New pony, hair falling out

[Justice]

I bought a 4 yo small pony in Canada on recommendation of her breeder who sold as weanling. Had pony shipped South to Ontario to reputable show barn for vet work and to be closer to me, she stayed for a week with indoor turnout only. In pics pony was so hairy impossible to tell what it looked like. Vet from Ontario called because body condition was very poor and they could not do teeth due to wolf teeth present but did take fecal. Fecal came back at 200. Pony was bright eyed and healthy. I picked pony up 3 weeks ago and sure enough, very thin. I brought her home and put her on ulcer meds, free choice hay and started building up hard feed. No problem with appetite! After a week she’d already gained weight and I wormed with 500 lb dose of Quest Plus. Holy worms, Batman. I have never seen a worm in poop before. Horrifying. Different kinds, all dead. Still freezing here and all horses have private turn out, thank goodness. About 7-10 days post worming I notice bare patch on both sides of pony’s face. Skin looks a little cracked but no weeping or blisters, the hair looks like it just fell out. And in some places on this pony the hair is 3-4 inches long. Notice another patch under mane near where mane starts. Hair gone. Start seeing clumps of hair in stall. Pony likes when I groom or scratch her but I don’t see her scratching in her stall and I have cameras. She is either eating or sound asleep. If you pull on her hair, it comes out easily. Start treating bare spots with mix of fungal & antibiotic cream. Last night gave antibacterial/fungal bath (heated wash stall) because clearly something is going on. Crazy amount of hair come out and she continues to shed in stall (it looks like someone has been in there currying her) revealing a super soft fuzzy winter coat under the crazy yak hair. But it is 25 degrees! Vet coming next week and dentist coming week after. Pony is steadily gaining and clearly is not going to be a hard keeper, was just very hungry and wormy. I put mtg on bare spots after bath as ointments not helping.

Could the worming make her hair fall out? Is there a worm impacting her coat that I didn’t get with Quest plus? Going to get black light in case of ringworm and have been sanitizing everything, but she would not have gotten ringworm in my barn and she didn’t come with it. Does not look like rain rot and legs don’t have it. She is not blanketed because it’s warmer here than where she came from, she’s so hairy and she went from being out 24/7 to being in at night and during weather in a clean warm well-bedded barn. I had planned to clip and blanket when she’s at a happy weight and it’s a little warmer, I’m just doing in-hand work with her until her weight is good. Horse that shares paddock line has not shown issues. Pony continues to enjoy her new life status and is happy as a clam. Gaining weight quickly, as smalls usually do, now just looks weedy and unmuscled as opposed to starved. Had point ar tailbone, could feel vertebrae. On my show horse feed program, pro Elite performance (beet pulp based), Topline Advantage and Omega Advantage with free choice grass hay inside and out. I have never experienced this type of hairloss… any ideas? Sorry for the novel!

[Marla_100]

She could have picked up something (fungal or bacterial) on her trip to you or where she stayed temporarily. Sometimes
these things show up on malnourished critters who’ve been deficient in vitamins for awhile.
I’m sure there’s lots of changes going on in her system due to the worm overload. Wouldn’t hurt to check her again in a few weeks.
In the meantime, I’d put her on a flax supplement, I like Omega Horseshine as it has flax plus other good vitamins for skin and hair. Or if you want something more economical good ground flax is cheaper.

Your vet can take a skin scraping if you want to pursue it and try to get the cause.
Here’s a good article explaining all the possible causes:

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/horse-owners/skin-disorders-of-horses/hair-loss-alopecia-in-horses

[S1969]

A lot of horses with Cushings shed like that. There was a recent thread with photos.

It is time for them to start shedding. But metabolically challenged horses tend to have long winter coats and they often come out in clumps. My Cushings pony is shedding like crazy right now. He won’t shed out fully until May or so, but it has definitely started.

It may not be Cushings, but just normal shedding for this pony.

[Justice]

Thanks! She is on Pro Elite’s Omega Advantage, so that’s covered. It just seems weird that it started after I’d had her for 2 weeks.

[Brown_Derby]

Longshot but a local WB developed strange shedding and hair loss from a flax supplement that contained a small percentage of soybean oil. He was allergic to soy. I hope you find a solution soon. It sounds like she’s hit the jackpot.

[2DogsFarm]

No advice on the coat issues, but my vet cautioned me about using Quest(Moxidectin) on my 52" Hackney Pony or mini.
So both get ivermectin/praziquantel instead.
I had used Quest for years on my (full-size) horses w/o a problem.

[Justice]

Thanks so much! The shedding is continuing today and I think on her body it just looks like she’s letting go of her crazy coat since she’s got some meat on her bones. The hair underneath is like a fluffy undercoat, similar to a foal coat. The hair on top was course and stood straight out. So now I think my concern is just the patches where it’s falling out all together… her sweet little face. I don’t want to put anything else on it with the mtg but keeping a close eye! I will check ingredients for soybean oil!

[findeight]

I dunno…if she’s not bald underneath but has a fluffy undercoat remaining, kind of doubt it’s any kind of fungi crap or anything external. And the days are getting noticeably longer triggering shedding and the starting up of estrus.

When you add malnutrition over some period of time on a young horse still pulling nutrients for growth, you get all sorts things going on within the body when you start providing proper nutrition. Sounds like she had a very poor quality winter coat grown by a body stealing nutrients for more vital functions. And they don’t have to be a 2 or below that to happen if it’s been going on for a long period of time.

Wouldn’t panic but would have vet run a blood panel, not that expensive and well worth it in neglect cases.

Don’t think it’s out of the realm of possibility it could be related to the worming, maybe the effects of a very heavy kill working itself out or the product didn’t agree with her. But again, she’d be bald, not have the fuzzy undercoat remains. Just to be sure, worm with a different product next time.

Far as the facial baldness, guessing around the eyes and nostrils? Is she Welsh? Had a few fine coated horses, TB and Arab over the years and they lost most of the facial hair every coat change. Vets said it was not rare in thinner skinned horses with finer hair and more common in mares. Just a thought.

Unfortunately been around horses recovering from prolonged malnutrition and it’s interesting how the body readjusts when it can stop cannibalizing itself to support the most vital functions… Might pay particular attention to feet, it’s not going to be a healthy hoof able to fight off thrush and minimize abscesses.

Anyway, think you’ll be fine once she gets caught up physically and gets on a proper worming cycle, must have been infested with them, normally they decompose long before they get to the colon, must have been a huge population living well into her intestines. Going to want to re worm as soon as vet deems it appropriate and by all means get that FEC ASAP and see what types of worms she’s been hosting.

Sounds disgusting but did you poke thru and see what kind of worms she passed? Any tapeworm segments? Long and skinny or short and fat? We have it easy today, we used to fast them 12 hours and tube worm once or twice a year and we saw wormy poop, mostly long skinny ones, stongyles? Thank heaven for modern worming protocols.

And we want before and after photos here, you do realize it’s a rule when asking about things like this.

[Justice]

Thank you… she is Welsh! I put an album up on my farm fb page (link below). The pictures I saw of her I also posted, she was in good weight last fall. I think she just had a horrible winter. I was fascinated by the worms & almost took pictures. They were short and fat, different colors from flesh to purple, some with “legs” some without. I’ve heard of horses from Europe passing worms but I’ve never seen it even though I always check their manure when I’m mucking (I am coming across as poop obsessed). I wormed my other two just because she’d been there a week and they passed nothing. I used the quest plus to try to get encysted as well without doing a powerpac. She seems to feel better after the worming (I would too!) and is just the friendliest, happiest pony. I have yet to meet an unfriendly pony though lol. Don’t mind my crazy baby talk in the video… it was not meant for public consumption and I forgot to turn off the sound 🙈. It gives a good shot of the bare patches on face… they have ointment on them. She already looks totally different since the bath… and she smells much better lol. Her tummy is getting round and she’s learning how to lunge. Sees the farrier and dentist the first week of March.

[JBCool]

Holy cow, Justice, she could be my horse’s sister! Except that he’s 15.3, but… His breeding is a mystery but I am leaning more and more toward there being a pony in the mix somewhere.

[findeight]

Where’s the link?

Wow on the diversity of the worm community. Legs? Yuck. Sounds like they’ve been building their community for much longer then ideal. Could the fat ones have been been Bots? Do you even get those up there? Those look like garden grubs and pass intact more then the other varieties.

[Highflyer]

Stress/ change alone can cause some crazy things and is the most likely cause. I have seen it with pregnancy too, though, not sure if that’s a possibility?

[Justice]

I think Findeight is the big winner here… today I can see healthy little hairs growing in under the bald patches on her face & neck. Praise the Lord it is not ringworm because she gets a lot of kisses from yours truly!

Must be such a huge change after the worm exodus that her body decided it did not need to fight to stay warm. In terms of the worms, I had a fecal done in Canada and it came back at 200. That’s all they said. I’ve never had one come back with anything that required worming but I did not think 200 was supposed to be terribly high so I was shocked at the worms on her poop. And, I’d imagined long stringy ones but did not see any, possibly some white red worms, definitely bots and a couple other round things. I swear some of the light colored grubby ones had legs but I can’t find a picture online so maybe it was a shriveled bot. My vet is here next week and will take the next sample as that will be a little over 2 weeks.

So yay, I can stop washing her halter everyday and worrying that my other mares and I will have ringworm on our faces. We have an enucleation planned next week for my older mare so I was freaking out about anything fungal. She is a doll and was well-loved where she came from, it’s not like anyone was riding her so I think her weight loss was camouflaged by the crazy coat. I would say within 2 weeks she’ll look like a million bucks. I’ll keep adding to her album on my fb page (link in to that in signature line, hers is the only album). Can’t wait to get her started… love those smalls!

And JBcool… your horse sounds awful and likely makes your butt look big. Don’t worry, you can send him to me immediately. Nothing I like more than a 15.3 hand cutie! Maybe he is an overgrown Welsh cross? Those are the best.

[JBCool]

Nice try! :lol: :lol: :lol: I’m a whopping 5’2", so he is just my size. Long story short, I know he’s not the warmblood the seller told me he was, so my running theory (ok, probably mostly conjecture & imagination) is that he is just that: bred to be a Welsh cross large who kept going rather than a horse that didn’t get big enough. He definitely has some pony characteristics!

@Justice

And JBcool… your horse sounds awful and likely makes your butt look big. Don’t worry, you can send him to me immediately. Nothing I like more than a 15.3 hand cutie! Maybe he is an overgrown Welsh cross? Those are the best.

[4horses]

If you find a cause for the clumps of hair coming off her face let me know. My mare itched her face bald. All around the bridle path area. I dewormed twice- neck threadworms? No idea but she still has small bald patches left. I tried antifungal cream. I then tried lyme sulfur dip. Black light did not show anything. I’m guessing it isn’t ringworm. At least it is going away, if slow to resolve.

[SummerRose]

My mother picked up an emaciated stallion who had a very long, poor quality coat and as he started to gain weight, his hair started falling out in clumps. He was virtually bald underneath with the just the finest, shortest hair I’ve ever seen on a horse. The short coat grew to a normal length and he ended up looking spectacular.

Hopefully your pony is like Mom’s stallion and the shedding just means she’s getting healthy!

[findeight]

Good to hear Justice. You know, this has to be the only board that, when hearing of a disgusting worm exodus, asked if you poked around the poop to see what kind of worms as if it was a perfectly normal question.

IIRC the Bot larvae are segmented so as they dry out, it could look like legs. If you got a load of Bots they normally are visible in the poop, sometimes even without worming. They must mature pretty far back, used to know but long forgotten.Old timers used to add some loose tobacco to the feed and get a good Bot kill.

For other readers, Have to remember the adult Botfly lays its eggs in the hairs of the lower leg easy to see, yellowish and the size of pinhead. Horse bites them off and they hatch in the mouth and throat area then migrate to the lower digestive tract to mature then pass with the poop. IIRC. Kind of takes the fun out of a horse licking you…especially with little dots on its lower legs.