What is rain rot?

trickpony · What is rain rot?

Just moved my boy to a place that is "more natural" but leaves him more exposed to the elements. I have been reading a bit lately about rain rot. Is rain rot a fungus? How do you treat it? How do you prevent it? What does it look like? Thanks!

Blue Flame

We use a human anti-dandruff shampoo with an anti-fungal agent in it. The active ingredient to look for is Ketoconazole. There are many different washes containing it - Ketapene, Nizerol, Sebizol . . .

Stay away from any anti-dandruff shampoo containing selenium sulfide - have heard of a horse seizing up and needing veterinary help (bute and muscle relaxant) after being washed with this ingredient.

Some say a copper deficiency (or maybe iron excess?) make horses more prone to the fungi.

I've heard of some people using PVP iodine (Vetadine) diluted in water to wash with but haven't tried that personally.

This question is a timely reminder as noticed Blue Flame has been showing signs of this over the past week - tufts of a few hairs at a time coming out attached at one end to a flake of dry skin. 'He lives out 24/7/365 with no cover. We'll be washing him with Sebizol. http://www.medsafe.govt.nz/profs/datasheet/s/Sebizoleshampoo.htm

SonnyWimps

http://www.alphahorse.com/rain-rot.html

This link has alot of information on rain rot and this is what I went to when I was curious to know about it

Julie

i have used this is the past.

http://www.camrosa.co.uk/index.ph...ask=view&id=18&Itemid=102

Clarissa

In the latest free horse report magazine we get around South East Queensland there is an article on rain scold, greasy heel & mud fever. The article is a full page which I am not going to reprint here! But this is the guts of it.

They are all caused by the same organism, Dermatophilus Congolensis. It is a bacteria (actinomycete) whatever that is!! It is very similar to a fungus.

Preperations containing Tea Tree Oil, Aloe Vera, Neem oil, Manuka honey seem to be effective for mild cases & where extra care is taken to prevent cross contamination horse to horse.

For severe cases the recommendation is for vet help or to follow a natural healing as follows:- Herbal detox & anti-inflamatory herbs taken internally.

The website for the lady is www.theherbielady.com

I haven't used any herbal remedies but I have used a pine oil product which is for aquariums & which I also use in my fish tank.

Interestingly my filly Cassie which is the foal of a mare I rescued several years ago suffers from rain scold as did her mother a lot. My other horses which have run in the same paddocks as Cassie all their lives don't get it. So there must be a genetic connection.

This year I have noticed a tiny bit of greasy heel & a few tuffed hairs of rain scold which is quite unusual for Jude & Sonny. Cassie always has much more but it never seems to spread to J&S. This year the wet weather has lasted far longer into winter than usual & inbetween rain events it has got quite warm & humid again, so it is prime rain scold weather.

Gismo

I hate to keep harping but ....

Cheap mouthwash works on all those things ....

Its good, it works fast, its cheap, its easy to apply (spray), its available anywhere.....

And if it doesn't work for your horse , it still has uses.....

karmikacres · Rain Rot

First line of defense is a balanced diet. Rain rot tends to occur on horses that have impaired immune response. The two rescue horses we got in November both had terrible rain rot. Their coats were long and they wouldn't stand for anything to be applied to them so we just fed them correctly (balanced minerals to hay we were feeding). Did nothing else and within a couple weeks the rain rot was completely GONE. Didn't spend a penny on topical treatments. Not even mouth wash. I have been planning on getting some of that for the flies. Thanks for the reminder.

Karen

Julie

Didn't work on the british flies, but I had a blue one - maybe thats the problem!

trickpony · Thansks everyone!!

Thank you everyone! As usual there is TONS of information to be found on this forum

Love it here!!!

What is rain rot?

Rain Rot

Thansks everyone!!