My mare is being eaten by something. Only on her left side on her barrel. There are maybe 4 or 5 little scabs. Like slightly smaller than a pencil eraser. She’s super sensitive to bugs so naturally she is swollen. I am in New England so I first thought of ticks, but I don’t see any.
I’m wondering if maybe they are in her bedding? She does tend to lay more on her left side. And my other mare is on shavings - no bites on her.
Any thoughts on what they could be this time of year?
I’m in New England (western Mass) and I’ve seen plenty of ticks already this year. The deer tick nymphs are teeny tiny and pretty easy to miss.
I have not (yet) seen any other biting insects around.
Do they follow the lymph nodes? Scabs are weird and I have no immediate advice as a fellow New Englander. But my horse did break out in itchy hive type things that followed the lymph track.
In my mares case it was fire ants but I can’t see that as a cause for you this time of year.
I’ll look again to see if maybe they are deer tick nymphs. I might have to shave off a bit of hair to really see. Do they tend to also cause the yellow pus as regular tick bites? There’s no pus at all - just dry scabs.
They are not at the lymph nodes. Most are on her flank, right in the middle. One just behind her shoulder.
Maybe on Monday I will send a photo to my vet and see what she thinks. In the meantime, I think I’m going to bust out both the fly spray to see if I can prevent any more. And the zyrtec, to get the swelling down.
I’m treating a dog for a tick-borne disease right now. Really hope I don’t have to treat my mare, too!
We get hay imported from other states and have had fire ants in the bales off and on all winter.
The bites can cause a small scab and then a small blister.
She may have laid down on a spider? They’re definitely awake, and will bite in a cluster. Don’t think we’ve got any medically significant spiders around here, but bites can still be irritating.
I fear for this coming tick season with how mild winter was. Started seeing them in February!
Doesn’t sound similar to my mare and maybe the poster who suggested a spider bite is on track. With regards to the canine tick born thing, in my very limited experience it presents like Lyme on steroids.
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