So if you found your horse with little sores all over his leg...photos post 11

[Ambrey]

I arrived at the stable today to find my pony with little round, crusty sores all over the outside of his right hind leg and under his belly.

At first I thought he'd just banged himself up, but there are no scrapes or scratches. He looks like he was attacked by a rabid woodpecker.

They are not swollen, and he has no hives anywhere else. Bug bites? I hosed him down and put antiseptic on them, not sure what else to do?

[Simkie]

Biting ants? Do you live somewhere where they're out already?

Lice? :dead:

[esdressage]

I was thinking bug bites, too. How deep are the sores? Just skin crusties, or actually deeper sores?

[Desert Topaz]

Sounds sort of like what I found on my mare two days ago, but they were on the insides of both of her back legs and a few on her belly. Her's were crusty and oozy, when I removed the crust the skin was raw underneath, but no sign of injury. Vet took biopsies today, will know in 1-2 weeks.

[Bedazzle]

Ringworm?

[AnotherRound]

Hives, bugs, fungus. Could be scratches.

[Burbank]

sounds like fire ants

[Ambrey]

sounds like fire ants

It makes sense in a lot of ways, but I've never seen any at the barn or in his stall. I was digging in there on Saturday, though. It definitely looks like something just crawled all up his leg and belly and made a meal of the poor baby.

(and yes, Coreene, if you're reading this, she told me and I will yell at her).

[Ambrey]

I was thinking bug bites, too. How deep are the sores? Just skin crusties, or actually deeper sores?

Some of them were bleeding, but he could have been scratching at them- but definitely raw under the crusty.

They are also discrete, not grouped together or anything, so really doesn't scream scratches, ringworm, fungus to me, and they are not raised like hives nor are there any raised areas without the crusties.

[Catersun]

fireants.... evil evil evil things and they HURT.

[Ambrey]

Here are some photos:

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/e4caaff6.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/90c1d882.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x182/estarianne/bbf297ca.jpg

[Desert Topaz]

Poor guy! Yeah, that doesn't look anything like what my mare has.

[Baby]

what about mites? my horse had something similar to that to start, then it got progressively worse.
what does your vet say?

[Ambrey]

She is off on Mondays, I was going to call in the morning. I was hoping it would look better, but if anything tonight when I took the pics it was worse.

[Coreene]

Yeah, I would yell. Let me know what they are, they looked very ouchy. :( Does Smokey or the horse on the other side have them?

[Ambrey]

Nope, nothing on Smokey. I haven't checked Sugar.

[BaroquePony]

Looks like fire ants.

[Ambrey]

I know they are in the area, but I haven't seen any at the barn- I will have to look around.

I will probably see the vet tomorrow- she's usually out on Tuesdays anyway.

It turns out that this was noticed by our esteemed Coreene on Saturday night, right after I had dug out some of his pee hole and spread some new bedding (do bugs ever come in bags of bedding?). Unfortunately my mom was a bit delirious coming down with the flu and neglected to let me know. Grumble grumble.

[SkipHiLad4me]

My horse has unfortunately had a few rounds with fire ants before and that's what his bites looked like. Ouchie!

[Carolinadreamin']

What does it look like today? Still oozing or crusty?

I have had great success with Equiderma for scratches and some funk my gelding gets on the front of his hind cannon bones in the spring and summer. I first found this product when it turned up on a search here. Don't know if it will help your guy, but it does state in the information it'll help for insect bites. Here's the link. http://equiderma.com/store/product_info.php?cPath=21&products_id=33

Hate fire ants. Hate them.

[Baby]

I know they are in the area, but I haven't seen any at the barn- I will have to look around.

I will probably see the vet tomorrow- she's usually out on Tuesdays anyway.

It turns out that this was noticed by our esteemed Coreene on Saturday night, right after I had dug out some of his pee hole and spread some new bedding (do bugs ever come in bags of bedding?). Unfortunately my mom was a bit delirious coming down with the flu and neglected to let me know. Grumble grumble.

bugs come out of bedding all the time it's icky. you probably either dug whatever kind of bug it is up, or it came in the bedding. my horse tends to get bumps all over on new bedding day or when we go to horse shows and have to deal with strange shavings, so its more common than you would think.

[Ambrey]

Thanks all. The vet was out this morning and confirmed that it's... something, LOL! She thought bugs based on the pattern, as if it was contact dermatitis it would be all over his side. She also said that fire ants leave a similar pattern, but we haven't seen any around and I checked his stall. She said some normally harmless bug that his immune system just took exception to might have been in the bedding.

I have super duper shampoo and a steroid cream for him. He seems perfectly comfortable, but no riding until all of the ones under his belly in the girth area heal.