Winter rain rot brings a unique challenge to horse owners. Many parts of the United States are too cold to be able to shampoo your horse’s skin. Warm weather treatment includes shampooing with Equiderma Neem Shampoo followed up with an application of Equiderma Skin Lotion, but no one wants to shampoo their horse in frigid temperatures. Your horse most especially doesn’t want that. If you are fighting a case of winter rain rot, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Equiderma Skin Lotion will get it under control quickly and painlessly with reliable results every time.

TREATMENT

The treatment for winter rain rot couldn’t be easier. Just shake your Equiderma Skin Lotion bottle well, apply it to any affected areas, and leave it on. With the first treatment you may be tempted to try to remove any scabs or loose hair, but don’t. It is likely that this will be painful for your horse. Let Equiderma Skin Lotion do the heavy lifting. It will soften the scabs and make removal easy. After the first application, leave it alone for 24 hours.

After the initial 24 hours, use a bucket of warm water and a rough terrycloth washcloth or towel. Soak your towel in the warm water and wring it out well. You will then rub the area as you would when you curry your horse. The goal is to remove any scabs, dead tissue and hair. You will notice the scabs will come off easily. Remove as much debris as possible and reapply the skin lotion. By the next day you will start seeing hair growing back in the affected areas. Repeat the same process with the towel and reapply the skin lotion. Continue this for three days. Your horse will be as good as new in no time.

WHAT IS RAIN ROT

The organism dermatophilus congolensis causes rain rot in horses. Dermatophilus congolensis is not a fungus. It is an actinomycetes, which behaves like both bacteria and fungi. A horse who has this organism on his skin may or may not develop a case of rain rot. The condition affects horses, cattle, sheep, and goats, and is rarely found in pigs, dogs, or cats. The natural habitat of dermatophilus congolensis is unknown, but it is believed to live in the soil, though attempts to isolate it from soil have been unsuccessful. It has only been isolated from the skin of various animals and is restricted to the living layers of the epidermis.

These organisms can live in dormancy on the skin for some time, and become active with moisture, high humidity and warm temperatures. During winter it can easily develop when blanketing is prevalent. The blanket warms your horse and also creates a warm, cozy environment for dermatophiles. Both conditions are the perfect environment to grow a flourishing garden of rain rot. Zoospores germinate to produce barbed, threadlike tentacles, which penetrate into the living skin and spread in all directions. The result is an acute inflammatory reaction as shown in these photos.

If your horse spends the majority of time outside in wet, rainy conditions, you should check for rain rot often. A visual evaluation alone does not suffice, especially during the wet winter months when horses have heavy winter coats, a hands-on examination is necessary. An infected horse will have bumps along the back and croup. When pulled, the hair will easily come free leaving an infected, hairless spot of skin. The problem is easily diagnosed this way, but a definitive diagnosis can be made only from taking a culture and having it tested.

HAPPINESS GUARANTEE

At Telesis Animal Health, your happiness and the well being of your horse is at the core of everything we do. We put our products to the test in our barns and on our horses, and back every order with our 100% Happiness Guarantee so that you can shop with confidence. If anything you purchase fails to meet your expectations in any way, just let us know and we’ll refund your money right away. No hassles, no hoops, no kidding.

So that’s it, seriously! Those are all of our “rules.” Well, except the most important one – treating our customers the way we want to be treated. So if you have any questions or if there is anything we can do to help, please call us at 1-800-573-1020 or email customercare@equiderma.com. We are always happy to help!