# New horse owner dealing with rain rot for the first time.



## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

For starters, I would not share any blankets or brushes. I'm not sure if it's contagious, but why take the chance with something so aggressive and annoying. 

Your info on rain rot is correct. It's a bacteria that lives in the soil and is opportunistic particularly on horses who are growing nice thick winter coats. It thrives in lack of oxygen, so it is best remove the scabs. MTG or tea tree oil will help loosen them before picking them off. If it's not too cold where you are, washing the affected area with iodine shampoo will help it die off. I would not leave it to die off on it's own. It will most likely spread and take forever to go away. 

No problem riding unless the rain rot is under the saddle pad area. It can be very itchy for the horse.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Save yourself a lot of grief and aggravation by getting this stuff and keeping it on hand for the rain rot, mud fever aka grease or greasy heel or scratches. It works better than anything I've ever tried and you can use it to treat your blanket if your saddle blanket or horse blanket touches the area. The trick to the whole thing is to get the solution right down to the skin and make sure you let it air dry. I tend to body clip the area that's infected (and then disinfect my blade) so that what hair remains is real short and doesn't interfere with applying the Tea Clenz. 

TEA-CLENZ Antimicrobial Concentrate for Rain Rot, Ringworm, Sweet Itch, Rain Scald

As long as it's just on your horses rump (I'm guessing that's where it is because that's a real frequent spot) and you're not rubbing it with the blanket while you ride, your horse probably won't got sore or mind going for a ride while it heals. After I do the Tea Clenz for 3 days like the instructions say, I like to follow up with this: Mega-Tek Rebuilder, it's a great leave on conditioner and seems to help with the healing. You can also use Eqyss Mega Tek shampoo, spray or gel but they seem to take a bit longer and are my 2nd line of defense for stubborn cases.


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## MyBoyPuck (Mar 27, 2009)

Sorry, forgot about the legs. It normally does not affect legs, so don't worry about that. My horse is also in pasture board. He only gets it on his hips.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Oh and ditto what Puck said, never never never share blankets and brushes. With saddles being so expensive these days I won't loan out my saddle either, but that's not for contagious reasons.


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## lauraetco (Sep 14, 2011)

I hope this works...typing from my phone cause I'm not near a computer. Thanks so much for alll of your replies. I will head to a tack shop tomorrow and follow your advice
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

My boy got Rain Rot this spring, my Vet gave me great advice on how to get rid of it, which it did quite nicely.

I bought Iodine Shampoo, and after I removed the scabs on his rump area with my gelly curry comb, I bathed the infected area with the Iodine Shampoo. I let it soak for a good 3 minutes, and then I rinsed it off. I would back comb his hair and I allowed the area to dry.

I repeated the process 2 times a week, and it got rid of the Rain Rot quite quickly. I was quite impressed.


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## draftrider (Mar 31, 2010)

In a pinch until you can order the good stuff, removing the scabs and scrubbing the area with full strength Listerine works well too. Plus makes your horse minty fresh.


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## Southern Belle (Oct 27, 2011)

Had the exact same problem with my horse a few weeks ago. Heres what you do to get rid of rain rot:
1 Scrub effected area with anti fungal shampoo, picking off the scabs as you scrub
2 Sweat scrape and let dry thoroughly
3 Spray Muck- Itch on area. This spray is all nAtural and made witj tea tree oil

Repeat steps 1-3 about everyday. Rain rit should clear up in about a week
or so


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## demonwolfmoon (Oct 31, 2011)

*UGH, Rain Rot*

Ok, I am also a new horse owner, and I did notice a *lot* of conflicting information on rain rot and how to get rid of it. I actually received my girl with the little scabs all over her back, and soon realized it's a pain in the butt to get rid of!!!! The first thing I did was try a antifungal shampoo. It contained tea tree oil among other things. Then I tried the antifungal spray. Now, my filly did *not* approve of the antifungal spray, and maybe the BO and I did not spray it on enough or something, but one day I got a call that the Rain Rot had come back.Massively. I had been continually applying tea tree oil too...

Ok, so my horse ended up with two larger than quarter size areas which were more of a straight wound. The BO put MTG on the area, and I dug around and found a prescription antibiotic cream which had been prescribed to my 2 year old son. We researched and found that it is horse safe, so we applied that 2-3x a day to those large areas, and her fur is growing back. Which is awesome, since I'm out of antibiotic cream 

I was thinking I would try some hand sanitizer on the larger scabs if necessary...someone mentioned Listerine. Whatever works to get rid of it. I've READ that you can leave it on until the winter coat sheds, but since it can get worse, and *supposedly it can lead to a secondary infection like staph, *it's worth getting rid of.

There's a product called ...Resolve A19 that was supposedly developed by the US Army for dealing with boot rot (same thing I think) that I wanted to try...but it's always out of stock. If I manage to find it in stock, I'll let you know if it works


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