Photosensitivity & Wounds
By Shirley Sepulveda

Photosensitivity____________________

Photosensitivity in horses is an allergic reaction to the sun and either alfalfa and/or clover---either in hay or pasture. We have seen both. The only affected areas on the horses are the areas of white hair on pink skin. In solid horses it is on their faces and legs. In pinto and paint horses (white and black/bay/chestnut/buckskin,etc.) it affects all the body areas of white, too.

In Appaloosas, the lesions are on their legs, face, and blanket. If the animals are left in the sun with the prescence of the photodynamic agent, the damage goes way beyond the skin lesions that are the first sign of a problem and can do damage to the liver and other organs.

When the lesions first appear, they sometimes resemble other things. The case in the pictures above are STORMY, Pat Metz's mare. Her pasture had a lot of clover in it but since the mare had lived there all her life an allergy was not what we thought of first when the lesions appeared on her one white leg. It actually resembled a rope burn! So it was treated as a rope burn.

We used MELALUCA TRIPLE AINTIBIOTIC OINTMENT (Publisher's Note) on it and kept her stalled up with a bandage. We kept her in the stall at this point in time not to keep her out of the sun but to keep the leg dry as her pasture was really wet. After a week the leg had healed up super clean!!! So dummy me takes the bandage off, leads her to the pasture, and turns her lose. I call Pat and pronounce Stormy just fine. Pat gets home at 5:30pm and trots out there to see her mare. In just six hours the whole white sock had lesions ALL over it almost and the mare was dead lame and obviously distressed. Then we figured out that it was an allergy and what was going on. Once again, on went the bandage and the MELALUCA TRIPLE ANTIBIOTIC OINTMENT. In just three weeks the leg had healed enough to ride her and for the duration of the summer Stormy was kept in a stall.
MELALUCA TRIPLE AINTIBIOTIC IS ALL WE USE ON INJURIES HERE AT OUR BARN NOW.

Wounds & Injuries ________________________

Mach 9, 1997 -- My daughter Tanya went out to put away Quincy. He had been out for two hours in the huge run behind our arena playing with Spot over the arena fence.  As she slid her arms around his neck she felt and then saw all the blood. She ran into the house yelling,   "Mommmm! Quincy is bleeding REALLY BAD!!!! He is bleeding everywhere!" With that we raced out of the house back to the arena. Upon inspection I was horrified to see this HUGE HOLE in this gorgeous gelding's neck.

Quincy on the night of his injury.	Quincy after two weeks.

You could see his jugular and his esophagus. That translates into you could see him swallow, breath and see the blood being pumped through his neck. I grabbed some bandaging stuff and wrapped it around his neck to kinda keep his "stuff" from falling out. Our vet got there pronto and sewed Mr. Quincy up. It took quite a while. She said she was hoping for for minimal scarring but it was a pretty big tear and not real even. A huge bandage was applied to his neck.

After the drain came out and the stitches were all removed, I set to work with my MELALUCA TRIPLE ANTIBIOTIC OINTMENT. I applied it once a day to the huge scabby line down his neck.

With the swelling I used MELALUCA PAINATRATE CREAM. In one week the huge line was now a much smaller totally healed line. I used MELALUCA PROBLEM SKIN LOTION over the entire shaved area including the healed wound. In two weeks it was TOTALLY healed.

Happy Trails
1-9-98


Publisher's Note:
The Horse Review does not endorse, nor recommend the use of any products.
Please check with your vet before using any products to treat your horse.


Home
Happy Trail Directory