I’ve been battling skin fungus along with a lot of other borders and received the recommendation for white vinegar to spray on at the end of the bath? Never heard that before wanted to see if anyone here had heard anything similar.
Skin issues (rainrot, scratches, fungus, etc) are frequently a symptom of copper and zinc deficiency. Or more accurately an excess of iron, from well water and forage (grass & hay).
I have a TB with 4 high whites that used to battle scratches all the time. I could only keep it under control if I washed his legs with chlorhexidine scrub daily. Then I supplemented with copper and zinc; that was 5 years ago, and he hasn’t had any issues since (except for that one time I ran out of CuZn and thought it wouldn’t matter…!). I’ve had similar results with other horses, who came in with skin funk and cleared up all on their own with appropriate nutrition.
The fact that other horses in your boarding stable have the same problems also suggests a nutrition imbalance. Copper and zinc is cheap to supplement and the added amount is small (1/4-1/2 tsp), though it does taste bad and may take a couple weeks for your horse to adjust to it.
4 Likes
Personally, I’d add copper/zinc from mad barn and then a trusted balanced product like equiderma or hay what’s that blue stuff.
2 Likes
I use an apple cider vinegar rinse at the end of pretty much every bath and have for years.
2 Likes
this one?
1 Like
I mix a glug of vinegar at the end of baths cause it cuts any leftover soap and makes them shine.
Doubt it does anything for fungus. Add copper/zinc/vitamin E and it will go away like magic.
2 Likes
How do you add vinegar to your shower for your horse?
a bucket of warm water, pour in some vinegar and sponge over horse. I’m sure you could get something to mix in the hose… but I already own the bucket/sponge.
If they are already getting omniety do they still need the 3:1 ?
oh haha, that works. I was thinking too complicated. I, too, have a bucket and sponge. 
If they are getting excess iron, yes.
The barn I’m at has slightly high iron in the water. When I moved my horse here he had a bad case of mud fever and cracked heels. While the cracked heels healed up, the mud fever wandered around his pastern and fetlock on his white leg. It got worse the last two autumns, turning into cracked heels again last year, and allowing a cellulitis infection.
The fallout from that cellulitis infection was so bad that I am determined to do whatever I can to stop it happening again this year. I saw a post on CoTH recommending copper zinc for handling high iron and figured I had nothing to lose by trying it. Because the iron is only a little high (still within human safe consumption limits) I don’t use the scoop from Mad Barn that came with it, but one that is slightly more than half the size. I started with half of that smaller scoop for a week before going to a full small scoop. The fungus looked better within a few weeks, and has been entirely gone for months now. And picky eater doesn’t get it every day if he refuses his grain.
As for vinegar, there was a poster on another forum who used to swear wrapping with sauerkraut would cure mud fever. I wonder if it was the vinegar held wet against the skin for a long period that killed the fungus. Note that mud fever can be bacterial and typically fungus and bacteria treatments tend to make the other type very happy.
1 Like
How did you determine that the iron was high in the water? Testing it?
Also - for adding copper and zinc… if my horses dont have an actual deficiency, is this something that can be harmful to add to their diet or they can “overdose” on? My retired mare has lots of health issues, so I may talk to my vet before adding anything on
BO had it tested and told me.
1 Like
The sauerkraut is interesting! If it was traditionally made, it wouldn’t have vinegar; it would be fermented. So lots of probiotic bacteria present and the bacteria makes lactic acid, which would bring the juice to lower pH like vinegar. I wonder whether the probiotics or the lower pH did the helping. Or if it was canned, it would definitely be the pH since any bacteria/yeast would be killed already.
To OP: I learned my lesson re: copper and zinc on my late mare with chronic scratches (that were fixed with supplementation and completely ignoring topicals). I know my barn has high iron because the BO had to install an iron curtain for the house (it’s still unknown whether the barn water runs through it or not). If its high in their well water, I assume it’s high in the soil as well. I’ve supplemented Cu/Zn through Vermont Blends Pro (excessive if all you need is the Cu/Zn, but I feed this with oats and alfalfa instead of other feed or a ration balancer) and we haven’t had an issue with fungus or anything of the sort despite lackadaisical moisture and skin management from me at times.
