Re: Rain rot

[CMKSAGEHIL@aol.com]

In a message dated 98-07-31 23:54:40 EDT, softride@cdsnet.net writes:

<< I would be embarrassed to have my horse get rain rot more than once.  It
 means poor barn management. >>

While it is easy to pass judgment, this is not necessarily true.  So-called
rain rot can occur where there is no rain, where there is no exposure to other
horses, etc.  It can occur due to immunosupression, which can be caused by
age, other disease processes (sometimes very subtle), hormone deficiencies
(hypothyroidism, pituitary problems, etc.), or other problems.  While
mismanagement MAY be to blame when one sees multiple cases of rain rot over
and over again, sometimes an individual horse in an otherwise well-managed
herd will repeatedly get it, because that one horse has other problems.

Heidi Smith, DVM