My horse's hair is thining what do i do?

by Megan Traxler
(Le Center Minnesota U.S.)

My horse still has his winter hair but all of the short summer hair is decreasing. He has bald spots in his armpits and under his tail and down to the legs and some on his belly. Could this be because of flys? His face is thinning also i can see his dark skin. I am very worried about him and want to solve this problem. I have been trying to find the answer to this for 2 months and really meed one fast i don't want a bald horse.



Hi Megan:

Sometime if the flies are really bad, to many bites could cause them to loose their hair. I know around here the flies and horse flies are so bad this year, it is awful. 3 of my horses lost alot of hair on their chest and legs due to gnats and flies. But now it is coming back. I would give it a little while and see if it comes back. If it is indeed flies, you should get some kind of fly spray to help control them.

Melinda

Can you use human hair conditioner on horses?

It would be a lot easier to use the human ones because the stores that do sell it are pretty far away.

Answer: I don't see why not. I have used it on my horse when I didn't have anything else. You can buy Mane and Tail shampoo and conditioner at Wal-mart.

Can you help me with my horse who doesnt like his ears touched with scissor or clippers?

My horse won't let me snip out hair from his ears. I think his ears are extra sensitive and it tickles him. He pulls his head away and shakes his head. He is a 10 year old quarter horse who is on Strategy feed and Equine Senior from Purina. He also gets a supplement for his joints (mainly). It's Healthy Coat. We also give him ProBios and Red Cell(he had an ulcer, but is pretty healthy now). I can clip pretty much any other part of his body with scissors and clippers, except his ears. Of course I should under stand; it's one of the most sensitive parts of his whole body. The clippers work fine; they work good with all of the horses.
Please help!


Answer: It sound to me like he is just ear shy. Can you touch his ears without the clippers? If you can touch his ears and look inside his ears, check for ticks. I have one horse that gets ticks in her ears really bad and it almost became a major problem. She got ticks so bad one year, that her ears became really soar and she wouldn't let me near them. I ended up have to get the vet to sedate her so that we could get the ticks out and doctor her ears. After that she had a major problems with her ears. I started out by rubbing her neck and face and occasionally fleeting over her ear without stopping there. Eventually I started rubbing slower and stopping to rub her ears more, now she has no problems. I started spraying Frontline in her ears about once a month. It keeps the ticks away.

If its not ticks or just ear shyness, then it must be the buzzing sound of the clippers. You will have to densensitize her to the sound of the clippers around her ears.