# bald horse butt, sad day



## MN Tigerstripes (Feb 20, 2009)

Have you had a vet out? Looks very fungal to me.


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## PetoftheDay (Mar 21, 2012)

As you said it's red and flaky at the surface, you should probably have a vet take a look, or call one and ask if you need to take a scraping or whatever. Does he act like it is itchy, or rub it against the wall repeatedly or anything? I take it there are no little black specks present? I would expect nutritional issues to be more generalized than a fungal one. Does the rest his coat look normal (for this time of year, at least)?


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## DressageDreamer (Feb 29, 2012)

I found a similar picture online and this is what the vet said :
.........that the scabbing is not a prominent feature agrees this might be a fungus with ring worm being most common but staph folliculitis cannot be ruled out and is about as common. There are dozens of rare diseases that would present as above.
I think a reasonable plan is to take samples for a DTM (ringworm) test, do culture on any sores, and start treating with a mixture of chlorhexidine shampoos once weekly and daily spray application of a 2% chlorhexidine solution spray. This would treat both staph and ringworm. If the cultures reveal a more definitive cause treatment can be switched to something more specific. If it continues to spread I would then biopsy a fresh untreated lesion. 

Hope this is helpful


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## PetoftheDay (Mar 21, 2012)

And I forgot to say, be very careful about him getting near other horses, and if it's ringworm, be extremely vigilant about cleaning any brush or comb you use on him. You want to make sure you don't spread it to other areas on him, if it is fungal. Also. ringworm IS communicable to humans, and can be miserable.


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## Trinity3205 (Dec 21, 2010)

Clean the horses sheath or teats and deworm with ivermectin to take care of pinworms. Everytime I have seen this, It was due to a horse rubbing his rear due to pinworms or a dirty sheath/teats


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## arrowsaway (Aug 31, 2011)

I actually work for a veterinarian, I'm an RVT. Just posted here to get some feedback from ya'll. I'm going to be scrubbing it once a day with chlorhex and then applying lotrimin ultra. There's no way to separate him from others, we have 24/7 turnout and one pasture, so. It's gonna be a crapshoot.
If this doesn't work, it's obviously not fungal, so we're back to square one.
And, I already mentioned that I wormed him the other day. I don't think it's worms. Whenever I have seen an infestation of pinworms, the tailhead has been completely rubbed out. 
He sheath is also clean, I keep up on that at regular intervals.

Thanks for the replies, all.


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

When horses get to butt rubbing it's not always pinworms. Horses often walk with the tail slightly elevated which means a feeding feast for all the wee blood sucking bugs, mosquitoes, gnats, etc. That's not likely the case here but something to keep in mind. Just slather the area with petroleum jelly and that usually offers the horse relief.


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## Trinity3205 (Dec 21, 2010)

My post simply referred to the two most typical reasons for butt rubbing. 

You can deworm a horse and still have worms if you under dose, use an ineffective dewormer class or so forth thus reevaluating dewomring protocols for possible holes is never a bad idea for most of us. Fecals can be helpful although they do not show excysted strongyles or tapeworms.

If you work for a vet, why not just ask the vet you work for for an opinion baqsed on the picture and your word of mouth information? Would be much better advice than from a public forum. 

PS, I have seen horses do this to themselves with no tail hair loss. They lift the tail and rub on things even cutting their personal parts at times. In every case it was either pinworms or dirty parts. The givaway for rubbing in those i have seen is small cuts or abrasion. 

In one case, the horse was not rubbing but had a sort of scald or chapping likely from watery poo and swishing with his tail.

I run across alot of under educated horse owners in my field and the simplest explanation is typically the most reasonable and likely and so that is why they are the first things i throw out there to rule them out.


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## NorthernMama (Mar 12, 2008)

When you are washing, I would also wash the tail both underneath and the tail hairs so ensure you have contacted all possible fungal hiding places.

Any chance it might be a digestive sensitivity that is causing discomfort when the horse defacates?


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## Rascaholic (Oct 4, 2010)

Mange, scabies ( not sure if horses can get it), ringworm, fungal infection, bacterial infection, irritation from a blanket, allergy.... I'm still thinking

You have pretty much ruled out worms, fungus, and maybe contact allergy.


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