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<< Believe me, I spend hours & hours soaking, scrubbing, scraping, rinsing, &
medicating her. It broke my heart to see her limping around in such pain.
She
was SUCH a good girl & would stand with feet in two seperate buckets at a
time, night after night. Then - from the resulting cracks, we lost the rest
of the 96 season. Her last shoeing finally removed the remaining damage.
Think that was probably at least $.50 worth!
Connie H.
>>
You are SOOOO right. Scratches ARE a big deal. They really can be seriously
debilitating. I HAVE seen horses with them clear up to the belly and in
terrible pain. In fact, I do NOT believe in wrapping legs with scratches.
It just enhances the environment that the fungus loves. It also creates MORE
swelling. I still believe the best thing to do is SHAVE the legs and KEEP
them shaved. Get the legs really DRY, pick off the scabs that you can (if
your horse doesn't try to kill you in the process) and use the clippers
really close. Then use zinc oxide. It helps to dry out the fungus, does not
allow for oxygen to penetrate, and acts as a healing agent.
A friend of mine paints her horses legs with a black dye (said it was used on
sheep). She said that white legs, being photosensistive, attracted the
fungus and by painting them black (had to be repeated weekly) this prevented
the fungus from taking hold.
Yes, I have also seen legs bleeding from it in sever cases. The key again,
is prevention by cleanliness. If you suspect your hors has been exposed, I
would SCRUB with an iodine base shampoo, dry and clip. Zinc oxide CAN be
used as a preventative, but, it too, must be scrubbed off daily and
reapplied.
I have brought scratches home from rides...usually from campgrounds that are
well to over used and are muddy. It IS contageous!!! BEWARE!!!
It is at LEAST $.50 worth, probably $1000.00 worth to someone who has the
problem.
Teddy
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