My bay horse with a white snip and 2 white socks had a few skin issues show up simultaneously. He has scratches on his patterns with the white socks, dry flakey skin on his hips, and what appears to be a nasty sunburn on his white snip. He’s never had issues with scratches or sunburn before. Is it possible that what I’m seeing on his nose is something else related to the scratches? It just seems odd that these would appear all at the same time. I want to make sure I don’t treat his nose for sunburn when it could be something else. Thank you!
What’s his entire diet, and how long has he been on that?
There are a few possibilities. Photosensitivity can cause all these at the same time. That’s often caused by eating legumes (especially alfalfa and clover), but can also come about by eating Alsike Clover which is toxic, damages the kidneys, and can present as burning skin.
Insufficient copper and zinc is possible, which allows skin quality to degrade enough that bacteria enters even tiny breaks in the skin. This s especially true of pink skin, but can happen on the body where it’s then called rain rot
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Interesting. His normal diet did change last week after he was showing lethargy and lack of appetite. Barn owner took him off grain and gave him alfalfa instead for 2 days. So maybe that’s it. He was taken to the vet and treated with fluids for an impaction in the small intestine and he is much better now and back to his normal diet (no alfalfa).
If it was in fact photosensitivity from alfalfa, do I proceed with using the scratches shampoo and cream to resolve the issues?
First, remove the alfalfa 
That alone should get things cleared up quickly, if it was the cause.
But yes, you can use a betadine-based shampoo, letting it sit for a few minutes on the affected areas, and then rinse thoroughly. Or, a chlorhexidine wash would also be good. If the alf is the culprit, removing it should allow things to heal quickly.
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Since it’s also a legume, I would imagine it has the potential to cause general photosensitivity issues, but TBH I don’t know if there’s something different enough about it to make it unlikely - ?
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Update: my vet agreed that photosensitivity is likely. The nose sunburn is looking much better already, and I’m still treating the scratches.
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That’s great that it’s looking better already
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