The Skin of the Horse
Things to Know about the Skin of the Horse
The skin – and not just a horse’s skin – is the largest organ in all living creatures! Sad to say, it is undervalued by most people for its function and importance for the body. Whenever it is said “There’s no horse without a hoof”, it can justifiably be said that “There’s no life without skin!”.
The skin has the following functions:
It is a protective organ for the inner organs against mechanical impacts (cushions against impacts, etc.), against infections of every kind (parasites, viruses, bacteria), against cold and heat and in this way it regulates body temperature.In this way, it is also a regulating organ for the management of moisture (internal dehydration as well as getting wet from the outside)
It is a respiratory organ for the disposal of waste products through sweating
It is a sensory organ e.g. via the sensory hairs – which, incidentally, must NEVER be trimmed! It not only contravenes the animal protection laws in a number of countries, but removes an essential sense of touch from the horses! As a sensory organ, the skin is just as exceedingly important for social contact between horses as it is for contact between people and animals!
Diseases of the Skin
It is commonly said that the skin is a reflection of the mind. There is much truth in this, but it is well known in veterinary medicine that certain regions of the skin correspond with individual internal organs (e.g. Head’s lines). Thus, the skin can be an expression of the internal organs and their dysfunctions, as well as the expression of reduced body defences through stress (transport stress (!), performance stress, competition stress, etc.), improper feeding, poor care, a lack of social contact, etc. Think of atopic eczema (neurodermatitis) in man!
Day in, day out, the skin is exposed to a real onslaught of both externally and internally damaging forces:
UV rays (the sun’s rays), fungi, bacteria, viruses, parasites, insects such as stable flies, midges, horse flies, ticks, etc., contact with allergy triggering plants or substances, certain chemical substances or plants that cause irritation or burning, etc., as well as too much or too little of certain nutrients can cause damage to the skin and the coat.
Consequently, the symptoms are varied. Diagnosis is very difficult and is often only possible after thorough laboratory examination of the skin, coat and blood.
An extensive report by the owner or the caretaker is necessary for an accurate diagnosis:
Duration, progress of the changes in the skinLocal or generalised occurrence
Change in feed
Change in location
Change of pasture
Previous and current internal diseases
Similar changes in related and/or neighbouring horses
etc.
The most common triggers for changes in the skin are fungi! They generally affect the outermost area of the skin: the hairs break off at the roots, then, initially minute, superficial hairless patches develop with changes to the skin. Itching and the resulting rubbing enlarge these areas.
Fungi are spread by contact, i.e. cleaning materials, blankets, harnesses. Other, already infected horses and people, too, spread the fungal spores quickly and easily. Since there is effectively no blood supply to the infected areas, scarcely any effect is achieved with treatment via the bloodstream. There remain only washing, sprays and ointments. Only consistent and long-term treatment will achieve the aim. Beforehand, however, the horse should be separated from other animals, personnel, equipment and cleaning materials.
Well-defined, possibly itchy, reddened areas and local swelling are, as a rule, the result of insect-bites, such as by horse flies, ticks and others. Similar symptoms also appear in sunburn, generally around the nostrils, but also on the teats or the sheath, above all, after a long graze without shelter. Contact with irritant or even corrosive substances (chemical substances, poisonous plants such as ragwort, stinging nettles, etc.), however, may also be responsible.
The horse owner’s particular attention should be directed to any swelling or node formation. These changes are often the body’s attempts to encapsulate the cause (foreign bodies, but, as well, isolation of pathogens contracted from bloodsucking insects) and to impede the further spread of the pathogen within the body. The pathogen tries to penetrate this capsule. If it does so INWARDLY, a phlegmon develops, a so-called entry wound! This can lead to an uncontrolled, spreading inflammation of the skin and of the layers immediately underneath. This is an aggressive form of the illness that requires fast and systematic treatment by a veterinary surgeon.
Bloodsucking insects also carry viruses that cause papillomatosis, small warts, generally occurring on thinner skin.
One particular form of wart is the so-called equine sarcoid, a locally confined skin change. If they occur in awkward areas – the eyes or the saddle area – they should be surgically removed. They should be supervised by a veterinary surgeon.
Mostly, however, the formation of nodes is the result of insect bites (saliva), which may cause an allergic reaction (= endogenous allergy to protein). Here, too, the body tries to encapsulate the injected saliva, which leads to the familiar nodes or blisters. In the absence of allergic sensitivity, these nodules usually disappear within a few hours or days, at most. Only in horses that feel acute itching due to a severely allergic reaction, is the skin opened up by the horse’s chafing and made accessible to such pathogens as fungi and bacteria. This leads to so-called “sweet itch”. The blackflies and biting midges that occur in huge swarms and are especially active at twilight, i.e. in the morning before sunrise until shortly after and in the evening just before sunset until about an hour after sunset, are believed to be a trigger for this allergic hyperreaction. The treatment of the symptoms will not be successful so long as the horse remains unprotected from further bites. This can best be achieved by using a good repellent and by covering with a light blanket during the twilight periods. By day, while the sun is shining, the blanket is not necessary.
The body’s defences are already damaged in the particular areas of the skin where there is disease. Increased bacterial activity occurs as a result, with weeping areas of skin, massive hair loss, etc. Antibiotics, and also newly developed DECALYTE ® will usually lead to a successful outcome.
White to grey flakes of skin and scurf occurring usually on the mane crest, but also over the whole body, are normal in small amounts! The skin of the horse (just as human skin) constantly regenerates. The old, dead skin is cast off. These flakes are visible during regular brushing, especially as the horse’s coat changes during the spring. Nourishing oils (such as those contained, e.g. in BRUM!) release these skin particles from the coat, moisturising and revitalising the skin. If flake formation increases sharply, however, the skin should be examined by a veterinary surgeon, to find the cause and so that treatment can be recommended.
Allergies
It would take us too far afield to go into every currently known detail and the various types of allergy here. So, we will only mention the most important:
The distinction must be drawn between:
Causative substances or substances acting endogenously (from within) and exogenously (from without). Endogenous substances are chiefly ingested in feed and can cause many different skin reactions in differently conditioned horses if an allergy to one of the ingredients of the feed has developed. Think about the allergy to strawberries suffered by many people: the symptoms here may be a reddening of the throat or blisters on the mucous membrane (e.g. in the mouth), and there are many more.
Exogenous substances operate through contact with the skin from the outside. In a contact-allergy, the allergy symptoms are triggered by the direct impact of the allergen on the skin or the mucous membrane. The initial contact proceeds asymptomatically; the organism becomes sensitised. With renewed contact with the triggering substance, an allergic reaction occurs in the course of which the skin’s immune system is activated. An inflammation reaction starts on the skin, in order to fight off the allergen. Typically, with a contact allergy, the allergic reaction appears in a narrowly limited area on the skin, where the direct contact with the triggering substance has occurred. A substance that comes into contact with the whole surface of the skin (such as e.g. a shampoo, or a skin care oil) will trigger an allergic reaction anywhere it comes into contact with the skin, but never only in one place, e.g. the chest or the teats, etc. if this is the case, the substance spread over the whole body can be ruled out as the triggering allergen.
Contact reactions, however, in the overwhelming majority of cases, are not allergic reactions, i.e. the horse has not developed a hypersensitivity. Therefore, not all types of hives and contact eczema can be traced back to an allergic reaction. Contact with certain irritants (e.g. stinging nettles!) causes a direct skin irritation with a nettle-type rash or eczema. Here, the skin reaction is a direct response to the poisonous, irritant or even caustic action of a substance.
Common triggers of allergic reactions:
The most common triggers of allergic reactions are the metals nickel and cobalt (harness buckles, blanket buckles etc.), solvents and/or preservatives in care products, not only for the animal but also for the harness!, fragrances and flavouring agents and also essential oils, cleaning compounds, medicinal products and plants.
Common causes of non-allergic skin changes
As mentioned, this involves limited areas of the skin with symptoms such as reddening, loss of coat, peeling of the superficial layers of the skin, etc. Along with the causes already described, such as insect bites, fungi, etc. triggers are very often:
mechanical injuries caused by rubbing after insect bites or other agents causing itches such as contact with the poisonous plants or wood preservatives on pasture fences, etc.local, limited contact with strong irritants or even caustic substances.
In general, the following applies to the horse owner:
Keep a close eye on skin changes. These will normally disappear again after 1 - 2 days, i.e. the skin has won the defensive battle against whatever it was. If not, do not shy away from the fees for the vet and, if necessary, for an accurate diagnosis!
One more word on bloodsucking insects
In the warm summer time, they lurk everywhere and pounced mercilessly – the winged nuisances, the insects. The most well-known are:
Biting houseflies. They belong to the Order of true flies and some of these are the bloodsuckers that are usually to be found in cattle pastures. They swarm during the day until twilight, and they are carriers of pathogens and intermediate hosts for parasitic worms!
Horse flies. There are about 3,000 types of this pest belonging to the fly family. Only the females suck blood. They are active from about midday until nightfall. They are particularly aggressive in sultry weather.
Blackflies. These occur in vast swarms. Again, only the females suck blood. This gnat is considered to be the probable trigger for sweet itch (endogenous allergy to protein). They are active at twilight, i.e. they swarm predominantly in the morning before sunrise until shortly after and in the evening before sunset until shortly after sunset.
Mosquitoes. Likewise, these are dangerous carriers of disease and buzz around between midday and nightfall.
Ticks. These are parasitic mites. They carry very dangerous diseases (for humans as well!), such as Lyme disease and meningitis. Ticks generally hide in the shadows and approach their victims through the grass or low bushes and not, as is commonly believed, by falling from trees.
If you are watching horses in the meadow, you will see at first glance whether or not there are insects active. If they are active, the horses will strike out at the pests with everything they have: tail, legs and head. But the struggle is hopeless. If the horses are brought in, you will recognise the “successful work” without difficulty: numerous swellings on the skin, chiefly in the chest and ventral area (horse fly bites) numerous small nodules on the throat, on the chest, on the crest or the dock (biting houseflies, mosquitoes).
Even if we disregard the fact that bloodsucking insects often carry diseases, we owe it to our four-legged friends, in my opinion, to protect them as far as possible from insect bites. Of course, a blanket on a hot summer’s day is not an option. However, perhaps you could bring the horses in from the meadow and just let them out again later in the evening, or you could use a good insect repellent to allow them at least a couple of pleasant hours in the meadow. A horse afflicted with insect bites in the saddle area or the surcingle area will certainly not let itself be ridden!
The Huebeli Stud Care Products
For some years I was the head of a firm that operates clinics for the treatment of skin diseases - mainly psoriasis (chronic squamous dermatosis) and atopic eczema (neurodermitis) - in Europe and overseas. After selling the company, I dealt extensively with the equine care products on the market. Indeed, these also had to do with the skin. In 2003, together with Dr J. Germershausen, I set about the development of a new range of care products for horses. The basic idea was to use absolutely no solvents as excipients and, instead of this, only to use oil/water emulsions and to exclude all the ingredients that were suspected of causing irritations or allergic reactions.
In the summer of 2004 the development phase was completed and all of the products were tested intensively in the stables in Germany and Switzerland - as expected, with great success and without any skin irritations at all.
All of the products were finally examined in autumn, 2004, by the Swiss Federal Office for Health and rated as non-toxic. The products BRUM! and HOOF! were, moreover, licensed by the German Patent Office as utility models.
As explained above, insect bites are extremely unpleasant, both for people and for our four-legged friends. But not only that: they are also responsible for a whole series of problems. They cause itching, they cause swelling, they carry diseases, they carry parasites, they provoke allergic reactions, etc. For that reason, it is for every horse owner a question of protecting his goods whether the horse should be abandoned to his fate or whether it would be judicious to use an insect repellent. When humans keep a horse, however, the horse itself has no option. They cannot wallow in the mud, as they do in the wild, to protect themselves against insects and parasites. A study by the University of Wiesbaden has shown that there are increasingly severe health problems in horses due to insect bites, and on that account it advocates as broad a protection as possible, similar to the measures for humans travelling in tropical areas and who, naturally, protect themselves from mosquitoes in order to prevent malaria and other serious diseases.
On the basis of these reflections, we made up our minds to develop an effective but decidedly skin-friendly insect repellent, namely BRUM!
The product uses an oil/water emulsion based on medical white oil as an excipient for the insect repellent. It is supplemented by adjuvant oils such as geranium oil, citronella oil, clove oil etc. Repellents are biochemically developed insect repellents such as Bayrepel, diethyltoluamide, etc. According to the Stiftung Warentest and the New England Journal of Medicine, diethyltoluamide is by far the most effective and, over decades, the best evaluated insect repellent that is employed in virtually all insect repellent, both in the human and in the veterinary area. No skin irritations due to using this agent have been described in the vast amount of literature.
By dispensing with solvents as excipients, all of which have an evaporation time of between 15 and 30 minutes and thereby allow the repellent to evaporate along with them, Brum, with an oil/water emulsion that evaporates considerably more slowly, has a significantly longer effective period. Furthermore, solvents can trigger allergic sensitisations!
There are NO ingredients at all in BRUM! that could irritate the skin or have a caustic effect. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that individual oils added in may cause an allergic reaction in very rare cases. This reaction would be reddening of the skin with, at worst, nettle-type blisters. If the horse has built up an allergic sensitivity to one of these oils, the symptoms, however, would have to appear wherever the BRUM had been sprayed, not just in single areas!Unfortunately, we cannot converse with horses. I am, however, convinced that a horse that cannot be regarded as a wild horse – and in Switzerland that might well be the vast majority – would decide in favour of thorough and regular skin care, including protection against insects!
For everyone who is seriously concerned about his horse’s skin, here is another article about skin and skin diseases in horses that is really worth reading. You will find it at www.pferderevue.at > Articles > Skin.
Huebeli Stud Horse Care
Hans A. Meier