The purposes of skin and hair are many and equally important.  They keep everything inside in and everything outside out. It grows hair and adds fat to keep us warm and it sweats to keep us cool.  It senses movement and helps to feel the blades of grass that are succulent.  It shakes off flies and screams for attention when it is damaged.  It remains flexible around joints but firm over muscles and the face.

This topic covers anything that isn’t considered normal on the skin of the horse and is not categorized into another topic.

Aural plaques affect one or both ears creating a thick white crust inside the ear.

The cause for the horse’s skin to lose color in patches of hair in one spot or throughout its body is not common and is still without explanation.

Dermatitis In Horses

External Parasites In Horses

Inflammation caused by the biting stable fly that deposits the larvae of the habronema nematode producing moist sores on the eyes, mouth, nostrils, foreskin, and wounds.

Surgery topics are items that help the horse owner understand the fundamentals behind wounds and surgical lesions in horses. This particular topic needs some information and the images updated. I am aiming for the end of September. Thank you for your patience.

When body weight is applied to the skin area for a prolonged period of time, the skin actually dies from the pressure placed upon it creating pressure sores.

This is a replay of a HorseTalk™ webcast. Be sure to enroll in the next one and join Doc T live.

Puncture wounds can be invisible and inoculate the area with bacteria. If left untreated the infection can kill your horse. A tetanus vaccination is essential for puncture wounds.

This severe disease is often confused with habronemiasis which is also commonly called summer sores. This is a fungus based, highly invasive cancer that can affect a horse anywhere on its body.

Small, raised scabs on the back of a horse have a bacteria causing the lesion. The treatments recommended usually don’t cover the cause.

Dermatitis, or inflammation of the skin, on the back side of the pastern can become severe in some horses. The usual treatments do not address the cause.

Shoe Boils In Horses

The purpose of an abscess is to move a foreign material that is inside the body to the outside. When this occurs, it is said to be draining and is a natural and end-stage process.

In vet school I learned that a lump is a lump until proven otherwise. Only a biopsy can determine or confirm a diagnosis.

Some horses will react adversely to medications showing a disruption from the normal skin condition. These include bumps, depigmentation, and temporary inflammation.

Scars occur during healing of full thickness skin wounds including surgery. They can range from unseen but felt to hairless, depigmented masses.

Skin rubs occur either acutely from trauma or insidiously through wear against objects such as tack, blankets, or the environment.

Traumatic wounds are different from surgical wounds for one major reason. The underlying trauma to the soft tissue complicates healing that is beyond the wound created by a sharp scalpel guided carefully by a surgeon’s hand.

Most skin diseases in horses are ignored and random treatments are applied or the lesion is ignored. Here are a few of these.

Wire wounds are difficult because of the underlying soft tissue damage that wants to slough off before the wound can close.

The purposes of skin and hair are many and equally important.  They keep everything inside in and everything outside out. It grows hair and adds fat to keep us warm and it sweats to keep us cool.  It senses movement and helps to feel the blades of grass that are succulent.  It shakes off flies and screams for attention when it is damaged.  It remains flexible around joints but firm over muscles and the face.

This topic covers anything that isn’t considered normal on the skin of the horse and is not categorized into another topic.

Aural plaques affect one or both ears creating a thick white crust inside the ear.

The cause for the horse’s skin to lose color in patches of hair in one spot or throughout its body is not common and is still without explanation.

Dermatitis In Horses

External Parasites In Horses

Inflammation caused by the biting stable fly that deposits the larvae of the habronema nematode producing moist sores on the eyes, mouth, nostrils, foreskin, and wounds.

Surgery topics are items that help the horse owner understand the fundamentals behind wounds and surgical lesions in horses. This particular topic needs some information and the images updated. I am aiming for the end of September. Thank you for your patience.

When body weight is applied to the skin area for a prolonged period of time, the skin actually dies from the pressure placed upon it creating pressure sores.

This is a replay of a HorseTalk™ webcast. Be sure to enroll in the next one and join Doc T live.

Puncture wounds can be invisible and inoculate the area with bacteria. If left untreated the infection can kill your horse. A tetanus vaccination is essential for puncture wounds.

This severe disease is often confused with habronemiasis which is also commonly called summer sores. This is a fungus based, highly invasive cancer that can affect a horse anywhere on its body.

Small, raised scabs on the back of a horse have a bacteria causing the lesion. The treatments recommended usually don’t cover the cause.

Dermatitis, or inflammation of the skin, on the back side of the pastern can become severe in some horses. The usual treatments do not address the cause.

Shoe Boils In Horses

The purpose of an abscess is to move a foreign material that is inside the body to the outside. When this occurs, it is said to be draining and is a natural and end-stage process.

In vet school I learned that a lump is a lump until proven otherwise. Only a biopsy can determine or confirm a diagnosis.

Some horses will react adversely to medications showing a disruption from the normal skin condition. These include bumps, depigmentation, and temporary inflammation.

Scars occur during healing of full thickness skin wounds including surgery. They can range from unseen but felt to hairless, depigmented masses.

Skin rubs occur either acutely from trauma or insidiously through wear against objects such as tack, blankets, or the environment.

Traumatic wounds are different from surgical wounds for one major reason. The underlying trauma to the soft tissue complicates healing that is beyond the wound created by a sharp scalpel guided carefully by a surgeon’s hand.

Most skin diseases in horses are ignored and random treatments are applied or the lesion is ignored. Here are a few of these.

Wire wounds are difficult because of the underlying soft tissue damage that wants to slough off before the wound can close.