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 Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 5:42 pm
Rain scald, rain rot, mud fever... all the same thing and it is the season!
Ok, if you don't know what it is, it's a contageous organism that acts both like a bacteria and fungus infection that grows on the horse. It developes from the horse being wet without completely drying, because the fungus can then survive and grow. On the horse, it turns into scabs and they come off with tuffs of hair. If you find on your horse an area with several to almost covered in scabs, chances are he has rain scald.
A common misconception about rainscald is that it comes from the rain. It doesn't. I've seen horses that were stalled 24/7 get rain scaled. It's just not as common. This is because the horse isn't getting wet from being outside, and stalled horses are generally groomed more often than paddock kept horses. The organism grows better withOUT the pressence of oxygen, so grooming is very important for treating and perventing rain scald.
HOW TO TREAT IT
Now that you know about rain scald it can be treated.
-Try to keep the horse dry and clean.
-If your horse is sensitive you may want help with this becuae he might not like it! You have to remove the scabs from the horse. You can do this by picking, or if they've reached a later stage, they can be brushed off with a hard curry comb. If they are hard, you can get the areas wet to soften it
-Once the scabs are removed, wash the area with gental anti-fugal and bacterial soap. I've heard of people using gental dish soap or blech, very diluted in warm water. Make sure the horse is dried well after this.
Don't be afraid, rain rot isn't a serious thing in a healthy horse. Some horses that are really healthy can even fight it off before it deveoped into scabs. In older, young, or unhealthy horses though, it can be hard on them and over work their immune system making them more susceptible to other illnesses. It's best to take care of it as soon as it appears, and follow these symple steps to avoid getting it (especially for outside horses):
-Make sure the horse gets completely dried for at least an hour every day
-Don't share saddle pads, blankets, wraps, etc. with other horses (it can be transfer that way)
-Seperate horses if one gets it to prevent the others gettign it
-Keep paddocks well drained and stalls clean
-Make sure horses have a dry place to stand and sleep if theyre kept outside
-Treat cuts with anti-bacterial soap/wash (ie betadine)
-Groom regularly, possibly clip or blanket (rain sheet) a horse if they have a very thick coat and live in a wet environment
-Change blankets regularly, and wash blankets and pads often
I like in Northern BC, where it's ALWAYS wet, and it's common for even the healthiest, dryest, most groomed horse to get even a couple scabs. But you don't have to let it get out of control. I saw a 3 year old once that was completely covered (litterally from ear to tail) in rain scald. The horse had to be clipped, then groomed 2 or 3 times a day and was blanketed for the rest of the winter and stalled at night. She lost a lot of weight because her owners simply didn't look after it when it started. My mare was one of the ones who would get a couple scabs on her neck under her mane, but I would groom her often, and bring her into the barn to dry every day.
It was my job at the farm to take care of the younger horses (yearlings/2 year olds) if they got it because they were more prown to getting it. I would bring them in a stall and give them some low protein complete feed and hay pellets to keep them busy while i got rid of the scabs (i found most horses will stand if you feed them something). I would wash them with warm water with whatever soap I decided to use, and put a cooler on them and give them some hay and let them dry for an hour in a stall before putting them back out. If I can do that with 5 young horses a day between chores, you can do it with your horses too.
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Posted: Mon Nov 05, 2007 6:09 pm
I personally witnessed the WORST way to Remove Rain Rot off of a Foal.
Norm, tied the foal to the stall, poured USED MOTOR OIL on the area affected, and then used a METAL CATTLE CURRY SCRAPER to remove the scabs while pouring the USED MOTOR OIL on the area. It was sad to see.
Oddly enough, Penny hasn't got it yet.
I mean, she gets wet. She dries. She doesn't scab at all. She can go a week without me grooming her and still look as good as the day I brushed her.
I guess it depends on the horse.
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Posted: Wed Nov 07, 2007 7:21 pm
Yeah, Joy gets the occasional spot or two on her back legs. Just the other day I gave her a really good scrub with iodine shampoo. Turned her socks yellow for a little while, but at least she's clean. rofl
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Posted: Sun Nov 18, 2007 3:26 pm
Interestingly enough, we never had a major problem with it in the Northwest (at least at my barn) where from September through July it pretty much is a constant drizzle, but in North Carolina, most of the horses are covered in "crud". We sometimes had a mild problem with Scratchs in Oregon, but not like they do here, and their horses usually aren't even out in mud! Could be that because our horses were privately owned people paid more attention while grooming them every day, whereas the school horses get neglected on occasion.
One thing to watch for though, is if you see the little scabs appearing, make sure they're actually rain rot. A few of the horses in our western barn showed up with what we thought was rain rot for a while, but it was spreading like wildfire through the barn (all of the western horses use the same buckets of brushes). Come to find out, about a week later, when someone actually takes a closer look at it, it's not rain rot. It's ringworm. We've quarantined that barn, put covers on all of the blankets that get washed after every ride, seperated the brushes for each horse, and have been treating them daily, and it's almost gone in all but one or two horses, but it was kind of a shock! Luckily, I don't think any of our riders caught it.
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