sunburn treatments

Question
Hello, I have a 17 year old male appaloosa who has had widespread hair thinning on his lower back and hindquarters. Consequently he has pink skin which is gettting sunburned and I was wondering if you had any idea what could be causing the hair loss and any kind of treatment for the sunburn and hair loss. Of course I have tried to rule out allergic reactions and have considered changes in diet and products used on him. The only thing I can conclude is that he has had more than usual, but not escessive, baths this year. He has extreme bath issues and it is quite possible that not all the soap is being rinsed. However, he gets soaped all over his body so why would the hair loss only be isolated to his hindquarters. If you can shed some light on any of these issues I would really appreciate it. Thanks so much!           Diana


Answer
Diana,

I think you more or less figured out what the problem is yourself, at least as I read what you wrote.  I suspect that there are actually several issues going on here.  

His age is a factor here.  Older horses can become more sensitive to things, especially chemical compounds which most shampoos are.  It it's not getting rinsed out thoroughly then it's leaving a drying residue on the skin which is among other things a nice breeding ground for bacteria and fungi.  Both of these can cause hair loss.  

As far as getting sunburned now I have a couple of suggestions.  First we address the immediate ones of the sunburn.  Best solution is to keep him inside during the day and out at night and avoid exposure period.  An alternative is to put a fly sheet on him.  The fine mesh will shade his skin.  I really hate to suggest using any kind of sunblock although I have known people who have to use zinc oxide cream on their horse's faces because they sunburn on their noses or white areas on the face.  

Then you need to address the skin itself.  If you have to give him a bath use an organic, hypoallergenic soap.  There are lots of them on the market.  Make sure you rinse him really well, especially in the affected areas.  

Next, mix up a solution of 12 drops of tea tree oil per ounce of witch hazel and spray it on the areas.  You don't have to soak the skin or rub it in.  The essential oil will go down the hair shafts and into the skin.  The witch hazel will sooth the skin itself.  Spray him twice a day until you see him improving. You don't have to give him a bath each time.  Just spray this on him.  If he's really dusty I do take a soft brush and brush the hair off but that's it. This could take a couple of weeks to start noticing improvement.  

As far as why it's confined to the hindquarters is that they are the most exposed area.  The horse puts his butt to the sun usually when grazing and his head is down.  So, the hindquarters get the brunt of the weather.  

Last of all I would suggest getting a blood panel run on him to make sure he's not developing Cushing's disease.  It's readily treatable but you need to change some things you are doing management wise if you have to deal with it.  But I suggest this just because he's at an age where little things crop up that if caught early can prolong the horse's useful life.  I've had a number of geriatric horses that needed a little extra special care because of their ages.  I have one now, a 22 yr. old National Show Horse (arab/saddlebred) who is getting ready to do a 40 mi. competitive ride the end of October and a 50 mi. endurance is mid-November with one of my Junior riders who weighs over 200 lb.  Ahab doesn't know he's 22 but he does need some special considerations to keep him at his best with the stress of training and competing.  

Follow the instructions I gave you and he should recover from this with no problems.  I suggested the tea tree oil/witch hazel spray for any fungal/bacterial problems that may be the underlying cause of this.  Getting it cleared up should solve the sunburn problem.  If just not rinsing him out well enough, maybe he was dancing around or otherwise not being cooperative, will have to be corrected.  Using a natural, hypoallergenic soap will eliminate any allergy issues he may be having.  Once he's back to normal then you could probably go back to regular soap and see if it happened again.  Then you have a clue that it's in the soap.  For me, I mostly just hose horses off after they have worked and if I have to give baths use plain old ordinary, cheap dish soap.  But I put a capful of Avon Skin So Soft, the original stuff, in a bucket of warm water as a final rinse after I've already rinsed out all the soap with a hose.  

So good luck with this.  Pink skinned, white/cream horses often have sunburn problems.  Some all their lives, others as they get older.  I hope this helps you out.

Lyn