How do you successfully deal with rain rot?
Prevention: Keep your horse’s skin clean. Ensure that he has a dry shelter during rain (whether he uses it or not is up to him) and that he isn’t standing in mud to develop scratches. Ensure his diet is giving him appropriate macronutrient levels.
Getting it to clear up: There are a variety of topical products that you can use, but I’ve gone to alternating days of chlorhexidine baths and days of vinegar rinses.
You also posted a thread about Cushings. If your horse has Cushings, he may be more susceptible to rain rot and other infections because his immune system is not working at full capacity. He may also have long hair or sweat profusely, which make his skin a damp, hospitable environment for bacteria. If that’s the case, pay particular attention to the prevention aspects, and you may have to think outside the box. My Cushings horse developed a skin reaction to something in our soil this year (we didn’t have a prolonged freeze to kill the bacteria) that presents as hives that resolve into rain rot. Now he lives on Zyrtec to control his histamine response so he doesn’t get the hives and doesn’t get the rain rot, and I also keep him clipped for his comfort and to ensure he can get air on his skin.
Equiderma lotion. Worked amazingly well for my horse.
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My gelding is super prove to getting reason rot. I’ll use a mixture of Chlorhexidine 2%. I mix 2 ounces to a gallon of water and add shampoo. I’ll lather him up, let it sit for 5 minutes and then rinse him off. When he’s dry I put M-T-G on him. Usually that gets rid of reason rot and scratches really quickly
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Rain rot, not reason rot. I can’t edit my post for some reason
Thank you all so much for all that great information it is so helpful and you you can know in your heart you helped a horse today
“You also posted a thread about Cushings. If your horse has Cushings, he may be more susceptible to rain rot and other infections because his immune system is not working at full capacity. He may also have long hair or sweat profusely, which make his skin a damp, hospitable environment for bacteria. If that’s the case, pay particular attention to the prevention aspects, and you may have to think outside the box. My Cushings horse developed a skin reaction to something in our soil this year (we didn’t have a prolonged freeze to kill the bacteria) that presents as hives that resolve into rain rot. Now he lives on Zyrtec to control his histamine response so he doesn’t get the hives and doesn’t get the rain rot, and I also keep him clipped for his comfort and to ensure he can get air on his skin.”
This is our farm to a tee. Except that we have some non Cushinoid horses with the skin plague as well. It is horrible and must be truly painful because some of the more dramatic ones can’t stand to be touched during the hive phase and act as if the lightest spray from the hose is burning them.
Wash with a medicated shampoo, dry with a blow dryer and use gold bond powder to make sure no moisture. Then add a combo antibiotic creme, athletes feet creme, cortisone creme and Destin. Apply to scabs. Due not pick them off. Make sure you are disinfecting brushes and not sharing them after each use.
Wow thanks for that information I just wrote it down in my notebook and will give it a try tomorrow-it has been raining straight now for 2 days so I figure I have my work cut out for me.
A loud second for Equiderma. It’s colloidal chlorhexidine. Magical!
thanks got it written down
