ihorse
in
equestrian
Flaky Skin + Dull Coat?
I went to the barn yesterday for the first time in a week or two because I've been so busy. Boyfriend moved 1500 miles across the country and I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible, plus I had a lot of other things going on that prevented me from going to the barn much.
Since Andie hadn't gotten a good grooming in a week or so, she shed a TON of hair, by far the most she's shed the past few weeks in one grooming. Today when I was grooming her, I noticed her skin is pretty dry and flaky, and her coat is pretty dull. She's currently getting grass hay (four generous flakes a day, plus a bit of grass from her paddock) and a mixture of beet pulp and 14% protein feed. Not sure what it is exactly, but all the horses at the barn look great. A few of them have been on rice bran for a while, which the trainer at the barn recommended I put Andie on. What are your guys' experiences with rice bran? Love it, hate it?
Anyway, about her skin. I plan to give her a gooood bath with medicated shampoo (Mane 'N Tail Protekt) as soon as we have a nice warm day here in Washington State (I know, I'll keep dreaming), which should help simply because she hasn't had a bath in FOREVER. I also plan to start her on oil and some vitamins, because she can use the extra calories and I have a suspicion her skin issues are partly because of a vitamin deficiency.
I thought I'd run it by you guys, though. Is there something I'm missing? Is there something else that could cause her skin issues? She got wormed today (she was wormed about a month ago, but before that she hadn't been wormed for several months, oops :X).
Since Andie hadn't gotten a good grooming in a week or so, she shed a TON of hair, by far the most she's shed the past few weeks in one grooming. Today when I was grooming her, I noticed her skin is pretty dry and flaky, and her coat is pretty dull. She's currently getting grass hay (four generous flakes a day, plus a bit of grass from her paddock) and a mixture of beet pulp and 14% protein feed. Not sure what it is exactly, but all the horses at the barn look great. A few of them have been on rice bran for a while, which the trainer at the barn recommended I put Andie on. What are your guys' experiences with rice bran? Love it, hate it?
Anyway, about her skin. I plan to give her a gooood bath with medicated shampoo (Mane 'N Tail Protekt) as soon as we have a nice warm day here in Washington State (I know, I'll keep dreaming), which should help simply because she hasn't had a bath in FOREVER. I also plan to start her on oil and some vitamins, because she can use the extra calories and I have a suspicion her skin issues are partly because of a vitamin deficiency.
I thought I'd run it by you guys, though. Is there something I'm missing? Is there something else that could cause her skin issues? She got wormed today (she was wormed about a month ago, but before that she hadn't been wormed for several months, oops :X).