All about horses

As we are starting to heat up here in Maryland,USA we need to make provisions to keep the horses coat and skin healthy .

Cleanliness is important.

If your horse sweats and rolls in the dirt he could come up with some bad bacteria which loves to hide in the hair and savage the horses skin layers .

This leads to break down and infections setting in .

Older horses and Thoroughbred horses with thinner skin are particularly sensitive,but any horse can develop skin infections especially in the hot weather .

Make sure that when you give your horse a hose bath that you can see clear water is running off him before you stop .

Use a blunt sweat scraper and allow him to dry completely before turning him out .

Dry the back of the heels to avoid cracking .

There are many products out there that are good for maintenance but if a serious skin problem develops you should contact your veterinarian.

They will have special medications to address any problems and may treat the horse systemically.

For Rain Rot , do not cover the area with any oily or thick salve because most of bacteria that cause skin issues thrive in anaerobic conditions which means that they do not like air .

Better to clean the area well and keep it open to healing .

We’ve found that if you do need a preparation the topical (veterinarian prescribed ) Animax ointment works well .