# mare losing hair



## judymae (Apr 16, 2010)

My 14 yr old mare has been losing a lot of hair. It's not rain rot and it's way more than just slicking down for the summer. At 1st we thought it was from the dominant mare biting her....but it's all over her body. Patches are missing from her shoulders, neck, stomach, legs and hind area. There doesn't seem to be any irritation on the bald spots. You can also pinch 2 fingers 2gether & pull out a tuft of hair (roots & all) without bothering her and very easily. Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? Or how to treat it?


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## RayNC (Apr 16, 2010)

Could it possibly be cushings? Is she shedding at all or will the hair only come out when she is rubbed or pulled? I don't really know. What about allergies? 

You can look it up on the web. Maybe you can find a site about a horse with hairloss. Good luck.


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## michickenwrangler (Apr 17, 2010)

Has she been de-wormed recently? Have you checked or lice or mites?

I would hit her with an ivermectin dewormer if you haven't already


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## judymae (Apr 17, 2010)

She has been wormed about 3wks ago with zimectrin gold.  The hair seems to be falling out even w/out being pulled or rubbed.  We rescued her a year and a half ago and she had a horrible case of rainrot across her entire back...it took several months of constant care to heal. She was about 500 lbs underweight also. She now has most of her weight back on her but it is constant watching her diet because she looses weight very easily. We have added corn oil and rice bran to her feedings to help w/keeping weight on. I thought the oil would help w/her coat and hooves? I'll try to research it a little more online and see what I can figure out.....thanks for y'alls help. I'll post back w/what I find out!


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## RayNC (Apr 17, 2010)

Judymae,

Did your horse start losing hair right after you de-wormed your horse? I only ask this because my vet told me that sensitive horses have side effects from the Zimectrin Gold. That's why I don't use it. 

My horse seems to have had the same issues your horse did/does. Although, he wasn't 500 lbs underweight. Probably 200 lbs. 

I floated his teeth and not long after that he hung onto the weight. Feeding him beet pulp really helped too. Weight gain products did nothing. I still feed him the beet pulp just not as much.

My horse is prone to rain rot. He's been good about it so far this year. I add ground golden flaxseed to his feed and it seems to help. No oil...... just a good feed, hay, black oil sunflower seeds mixed with his beet pulp,  MSM since he is 18 and has a little arthitis and the ground flaxseed. His treats are carrots (his favorite) and/or apples. Keeping everything natural as possible and it seems to be working great. 

Anyway, the de-wormer could be the culprit.


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## patandchickens (Apr 18, 2010)

Are you suuuuuure it's not just the shedding out of the winter coat. This is certainly the time of year for it, and it does indeed come out like that when you pinch some and pull.

I know that in principle horses have their summer coat well-started so that when the long winter hairs fall out the shorter coat is already there underneath it, but I have known a number of horses over the years in which things are not as well synchronized and there may be very little summer-coat growth started yet. For some individuals this is localized (e.g. just over the back), for others it is everywhere.

Unless there is some other sign of a problem, such as the skin seeming 'funny' or signs of external parasites, I would really suspect that it's just the growth of the coat that's gotten a little off-timing. You can put a turnout sheet on, on cool or rainy or windy days, until the summer coat gets grown in a bit more.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat


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## judymae (Apr 19, 2010)

Well starting yesterday we could see new hair growth in the bald spots.  The bald spots spread over most of her hind area by yesterday and then last nite we saw new hair growth.  It's very fine but it's starting to come in.....

I'm thinking it is the Zimectrin Gold...we've never used it before but it was suggested from our co-op because Candy (our mare) was slowly putting weight on....now she's looking really good (except for the hair loss).   I've never used it before and don't think I will again....


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## ducks4you (Apr 19, 2010)

It's probably not the Zimectrin Gold.  I don't think we'll help as much as your Vet.  Ask him/her.  Just MHO.


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## Chickerdoodle13 (Apr 19, 2010)

Our three year old recently started losing patches of hair as well. My dad thought it was ring worm so he bought some fungal wash and used that, but when the vet came, he said it wasn't ring worm and was nothing to worry about. He said it was some sort of dermatology irritation that was probably caused by all the rain we've had. It looks like the hair is starting to grow back now, so hopefully she doesn't continue to lose it. Could just be irregular shedding, but the hair was gone right down to the skin and you could see the black skin underneath.

All of our horses had pretty bad rain rot last summer into the fall because it just would not stop raining. Even though they had a rain shed and we would put them in the stalls, they still got rain rot. It's been slow to clear up, so I'm hoping this summer is not nearly as wet as last!


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## LauraM (Apr 19, 2010)

It's actually not uncommon for a horse to get bald patches (not just the usual short hairs underneath a patch of shedding long hair) after a very bad winter and/or a very early, unusually warm spring.

Many horses here in Virginia are shedding bald spots.....but the hair is coming in later.  My vet (who is a personal friend), said it seems that the summer hair just wasn't quite ready after the bad winter but the sudden warm spring got the winter coat shedding.

So long as there is no raw or broken skin in the balding patches and the skin looks perfectly normal, the hair should begin to fill in soon.


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## judymae (Apr 20, 2010)

Candy looks even better this morning.  Thanks for all ya'lls advice and help.  I was starting to really freak out.  The other horses are now doing the exact same thing.  I'm thinking (like it was suggested on here) that it is the unusually wet fall and winter we had...plus we had a record number of below freezing days.  I bet their systems are just all messed up from our odd weather.  I'm just happy the hair is growing back quickly.  We were freezing just a few weeks ago...then it rained non stop for a few weeks...now it's in the upper 70s and lower 80s....Our weather has to be the cause of her hair loss.  But boy did I wig out at first!!!


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## Countrymom (Apr 25, 2010)

We are even seeing the same thing down here in South Texas.  Horses are loosing their coats after spring wormings and the new summer coats are not in yet.  With the weather milder than usual I think that has something to do with it.  I have also known horses to be more sensitive to certain wormers than others.  Had a guy tell me just a couple weeks ago how one of his horses iyears ago n his training barn that he gave ivermectin to went 95% bald!    They had to keep her in a stall and covered so she wouldn't go nuts and freeze! LOL  Poor girl.  

I would suggest getting some Black Oil Sunflower Seeds (make sure they are not special coated for birds) to feed them.  It has good oils and natural biotin in them to help with coats and hooves.  Also helpful in clearing rain rot and other fungal coat issues from the inside out.  Just a couple handfuls at each feeding helps a bunch.  It will put a nice glow to a coat pretty quickly.


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## ducks4you (Apr 26, 2010)

Countrymom said:
			
		

> Had a guy tell me just a couple weeks ago how one of his horses iyears ago n his training barn that he gave ivermectin to went 95% bald!    They had to keep her in a stall and covered so she wouldn't go nuts and freeze! LOL  Poor girl.
> 
> I would suggest getting some Black Oil Sunflower Seeds...


Good suggestion.  I wonder if a previous owner never rotated wormers?  I know that _I_ have developed an allergy to Ibuprofen, and I used to take it (sparingly) for all my aches and pains.


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## the funny farm6615 (Jun 3, 2010)

if you can find someone who sells it, try health E oil it keeps a very nice coat and helps maintain weight. you can also find its web sight and read about it.


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## LauraM (Jun 3, 2010)

I agree.  BOSS is great. 

 Also, whole flax seed, which has very high amounts of essential fatty acids (particularly Omega 3s) that are critical for skin and hair health (actually, all health all the way down to the cellular level).  You can feed up to 8 oz of whole flax seed, though many horses won't need that much.  It's recommended to start out with 8 oz for a month or as a "loading dose" and then drop back to 4-6 oz, and see if that will work.  Many horses do fine on the lower amount, though some may need to stay on 8 oz.


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## goodhors (Jun 5, 2010)

A suggestion with the black oil sunflowers would be to buy them shelled/hulled.

With more folks feeding the seeds, Vets are seeing some impation colics where the hulls pile up in the gut.  Some folks feed an INCREDIBLE amount of these seeds, so hulls are just piling up inside the horses, not moving like other feed products.  

So just a suggestion to feed the hulled seeds, you get all the benefits with none of the dangers of hulls left on the seeds.


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