The vet came out today. She looked at Isis’ belly and took samples to send off to the lab. We opted to do a biopsy of the area. The biopsy should tell us if it is an infestation of some sort, allergies, rain rot, or something else.

Isis was really good for everything. She was sedated (poor woosie mare), and she had three staples where the biopsies were taken. It didn’t take that long to do the biopsies — maybe 30 minutes total?

The vet said it will take about a week for the results to come back.

Well Isis’ stomach is worse tonight. The swelling has spread and the sores are intensely itchy. I treated her with hydrocortisone cream and tea-tree oil again. I’m hoping the vet can come out tomorrow.

Some guys get belly button lint, and Isis just gets gunk. About two weeks ago, Isis had a swelling on the right side of her abdomen. Not very large — maybe about a hand long by 2-3 fingers wide. I used a topical tea-tree oil and hydrocortisone ointment on it. The swelling went away after a few days. She lost some of her hair on the spot where the swelling was. Not just in little areas, but in good size chunks.

She has continued losing hair on her belly. The hair feels a little oily and scurfy. I had not felt any rain rot lumps on her belly before today.

This past Saturday, I noticed a small swelling on the left side of her abdomen right next to her belly button. It was soft, not hot, and about 1″ wide by 2″ long. I used some put some of the tea-tree oil and hydrocortisone ointment on her belly spots and treated the rainrot with Cowboy Magic Krud Buster along her spine. The bad spots on her legs were treated with a concoction of Desitin (zinc oxide ointment), hydrocortisone, Furacin, and Desinex (antifungal).

I talked to my vet today about how Isis looked. She suggested taking pictures. This afternoon, I left work early so I could do just that.

I carry a small Sony Cybershot U50 with me at all times (thanks again to my sister for that lovely Christmas present!). At 4 inches long by about 1.5 inches wide, the camera is a perfect size for quick, candid shots. Or in this case, quick photographs without having to go home and retrieve the Big Camera. The Big Camera would have been too large and awkward.

The pictures are linked within the text and are also available here.

I carried Isis’ grooming kit out to her pasture. She nickered several times when she saw me. I took off her grazing muzzle and let her enjoy the pasture while I crawled underneath her to take pictures. (Please note that this isn’t a safe thing to do unless you really know your horse — even then if your horse spooks you could be in serious trouble.)
The LCD on my camera swivels separately from the lens, so I could see the underside of her belly without actually having to be lay on the ground under her.

The swelling on the left side of her belly button had increased by 2-3″ towards her left side. It was soft and did not feel hot to the touch. The hair was still coming off in clumps. When I ran my fingers over her belly, I found several lumps — a wad of yellow scabs. No smell to them. These scabs were focused on the left side of her belly button where the swelling had started. The scabs came off easily without much pulling. The skin underneath was a red and oozing, but not an angry red.

The right side of her abdomen, where she had been losing hair earlier, appears to have healthy skin with a few spots of scabbing. It’s not hot or swollen any more. She continues to shed under her belly.

After cleaning her belly, I used Nolvasan ointment on her stomach. Hopefully that will help the skin heal and kill whatever infection might be growing. I also used the Nolvasan on some of her rainrot.

The rainrot on her back appears to be clearing up. The spots on her hocks, back legs, heels, and back are healing over. There are a few spots left, but the skin no longer feels hot to the touch. She seems to be shedding every where, but a regular spring shedding–not tufts like the hair on her abdomen.

I’m perplexed what might be causing this. Is it a case of rainrot that has spread from her back to her belly?

Okay, I knew Isis’ supplement helped her. The past few weeks have really highlighted just how much she needs it.

For about the past month, Isis has not been eating her supplement. She gets a low-starch pelleted grain and 2 ounces of Grand Meadows Complete, a powdered supplement. She decided that she didn’t like the pellets and she didn’t like the supplement. She quit eating her grain.

Four years ago, we started Isis on Joint Combo Hoof and Coat. It is a pelleted feed supplement with biotin, zinc, MSM, glucosamine, Omega-3 and Omega-6 fatty acids. The week we started her on that supplement, she had horrible rainrot. The poor kid was bald from the tip of her ears to her hocks. I was out of town for a week and had dreaded returning. I knew the rainrot would be worse since I had not been able to treat it for a week. For the first time, she was healing herself instead of the rainrot getting progressively worse.

A few months ago, I changed her supplement to a comparable one that had a higher Omega 3 content. A recent article in Equus or Performance Horseman had outlined the benefits of a higher Omega-3 versus Omega-6 content for horses with laminitis. Unfortunately, this new supplement was a powder instead of a pellet. She ate it for a few months and then decided some time in December or January that she wasn’t going to any more.

In January, she started getting rainrot. At first I didn’t think anything of it, because even when she is on the supplement she would still get mild cases. This time, however, the rainrot continued to worsen. It spread from her legs to her spine and along the drip line on her back and sides (although not under her mane).

Earlier this month I cleaned out several ounces of the supplement out of her bucket. She was off the supplement and the rainrot was back with a vengence. She didn’t care for the grain any more either.

I changed her supplement back to the pelleted Joint Combo and switched her grain from the Triple Crown Low Starch to Triple Crown Complete (also a low carbohydrate grain, although it does contain a little molasses).

Isis is in heaven. She loves this grain. It’s like candy to her after having been on pellets for almost a year.

Tomorrow marks the first week she has been back on the supplement. Guess what? She is finally starting to fight off the rainrot (except she has this nasty stuff on her belly now…)

Ever seen a horse lose the hair on their stomach in patches during the winter? Isis is doing that. Her hair is very scurfy (but no rain-rot lumps) and as you rub it it falls out in patches… I’ve called the vet.

Isis had her first chiropractic adjustment tonight after several months without one. Around Thanksgiving she was out in the pasture with two other horses to see if she could be introduced into another herd. Things were fine until we added another mare — then the gelding and Isis and words. She kicked him in the side and he got her twice, once on her hip and then again on her hock. She deserved what she got, because she nailed him. She did have a cut on her hock which required having a vet out on a holiday weekend. It healed over pretty well, no scarring or anything.

I knew something had gotten out of whack on her hind end. She has been sore on her back even though I really haven’t been working her very often. She tended to look like one back stride was slightly shorter than the other. Lately I had assumed it was just the rain rot, which she periodically gets on her legs and back. It is back now. She has not had it this bad in several months. The rain rot is mostly cleared up, but her skin is still sensitive. (Interesting side note: the chiropracter said that circulations problems might cause skin problems. While Isis was regularly seen, her rain rot mostly cleared up. Now it’s back with a vengeance and she is stiff and sore. Poor kid.