Isis has always had skin issues: rain rot, fly bite allergies, scratches, etc. For the most part, these things last a little while, are treated, and then resolve. For the past two months or more, Isis has had lumps under her legs, right where the girth goes. Initially, the lumps did not interfere with the position of the girth. The lumps were slightly in front. However, wearing the girth irritated the lumps.

The lumps are behind Isis’ front legs right in front of the girth. The lumps appear to be only in the skin: I can move the lumps easily around. They feel mostly hard and small. The lumps are not uniform in shape. The one on Isis’ right side is long and tube-shaped, while the ones on the left side are like clustered pearls.

The lumps have gotten worse in the last week (see pictures).

Attempted treatments

I’ve tried a variety of things to deal with these lumps and so far, nothing has worked.

• Early May: Clipped the hair around the lumps to try and help keep the area cool in case the lumps were related to the increasing heat. Made sure we had fly spray in case the lumps were fly bites. I tried using Sore No More Sports Salve on the lumps to help prevent chafing.
• Early June: As the weeks passed, the lumps became larger. My vet suggested trying antihistamines, so we started Isis on Histall (which has helped for other conditions). After about a week, the lumps seemed to be softer and slightly smaller but did not go away.
• Early July: Isis has been off of Histall for about a week and she continues to have more trouble with the lumps. They have gotten larger and are harder again. She is having trouble with the heat so she is also on electrolytes. Her IR has flared up (fat pads above her eyes and on her rump even though she doesn’t look fat), most likely due to lack of exercise. It has been too hot to ride most evenings.

My next step will be to call the vet and see what she recommends. Maybe a biopsy? Maybe this is caused by clogged sweat glands. Who knows?

Just before I started this blog in 2004, Isis had a record year for Bad Things. Okay, not as bad as later years, but up until that time it was Bad. Laminitis, rain rot, sprained tendon, and dew poisoning.

A reader asked a question about Isis’ February 2006 case of belly gunk. In addition to her gelding having the same belly gunk that Isis had, he also has a bad case of scratches or dew poisoning.

Back in the winter of 2002/2003, Isis had a horrible case of dew poisoning. I had not documented what happened with her case on the blog so I am writing about it now. Just in case what I learned can help someone else (like 3horsemom who commented on the Belly Gunk post).

Bad scratches, no donut

Isis’s 2002/2003 case of dew poisoning (a.k.a., scratches), a skin condition that causes crusty scabs, inflammation, and irritation to the horse, was bad enough that she was lame. Dew poisoning most often appears on the horse’s heels or around the pasterns on legs with white socks. In mild cases, the horse has some bumps that are easily treated. In bad cases, the horse may be lame from the painful scabs and have swelling.

Her worst case of dew poisoning started around Thanksgiving of 2002 as a few small bumps behind her fetlocks on her back feet. I treated them by washing her legs with antibacterial soap (so much fun in cold weather), clipping long hair from around the scabs, and picking off the scabs before applying zinc oxide ointment. Over the course of the winter, the dew poisoning got better.

By mid January, the scabs had exploded all over her legs. The scabs went from her hocks to her coronary band on her back white stockings, her front white sock had scabs, and so did her front black. Her back legs were the worse. The scabs were as thick as my thumb in some places. (Other cases of dew poisoning I’ve treated on my mares, the scabs are the size of small beads clumped together.) When the scabs were pulled off, she bled.

Treatment

I finally had the vet out. The treatment she gave me worked for Isis, so I’ll repeat it here:

• If the horse is in a wet or unsanitary pasture, change the environment if possible. (The quality of the care wasn’t an issue in Isis’ case. We were able to turn her out later so she avoided the dew on the grass.)
• Do not pull the scabs off. They will fall off as they heal. Pulling scabs off irritates the skin underneath and can actually cause the stuff to spread.
• Gently wash the area periodically with an antifungal/antibacterial shampoo. You don’t have to wash every day.
• Use an ointment on the scabs to kill the gunk causing the scabs. Some people use zinc oxide, Monostat (yeast infection treatment for people), or other concoctions (see recipe below).

It took several weeks for the scabs to disappear and for Isis’ legs to heal properly.

Recipe

The goop I used on Isis was made up of:

• 1 ounce of .5% hydrocortisone cream
• 1 ounce of Desitine (the kind in the jar, not the tube)
• .5 ounce of Desinex (athlete’s foot powder)
• 1 ounce Nitrofuracin ointment

I mixed the ingredients in an old Cool Whip container using a plastic spoon.