My yearling has herpes?

[irkenequine]

I’ve called the vet. But I’m still sitting here chewing on my fingernails. I hadn’t seen my yearling filly in…I’d say 4 days–before that I’d just walked out, run a brush over her and left. She’s at a new barn with some friends her age in a MONSTER pasture learning how to be a yearling.

When I brought her in today for a thorough grooming, I noticed what definitely looks like, herpes. Her skin has also turned pink in this area. I’m stunned at how fast it must have onset as I SURELY would have noticed this before…there is also pink mottling (like on a grey) around both lips which is new.

Didn’t know if itw as more common in babies…or common at all…so I posted it here instead of horse care.
Anyone have experience with this?

Excuse her whiskers. We ain’t got no show to be at right now, so she’s a hairy, sunbleached, gangly monster.

http://img210.imageshack.us/img210/2040/49026627.jpg

[AKB]

Has she been eating anything unusual? I wonder if it is a reaction to eating undesirable plants.

[irkenequine]

She’s on her same old diet…and is on about 8 acres and a lake, but no part of it is ‘woodsy’ and I just mowed it about 2-3 weeks ago. She’s been there about 3 months and I’ve never seen anything like this before. But you could be absolutely right-- I’m in South Carolina, I will browse articles to see what plants could cause this reaction.

[Zu_Zu]

Jingles for your yearling ~

[Iron_Horse_Farm]

Warts? No worries, they go away.

[Ghazzu]

what makes you think herpes?

[irkenequine]

Well honestly I have no idea if its herpes…it just looks exactly like cold sores. I’ll take anything resembling “no worries they go away,” much appreciated iron horse. Thats what I hoped to hear haha.

[Ladybug_Hill]

Looks like fungus or just excoriation. I would watch it for a couple of days and see.

[LauraKY]

Equine herpes is a respiratory disease which most of us vaccinate for (EHV1, EHV4). Looks like warts, a reaction or the cruds. Lots of young ones get warts.

[irkenequine]

Well in that case I’m sure I vaccinated for it… see if the vet skin scrapes it or something. Hopefully, its nothin’. Thanks for quelling my paranoia

[Kyzteke]

@irkenequine;5016194

Well honestly I have no idea if its herpes…it just looks exactly like cold sores. I’ll take anything resembling “no worries they go away,” much appreciated iron horse. Thats what I hoped to hear haha.

If they are warts, they WILL go away. They are “yearling warts,” caused by the (I am going to murder this spelling) palpilloma virus. I have a yearling filly with a very icky crop of them. She caught them from a yearling who had a slight case.

You can Google them, but supposedly they occur in yearlings with a less than ideal immune system, but the fact is neither of the babies I have were ever sick in any way. And I’ve known afew young race horses that had them.

They are harmless and will resolve on their own in 6-9 months. But they ARE catching to other youngsters, so you might want to put her in a different pasture than other young horses.

They will not hurt older horses, pregnant mares, etc.

Assuming that is what they are…

But these are NOT red or oozing or open. They are grey warts. Unless they rub them, then of course they will bleed.

[wanderlust]

I had a 2-year old filly get “milk warts”. Didn’t look anything like that photo. They were little cauliflower looking nubbins all over the muzzle.

[FLIPPED_HER_HALO]

Looks like warts to me as well, with some irritation from rubbing them.

Castor oil on them daily will make them fall off faster.

Some of my horses got rashes on their muzzles like your girls, but it was from a certain weed that would pop up in our pasture. They would lose the hair, rub them etc. I used Listerine on a cloth on their muzzles for a few days and it took care of the irritation and it healed up fine.

[stolensilver]

Several years ago a horse who had had herpes less than 6 months before arrived on my yard. That horse had been extremely ill as it was the paralytic strain of Herpes. Fortunately she pulled through but it took her 18 months to regain most of her muscle strength.

Shortly after that horse arrived my mare developed an ulcer on her lip. It grew and grew till it was 2.5cm long and 1cm wide. It never seemed terribly painful, it was just ugly. After 6-8 weeks it healed leaving a scar. The vet thought the ulcer was due to Herpes virus passed on by the new mare. Apparently it is possible to get low levels of disease even if your horse is vaccinated.

Regarding your youngster I’d just keep an eye on the ulcers for now. If there is any sign of weakness or loss of coordination call your vet immediately. I hope it isn’t Herpes.