going nuclear

Ya know that thing they say about “Pride goeth before a fall”?? That whole moral platitude about how overly proud or boastful people are more likely to make mistakes / suffer consequences??

swamp critter, queen of scurf
(semi-related: omg look at that grass, it’s JULY, people — and still growing! the scurf is #worthit if that’s the tradeoff!)

WELL haha. Have I got a *shocking* update for you all. 

toasty biscuit still sweltering at 6pm

Literally the *same day* I humble hopeful bragged about keeping Doozy’s notoriously nasty summer skin funk at bay with regular rinses of diluted apple cider vinegar… That very same evening I arrived at the barn to see the mare coated in mud, sweat, and hives. UGH!

arrrghhhhhh!!!
(last wednesday, for those keeping score at home)

Maybe “hives” isn’t the exact right term, idk. The internet loves to tell me that “hives” are technically some sort of allergic reaction, whereas what we often refer to as “rainrot” is usually a bacterial skin infection or dermatitis, characterized by crusty scabs that leave bald spots behind. 

bleh poor mare 

In my experience, tho, the earliest stages of rainrot present as hive-like swellings that are sometimes itchy, tho often painful. Or sometimes a weird mix of both. Maybe there’s a different name for the puffy bumpies, but ugh my heart sank when I saw them on Doozy. 

dialed it up a notch to eleven: switched from diluted apple cider vinegar to diluted chlorhexidine

Charlie was certainly not immune to his fair share of delicate thin-skinned thoroughbred ailments, but his cases were always so easily managed that I usually gave myself a day or two of denial that the hives would really result in another outbreak. 

Sorta the “maybe I’m just imagining things!” attitude lol. 

scrub a dub, princess!

That’s probably where I went wrong with Doozy last summer tho, and by the time I realized we had a problem, WE HAD A PROBLEM. 

So I’m determined to take every available opportunity to try to stop this thing in its tracks before we get back to the “basically moss growing across her entire top line” situation again.

thursday (the next day): telltale little scabs with small chunks of hair

So I’ve since replaced our apple cider vinegar rinses with chlorhexidine — a relatively gentle but still fully effective antiseptic that is often used as a scrub for vets ahead of delicate procedures like joint injections. 

I forget when I first started buying it by the gallon — but it was years ago for Charlie, with one of his various horrific wounds, and my vet suggested it was a gentler (read: less painful) cleansing solution for flushing than whatever I had been using (iodine maybe?).

little lumpy crusties are slicked over with MTG, and nearly invisible to the camera

It may be gentle, but it can be VERY drying — so it’s worth testing on a small, less-sensitive spot on your horse if you wanted to try something similar. And apparently there are medicated shampoos that are formulated with chlorhex too, but, eh. I’ve tested this on Doozy (who has insanely oily skin, probably the root of all her problems right there) and she doesn’t seem to have any negative reactions whatsoever. 

you can sorta see in the right angle, tho — she likes to cultivate her gardens of funk right at the height where she’s slowest to dry

So we did the chlorhex bath on that first day, then the second day was shockingly mild weather and Doozy wasn’t sweaty or clammy or anything by the time I got there, and it was her day off, so we skipped bathing entirely and just did a shit ton of currying, then a light gloss of MTG over basically the entire back half of the horse. 

and while we’re on the subject of cultivating gardens of funk: the entire tack room looks like this, every day. this hackamore has been cleaned more in the last two weeks than maybe the entire last year, holy mother of mold!

Again, in my limited experience, these skin outbreaks seem to be most common in times when the horse is going through a coat change. And at least in our area, most horses go through a shedding cycle right around the solstices. 

Maybe something about all that dead hair sitting around on the skin creates the perfect environment for a funk explosion? Idk, but I spent a long while with the rubber curry getting as much off as I could. 

the struggle is real, but turns out giving a post-ride spritz with this stuff has really helped the helmet stay fresh!

MTG is also one of those products that folks seem to have love/hate feelings about, and maybe horses too. I’m firmly in the “love” category, tho. Like, I test it on horses first bc I’ve heard that some can have stronger reactions (tho I’ve personally never seen that myself). And I don’t “scrub” with it — more of a ‘deep massage’ style application. 

and since i was taking pictures in the tack room already, here’s the myler comfort snaffle for anyone curious

I also avoid applying it when I’m going to put something on top — like a blanket or bandage, it’s an ‘open air’ sort of tincture imo, and I try to not mix it with other topical applications in at least the same 24hr period. That might be overkill, ymmv. 

Oooh, and also maybe consider time of day and UV index too — don’t accidentally deep fry your horse by slicking them in oil then turning out at 1pm in the summer sun!

maybe she’s born with it, maybe it’s maybelline chlorhexidine

Anyway, tho, that’s kinda where we stand as of right now. We’ve done 3-4 chlorhex rinses since last Wednesday, and one big gloss of MTG on all the main hotspots. And??? Well. Again, I’m hopeful that we got in front of it. Ask me again in two weeks, tho, and we’ll know the truth LOL.

I know that skin funk is one of those things where everybody has their own sworn favorite remedies. The above is (obviously) my go-to approach, tho for an established case I generally don’t hesitate to escalate directly to prescription grade stuff, typically the Animax / Dermalone / Panalog ointment (a mix of steroids and topical antibiotics).

It’s always interesting to see what everyone else does, tho — are there any Listerine lovers out there? Or Desitin slingers? Let me know what you swear by, especially if you’ve had tricky (read: Chestnut) cases before LOL!