# scurfy mane - skin flakes off - out of ideas: HELP!



## teazle (22 September 2011)

Brief (or not so) history:

Had my 5 yo mare just over a year, and have had continual problems with her mane and tail. She has scurfy, flaky skin on her mane and tail that I initially thought was sweetitch and so treated as such, rugging her, avoiding her being out at danger times and then using Avon skin so soft and fly spray on the areas. She does rub, but only has occasional small patches of scab on both mane and tail.

However, nothing worked. And, even more bizarrely, the skin problems continued right throughout the winter with no break, when rugged 24/7 and even for the period when she was in 24/7. She continues to rub but rarely obsessively - usually only for five mins when she came in or out of the stable. But huge flakes of skin come off her mane every day, whether she is able to rub or not (she is out on a hill in an electric fence paddock so nowhere to rub).

I comb the flakes out every day but the skin itself is still dry, scurfy and horrid underneath and I can never get it looking 'clean' even after vigorous shampooing. Things I have tried:

Avon Skin So Soft
Vitamin E Moisturiser
Bought fly spray
Homemade fly spray with lavender/tea tree/neem oil in
Baby oil
anti-itch shampoo
Head and Shoulders anti-dandruff
Sensitive skin shampoo
garlic in feed
sunflower oil in feed
seaweed in feed
Conditioning spray for her mane

I have seen an improvement in her overall skin condition since adding seaweed and sunflower oil to her feed - it used to be that she would look glossy at a distance but up close, when you looked at her skin, it would be dandruffy. The general skin now isn't like that, it is simply mainly her mane, and slightly her tail. 

With each new thing I try, there is usually no improvement, or often the situation gets worse. When I stop the trial of something, I have two or three days where the problem lessens but then it comes back with a vengeance. I have tried leaving it for a month or two but can't bear that the flakes of skin can be seen - not only when riding but also at a distance, with constant dandruff on her neck and two or three scabs at her crest and hairline.

Please help - I'm unsure where to go next! Money is tight so the cheaper the better, I'd really like to avoid a vet call out but if that's what is required in the end then so be it. All suggestions appreciated, none laughed at!


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## Pale Rider (22 September 2011)

micronised linseed


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## almorton (22 September 2011)

leovet no rub 
and simple systems linseed


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## brown tack (22 September 2011)

Bio oil is good too, but I'd try linseed or seaweed in her feed too


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## learningcurve (22 September 2011)

Micronized linseed, brilliant stuff.

I get mine here http://www.charnwood-milling.co.uk/mail-order/Horse_Food.html


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## teazle (23 September 2011)

Thanks. How do fussy horses do with linseed in their feed? She is an absolute gannet when it comes to haylage and hay but extremely fussy when it comes to feed. Her seaweed has to be mixed with molasses before she'll eat it, and I don't want to buy something that she then won't eat!


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## Potato! (24 September 2011)

Your describing my mare. I'm afraid I have no answers for you but I will wait to hear from others


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## teazle (29 September 2011)

I clipped my mare today and there were little dry areas/scabs/peeling skin in various places and her skin was very dry. As normal, she looks stunning from a distance but close, it's awful. She's still on the seaweed and the oil, but having been given other recommendations that haven't worked, I'm a bit hesitant to try yet another thing that won't make any difference.


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## mainpower (29 September 2011)

My horse has scurfy mane and tail... polytar shampoo gets rid of it really well.


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## Monkers (29 September 2011)

teazle said:



			Thanks. How do fussy horses do with linseed in their feed? She is an absolute gannet when it comes to haylage and hay but extremely fussy when it comes to feed. Her seaweed has to be mixed with molasses before she'll eat it, and I don't want to buy something that she then won't eat!
		
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Molasses can cause itching in some horses!


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## Happy Hunter (29 September 2011)

Sounds like my girl, the morning after a good bath, plaiting up looks like a grubby old mess!!

Very interested im replies!

'No Rub' was useless for me....

How much linseed are people feeding???


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## Hels_Bells (29 September 2011)

Nizoral shampoo from boots!?


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## Dexydoodle (29 September 2011)

Can you get at the skin to put stuff on it? If so, maybe try just aqueous cream - can buy it in the chemists/ supermarkets and is only about £3.  My mare hasn't got the same but has a chronic skin infection that scabs and cracks, the aqueous hydrates it all and keeps the skin supple.


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## Dolcé (29 September 2011)

Our home bred boy was like this all over, used to rub his mane and tail out and had horrendous sores above his tail and down his neck, he was scurfy and dull all through his coat too, with big chunks of skin coming off.  He had been like this since his first winter when he got really wet and had to be rugged 24/7 all year round, if he got wet it was worse than ever.  One vet told me it was sweet itch (this was the same vet that told me to leave him out on grass with laminitis) but I didn't ever think it was.  The winter before last he lost a lot of weight, more than we would usually allow, not emaciated or anything but leaner than I liked.  He hasn't worn a rug since and his coat, mane and tail have been completely normal.  The last thing I had to do was brush out the last of the loose flakes above his tail, I did this every day with a dandy brush for about a week and they were gone permanently.  I don't really know what it was, possibly something genetic from his mum's side because although mum isn't affected by it this years filly looks as though she might be the same.


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## scrunchie (29 September 2011)

D'sMum said:



			Can you get at the skin to put stuff on it? If so, maybe try just aqueous cream - can buy it in the chemists/ supermarkets and is only about £3.  My mare hasn't got the same but has a chronic skin infection that scabs and cracks, the aqueous hydrates it all and keeps the skin supple.
		
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If she's itchy aqueous cream might not be the stuff to use. I get eczema -and aqueous cream doesn't soothe the itching at all - it just makes it worse.


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## Dexydoodle (29 September 2011)

scrunchie said:



			If she's itchy aqueous cream might not be the stuff to use. I get eczema -and aqueous cream doesn't soothe the itching at all - it just makes it worse.
		
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Guess to use an appropriate phrase - its horses for courses - aqueous works really well with my eczema.  Particularly when its at the cracked/ bleeding phase!


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## StormyMoments (29 September 2011)

tlc seems to work for some horses


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## scrunchie (29 September 2011)

D'sMum said:



			Guess to use an appropriate phrase - its horses for courses - aqueous works really well with my eczema.  Particularly when its at the cracked/ bleeding phase!
		
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My doctor gives me diprobase which is good stuff and moisturises without making me itchy. It's not too greasy either.


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## Tnavas (30 September 2011)

Wash it well with Nizoral shampoo - dilute in hand hot water and worl well into the hair right to the roots. Leave for 10 mins then rinse off. Repeat leave again for 10 mins and rinse. Should get rid of it.

You can buy the Nizoral from a chemist - its a human shampoo that contains Ketaconizol which kills off the fungus that causes dandruff. Works really well.


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