In my 20 years of owning this horse, he has never had this issue… these bumps keep appearing on his tail. They then burst and turn into ulcers. Tail is bothering him… he’s itching it, hence the remnants of a white salve you see in some of the pictures. Ulcers appeared before the use of salve, so it is not a reaction from that. He definitely has sweet itch. Loses the hair on his face in the summers, itchy tail, belly, sheath. But the ulcers are new. Is this Onchocerciasis or something? Vet is coming Thursday but I thought I’d pick your brains first. The bumps and ulcers keep appearing, so this isn’t something that happened in turnout one day or something.
Look like tick bites.
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Hmm interesting thought… I hadn’t considered that. The only thing is that I have yet to find a tick on this horse. He is checked head to toe every day… and these lesions are only on his tail
Probably ticks but could be a reaction to a stablefly (dive bomber) bite. But I would bet on a tick bite. Ticks seem to like borrowing into the tail and you usually don’t see them. And I can personally attest to the fact that tick bites are incredibly itchy.
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Itchy indeed.
He created this masterpiece the other week.
Is there anything I can do? He wears a sheet with a tail cover. The grass is short… I’ve been washing his tail daily because of the messy salve that’s been on it and working to heal that big hole he rubbed. But other than that, I don’t know what else to do for him.
Yeah, another vote for ticks.
Banging the tail up to keep it out of the grass goes a long way with ticks. You can also use the spot on stuff, although maybe save that for when he’s healed…applying to broken skin might not be great. Be sure to use a pyrethrin or permethrin fly spray on the tail itself every day.
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Thank you! Wow I would have never thought about ticks since I’ve never seen one on him. Will definitely try all of the above. His tail is usually banged. Bigger issue is he enjoys playing a dead horse outside every day
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What a nice spot for a nap!
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You can spray down the tail hairs with Off or another tick repellant everyday focusing on the bottom hairs. And/or put the Freedom 45 stuff on the topline, dock and tail bone. I have a problem with ticks here - me, not the horses. If I spray down my boots every morning with DEET repellant when I go outside I don’t find them crawling across my arm in the afternoon. Or worse.
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Ultra shield black is what I’ve had good success with. Anything that contains permethrin does a pretty good job.
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I was going to suggest mowing the grass short but I don’t think that’s going to help here 
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With bites like those, which I agree look like tick bites, I’d also add Lyme testing to my routine
I used to wash my guy, who had tick bite reactions like this, legs and tail with skin so soft shower gel. I’d wet his legs and tail, slather it in, and let it sit.
Rinse it off after a few minutes.
And agree any permethrin spray is a good choice.
My geldings face did this last summer too and it turned out to be something fungal. The vet told me to try a 50/50 mixture of myconizole and hydrocortisone cream and it knocked it right out.
I’d add a steroid to the salve you are using just to knock down some of the itchiness. I make a homemade scratches cream that I end up using for things like this - 2 parts 40% zinc oxide, 1 part triple abx ointment, 1 part antifungal, 1 part hydrocortisone.
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Might be some kind of spider bite. My QH mare developed an abscess on the top of her tailbone, in almost the same place your guy has bites. Although she was feeling NQR for a couple of days, I did not find anything until she rubbed the hair off of the tailbone enough that I could see what I thought was inflammation. Fortunately, when I palpated, I could feel that it was squishy, not hard, so I used drawing salve (icthammol) on it. The abscess burst in about a day. Kind of icky to clean out, but as it is healing, I can see that she had some sort of localized lesion or bite. Still not entirely certain, but I think a spider bite is the most likely cause. I used Benadryl spray when it was itchy, and alternated Silver Sulfadiazine with SWAT to help the tissue heal. Now I am using Corona and SWAT.
In my experience, ticks love trees. Most of the ticks I’ve picked up have been after working under a tree.
Your picture shows the horse sleeping in ticks preferred habitat.
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I’d also suggest tick bites. I had one vet tell me that we don’t usually find the ticks attached to the horses like we do us or the dogs since the ticks don’t like the taste of horse. So they tend to bite and then drop off rather than burrow in and feed for an extended period. I’d try a tick spray on the tail, legs, and belly. Though if they’re coming from the tree then spraying the whole horse might be better.
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