Horses 101
The creeping crud. Othewise known as ring worm, rain rot, or plain old...creeping crud.

This is the time of year you start to find those crusty patches and scaly areas on your horse as he begins to shed out. On your horse this fungus is caused by moisture and dirt being trapped under all that hair and is especially a problem with blanketed horses--heh, bet you thought they'd not only stay warm in those blankets, but clean too. Like all ringworm type fungus, it can spread from horse to horse, and even you! Depending on the irritation, the scales and scabs can become infected due to further abrasion, or just sensitivity in general--that's when your vet will call it something else, like dermatitis. Yuck. So what do you do now? Show season's about to start and your horse's coat and skin look like hell!

The best treatment i've found is to disinfect and dry up. Use a clorhexidrine product; betadine is too drying and will sting no doubt. If it is warm enough bathe your horse with this. Some vets say to scrub and scrub those scaly patches to get rid of them but in my experience this just exacerbates the problem. The less moisture and abrasion the horse is exposed to the better. After the areas have been cleaned gently and disinfected, apply an athlete foot powder like lotramin or tinactin to dry up and kill the fungus, use softer brushes when grooming for the time being and keep applying the powder until your horses skin is smooth and healthy.

Note: If this has progressed to serious dermatitus, like when you see lots of inflamed pustules and your horse is seriously uncomfortable, your vet may need to give you an antibiotic for infection as well as other treatment options.

As a preventative measure, I apply this powder or Gold Bond Medicated powder from time to time through the year, in any areas I think might be suseptable: saddle area, that cute little armpit area near the girth, and from their knees down in wet/muddy conditions.