My three year old gelding just had a white patch show up last week. I think that might just be because he’s shedding but I’m not certain. He also has white hair in his mane at his withers which would commonly be found due to ill fitting tack or injury. He’s had neither. I have ridden him once for 30minutes this spring and it just showed up a few weeks ago. Could his saddle have made an impact that quickly? I’m also wondering if his rain sheet could have rubbed his withers. It’s not a big deal, just want to make sure he’s not in pain and do anything I can to prevent it. Any ideas would be appreciated!
Can you take pictures from further away? It is really hard to see where it is on the horse to be able to tell the possible causes.
My first thought based on where I think the spot is at, is something to do with the tree points. However really can’t tell the location.
Also spots like this come out during a coat change. So the cause could have been anytime since the last one.
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I will take a better picture tomorrow. That is behind his front leg on his shoulder/belly
Thank you! To me that means a potential girth issues.
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Yeah, from that close it’s impossible to tell. My horse gets birdcatcher spots, but they don’t really look like that.
My old chestnut quarter horse would get random white spots every year in different places. My vet mentioned that they could sometimes show up like that in a chestnut horse that had had a high fever at some point. I do happen to know that he had been really quite sick with Strangles just before I bought him.
It was a bit freaky when he got them on his ears. From a distance they looking like bits were missing.
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A few years ago my senior palomino gelding had a small white fur patch appear right at the inside corner of one eye. It appeared very suddenly a few days after he’d received the Lymes vaccine for the first time. I’m not sure if that was just a coincidence, but the patch has remained ever since. It freaked me out because the vaccine was intended for cattle and use in horses was off-label at the time. I thought “OMG, this vaccine is going to make my horse go blind!”.
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Same!
@Miscellaneous the skin doesn’t have to break for pressure from tack or whatever to damage the hair follicles enough to cause white hair. I’d look hard at how stuff is fitting over these areas.
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Yes, it’s possible for a saddle to cause white hairs that quickly.
My dark bay horse developed a small white spot this winter where there’s a spur rub (I know, I’m a horrible person). Now that’s he’s shed out and his summer coat is coming in, the white spot is practically gone. The new hair is brown.
daughter’s bay mare has birdcatcher spots, she was quite the attraction at a recent show, many people stopped by to see the spotted mare
The odds of that length of time causing that significant damage as to damage the hair follicles to the point of being incapable of producing melanin, is pretty darn slim
A Birdcater spot is much more likely
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Thank you for all the replies! I will definitely have a good look at his tack. Here are a few photos from farther away. It’s kind of hard to see them. There’s also a pic of his mane.
If the spots all showed up at the same time, I really wouldn’t worry them at all. I would say birdcatchers spots. It is still worth it to double check your tack.
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Yes the mane spot could be rubbing from his rain sheet. The others are probably bird-catcher spots.
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My horse developed a button sized white spot on her lower shoulder this winter, the fleshy area just above the forearm where a shoulder brand would be. Nothing touches her there and no wound or trauma, so why it started I have NO idea! She is dark bay.
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Red-based colors are much more likely to get Birdcatcher (and Bend Or) spots, but others colors can get them too
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daughter’s dark bay mare has about fifty of these small white spots scattered all over her body
Would attach photo but horse is out of state until next Monday, if this thread is still active then I can photo.
None of the spots are large, maybe 3/16th inch diameter or smaller
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The spot on his body looks more like a bite mark to me than a bird catcher spot.
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Agree - one of mine has a white spot that’s the leftovers of a tooth graze and looks just like that, including location. The others on OP’s horse look like maybe rain sheet rubbing or Birdcatcher spots.
I wish I had a pic of my birdcatcher horse - his spots are almost perfectly round and almost always pop up at coat changes. Maybe HIS are just round, that may not be the case for ALL birdcatcher spots.
