I have recently (about 8 weeks) acquired a blue eyed medicine hat paint. He was horribly sunburned when I got him as he had not seen shade or shelter in about 2 years. I’ve kept a mask on him and treated the burns and they’re nearly gone at this point. Will he need a mask all year around, or just in the summer months? I’d like for him to be able to go without one, but I don’t want to risk him burning. The summer sun here (North Texas) is brutal, winter isn’t quite so bad and we don’t have snow and reflection to worry about. If you want to see his intake photos they are at the following link https://imgur.com/a/uT8Lj
Oh you are going to become an expert on zinc oxide, not the baby products but the tubes of zinc oxide.
Does his whole body burn?
More coming in next post as I have a 1/2 grey, 1/2 white (aka pink) big WB and learned about burned rump in 2001.
I’'ll post my advice when I get back home.
Answers to questions: Winter OK to go out w/o covering.
Too hot in summer to cover much. A fly mask doesn’t prevent sunburn it keeps flies off. A covering to prevent sunburn, bought in the UK, is too hot from March to November in Georgia. Turnout in summer is at night, in under fan during the day.
more later. Mine burns everywhere but his face. Has not much hair to cover the 50% pink from neck to tail.
Do not invest in the bucas sun shower. Too hot from spring to late fall. Is waterproof for the mild days of winter. My horse has a blaze and then grey ears and face, altho his muzzle is pink but it does not burn.
more later.
Day turnout from Nov to march or april
night turnout for the spring summer early fall months.
My bald face/big blaze paint mare sunburns on the upper edge of her one white nostril, where the sun hits when she grazes. I’ve used Desitin baby cream zinc oxide but am on a quest for plain heavy strength zinc oxide which is hard to find. Almost all our pharmacies are now consumer retail, they don’t compound or carry basic bulk things. You get prescription drugs and name brand tubes of things. I have one place to get larger bottles of iodine for Instance.
Desitin works well but it would be pricey to use full body! Also maresy hates hates hates the gunky codliver oil fish plus baby powder scent. You get one chance to apply to her nose before she bolts 
I’ve only had a horse with a blaze, so I can only account for that. I slathered on Desitin and found that it did a good job and worked/stayed on all day due to its thick consistency. I also tried a few different sunscreens.
Some fly sprays claim to have built in sun protection, but I am not sure how good they actually are in that respect.
Offer shelter and shade to the horse, and perhaps only night turnout or turnout outside of when the sun is at its strongest.
The BO has a bald faced blue eyed Paint mare, and she is now in a mask all the time. She started having problems with one eye and it turned out to be a squamous cell carcinoma, so her third eyelid was removed. As far as sunburn, I do use Coppertone on my gelding’s muzzle, but it I am not religious about it he does burn more on his nostrils. Fortunately we only have a couple of months in Maine when sunburn protection is necessary for those pink muzzles.
I should have clarified in the original post, only his face burns.
cloudyandcallie - The mask on him does in fact prevent burns, that’s why I paid extra for it, 70% UV protection. It’s for flies and burns.
CanteringCarrot - He’s pastured 24/7 with 2 shelters, does not do well stalled (think nearly killing himself trying to jump through bars).
Scribbler - I used desitin to help him heal, but now he goes without and and has not burned again, but he ALWAYS has his mask on.
walktrot - When you say your BO’s mare had the mask on all the time, does that include winter?
I worked with a horse at my last barn that had blue eyes like your horse. She also ended up having a squamous cell carcinoma and needed to wear a mask at all times. The only time we would take it off was if it was raining/snowing. Exposure to the sun at any time is really harmful to their eyes, so yes, she wore one all the time even in winter. Her mask came off when she came in to her stall at night.
My horse has a very wide blaze (almost a bald face) and he needs to wear his long nosed fly mask all summer to prevent sunburns on his pink nose. He typically wears it from April/May until September/October.
For those needing the higher percent desitin ,wal mart has it in there brand equate it’s 40% zinc oxide.
Not Canadian walmart.
Doesn’t CVS still have the tubes of zinc oxide without the perfume scent you pay extra for in baby products?
Otherwise, check out eBay for zinc oxide.
The tubes still have the fillers and petroleum to compound the zinc oxide powder, but they have more zinc oxide that the baby products do, by %, and don’t stink.
You still have to wipe off the sand and dirt when it sticks to the zinc oxide.
But just like the life guards at the beach who protect their noses with zinc oxide, it works great all over horses who burn. Apply daily at turnout.
Go into your drugstore and ask for tubes of zinc oxide. They are usually not anywhere near the baby products.
Shoot, with the amount of sunscreen you’ll be using, I’d just buy $1 bottles of lotion at the dollar store, some Zinc Oxide powder, and make your own. Yeah, I’d mask all year for sure.
But with a horse with that much white, what I’d really do is leave them in during the day, all year long. At minimum, the couple hours where the sun is at its peak. Or, build a small lot (30’x30’, 40’x40’, you get the idea) with an agriculture shade covering the whole thing for him during the day.
