying. I have a Posture Prep curry, which is just basically an aggressive curry comb. I curry his legs before and after each ride and oh my, the difference. All the remaining scabs are slowly coming off, his cannon crud is improving, and his legs are tighter overall than I’ve ever seen. I’ve never really thought his legs were puffy, but there’s clearly a difference. So I believe I’ve just created improved circulation and lymphatic drainage. I will keep up the supplements and currying as his skin and overall leg health looks fantastic.
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my go to: make smz into a paste. mix with triancimilone cream (i think requires rx) and miconazole (active ingredient in monostat-7; my local pharmacy ordered me a large quantity because buying as monostat 7 is expensive/not enough volume). Slather on clean leg. repeat twice a day. i don’t wash the leg everyday, but clean the area with a brush and towel so the meds soak in.
also, i’ve had good luck preventing skin funk by using eqstim 1-2 x per year. it’s an immunostimulant injection that the vet can give.
For those that supplement with copper/zinc/vitamin E how long was your horse on it before you noticed a difference?
A long shot here, but we had one horse with recurrent scratches, and our vet sent a culture to Cornell Vet School. I can’t remember the details, but it was some sort of parasitic infestation. He made up a concoction that included ivermectin. He told us to wrap the horse’s legs, and said we should be careful about cleaning the wraps. I took them home, soaked them in bleach, and then washed them.
I would not use ivermectin unless there was such a diagnosis, but the idea of obtaining a culture is an idea.
Mine improved really quickly - within a month or less I would say. When I bought him he had horrible scars from previous bouts of scratches and it had flared up after moving across country. I tried all the ointments, creams, etc, to no avail - it just got worse. I started feeding a hoof/coat supplement for other reasons and within a month of starting the supplement, the scratches went away completely and has never come back!
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Are you certain this is scratches? Are there ticks in your area? This area has tick larva that will bite the hell out of your horse. I’ve heard some people call them turkey mites or chiggers, but they are actually tick larva. Their leg will sometimes swell, ooze, and scab. Permethrin is the only preventative but you must soak their legs.
Is there one product that has copper/zinc/Vitamin E or do I need to buy copper/zinc and a separate Vitamin E? Or will just the copper/zinc work without the Vitamin E???
I have not found one supplement that has all 3. I contacted Horse Tech about custom ordering one, and holy $$$. What I do is not the cheapest route but the ratios work for me and super simple for others to feed for me.
I use Uckele (from Smart Pak) poly copper and poly zinc pellets, along with Santa Cruz natural vitamin E pellets. Based on the dosage I wanted/calculated from what has worked in the past, I mix 2 five pound bags of each copper and zinc along with a 10 pound bag of vitamin E in to a container and mix well. I have an abundance of plastic scoops laying around from over the years so without looking, I can’t remember what size scoop I use but it provides a half dose of each copper and zinc, along with 2000 IU (1/4 dose) of vitamin E. They are all on appropriate amounts of either ration balancer, a fortified concentrate, or combination of both, so I’ve never felt the need to do a full dose of either of the supplements and the concentration that I use has worked well for years.
A cheaper version of this is to use Custom Equine’s copper and zinc powdered supplement, and Santa Cruz’s powdered vitamin E (synthetic). I used to do a similar combination, a bit higher on the vitamin E dose since it was synthetic and not natural, but I also if I have someone who has a need for a higher E dose, I just add more to their feed. This powdered combo was quite a bit cheaper than my pelleted mix, but a lot of it got sifted to the bottom of the buckets and left. I trialed for a bit using a natural oil cooking spray on the grain first to make the powder stick and while the result worked well, it was just an added step in a feeding process that I was trying to make simpler. So, pellets it is.
With any product, figure out your target amount. You likely don’t need a full dose of either nutrient.
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It is suspected (proven?) that vitamin e will degrade when mixed in with other supplements. I used to do a custom HorseTech mix of copper, zinc, and vitamin e until I heard that. I use Uckele or CA Trace copper and zinc powder and it’s a tiny amount daily plus Santa Cruz vitamin E pellets and I mix a weeks worth of portions at a time, so hopefully the vitamin e doesn’t degrade. I have used the human vitamin e capsules too, which I imagine don’t degrade at all until the horse bites them open.
We have 2 horses on Vitamin E/selenium. We are in a selenium deficient area so I could feed that in addition to the copper/zinc.
Thanks
Hi there!
Did we work up a Trial product for you? I’d be happy to take a look at the mix again and do a cost comparison if you’d like. Feel free to reach out here or give me a call any time. Just ask for Connor.
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