hypersensitive skin - what would you use?

[Gibraltar]

My second OTTB Archie has very sensitive skin. I live in BC and yesterday we recieved nearly 30 mm of rain non-stop. even though he had his rain sheet on; his upper chest, neck, ears and cheeks are covered in very itchy bumps. I was going to gently apply some M-T-G to these areas to give him some soothing relief but I thought I would check here first to see if anyone might have other, better recommendations. It's dry weather today but we're going to have more rain tomorrow...
Thanks in advance for any advice.

[abowls]

Have you used the MTG on him before? My OTTB sometimes has similar problems but if I use MTG on him he gets big welts wherever I applied it. I just try to bathe him with a soothing shampoo when he has his breakouts. When he's really badly broken out, I give him IV Dexamethasone and it fixes the problem almost immediately. I don't love giving steroids willy nilly but last year he got really bad a few times so I did give it to him. Oral dex just didn't cut it for him. I've since moved him to a new location and he hasn't had one breakout in his new location. I'm convinced that for him it is actually the fauna that arise from a lot of rain (I suspect gnats) rather than the rain itself or the flora that results.

Good luck with your boy.

[Deb]

If those bumps are crusty or have scabs those crust/scabs need to be come off for the areas involved to heal. If brushing or picking at the bumps causes pain as it most likely will use Betadine soaks to help loosen the scabs.

My mare used to have occasional out-breaks of what you describe. I would spend however much time it took to brush her with a fairly stiff brush and gently use it to help remove the scabs. Even though she would be a might tender in those areas she seemed to know I was trying to help her.

[TeachU2Ride]

I'm in abowls camp... since the only place you're seeing bumps is on the skin that wasn't covered, I'm guessing you're looking at bug bites.

For super-sensitive horses, I'm super-careful about using ANY products. Only very mild shampoo like Orvus (rinsed until there is NO sign of suds left). I don't use fly sprays, liniments, coat conditioners or anything else. If you've got a ton of bugs and he doesn't go out in a blanket-eating herd, the Rambo Dustbuster is a nice product to keep him protected without chemicals.

Once you get a skin outbreak, it's usually best not to add anything (especially anything greasy like MTG) on top of the existing problem. Just a good cool-water bath and time to dry before he gets to roll.

Hope this helps!

[Gibraltar]

Both Archie and I really appreciate your replies and I think I might have to look into a "up to the ears" rain sheet for him. What I ended up doing yesterday was a dilute betadine wash on the affected areas and then also diluting some M.T.G. in warm water and spraying that on and blotting him dry with some towels. He was much less bumpy today and hopefully the dang monsoons will give us a break soon. Then of course; the mosquitoes, noseeums and deerflies will be back. Yip yip yippee.

[whatsnottaken]

I have run in to that in Virginia. Several horses at different barns that would react to either the rain, something in the rain or something that bloomed when it rained. Dexamethasone was the go to for the tougher cases and the really sensitive ones. I have found that mixing betadine with baby oil makes a soothing treatment for the itchy bumps. It's messy as heck, but it really seems to help loosen the scabbies and soothe the skin too.

[MapleShade]

Where I live we call that "rain scald". In horses with a depressed immune system it generally ends up as a secondary infection that I treat with Muck Itch...seems to be less of an irritant than MTG. In an attempt to avoid the secondary infection, I cold water hose them, sponge on a bucket of white vinegar water, let it sit a few minutes while I wash legs and then rinse well. Works for me. Hope he feels better soon!