Rain Rot

November

Rain Rot

What is rain rot?  Rain rot is a dermatitis, usually on the  topline of the horse, from withers to tail.  The cause is usually when the horse gets wet and stays wet in damp weather and bacteria/fungus gets a foothold.  High humidity and blankets that don’t let the skin breathe are not good combo.  It tends to happen more in the winter when the horses get a heavy coat and it is raining a lot or snow melts on their backs.  Healthy horses can get rain rot if they have a flat back or a spinal crease, fondly known as a gutter.  J  Rain rot presents itself above the knees and hocks for the most part, and is characterized by scab like things that pull off with a tuft of hair, looking like a tiny paintbrush.  

Prevention obviously is the best course of action.  Keeping the pH of the skin healthy and the diet clean so there is nothing to predispose to crud. (Like getting rid of legumes for most  horses((alalfa, clover)).  Vit A is also important for skin, as is copper.  Keeping your horse brushed daily or every  other day with a stiff dandy brush or rubber curry comb will also help.  Get all that mud and crud off on a regular basis. 

If your horse should happen to get a case of rain rot, here are a few ways to treat it.  Brush, scrub, pick, shave if needed, to get down to the skin.  Bathing with a tea tree oil based shampoo if it is warm enough, or if you can wash and dry the horse under heat lamps in a draft free area.  You can also do smaller areas over a couple of days if that works better.  Colloidal silver does a good job.  Pour or spray on full strength topically.  One treatment usually does it.  Tea tree oil/ olive oil mix, 1 part tea tree to 10 parts olive oil works awesome too.  This combo softens the scabs and helps them come off easily.  Put it in a spray bottle and spray on skin.  If you are in sunny area, don’t do this during the day, as with any oil,  the oil can cause sunburn, so do it in the evening, let it soak the scabs all night,  and wash off the following morning with a tea tree oil based shampoo, or a few drops of tea tree oil in your horse shampoo.   Rinse with warm water with some apple cider vinegar in it to balance the skin pH.  You should only have to do this once a week.  I have also heard that using very green tomatoes, cut in half, then rubbed on the affected area, also works most excellently.

If you don’t know where to purchase quality products, here ya go!  www.dynamitemarketing.com/jenniferodle 

·         All natural shampoo

·         Solace -  colloidial silver

·         Apple cider vinegar – super ACV

·         Copper supplement – SOD

·         Vit E supplement – OxE mega

·         Tea tree oil