It’s that time of year for many parts of the country where, after a long and cold and wet winter and spring, many horse owners are trying to figure out how best to treat the various fungal and bacterial skin conditions that their horses have. There are many names for these problems including ‘rainrot’, ‘rainscald’, ringworm, sweet itch, galloping crud (okay, I made that last one up, but you gotta admit, it fits, right?).
The term ‘rainrot’ typically refers to a fungal skin/hair condition that often covers large areas of the horse’s body. Rainrot can occur anytime of year, but usually varies depending on the geographical
location around the US. It’s exemplified by patchy losses of hair, scaly skin with redness and possibly minor pain and itching associated with it. ‘Rainscald’ is technically, at least in my book, a severe deep-seated bacterial skin condition caused by the bacterium, Dermatophilus congolenses. Rainscald usually involves large chunks of hair that can be pulled out leaving a small pus-filled divot, so to speak, in the skin. Ringworm is a specific fungal skin and hair infection in which the hair shafts are colonized and destroyed by the fungus itself. As the name implies, the lesions are usually circular in nature and can be small spots or large circles of hair loss, redness and scaling.
The term ‘rainrot’ typically refers to a fungal skin/hair condition that often covers large areas of the horse’s body. Rainrot can occur anytime of year, but usually varies depending on the geographical
Regardless, an aggressive treatment is called for and that’s why I invented Tea-Clenz® Antimicrobial Concentrate. Believe me, after having lived and practiced veterinary medicine in the Pacific Northwest for 30 years, I know my funguses! Shoot, we have rainrot on the cars and trucks up here! :)
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