— The Florida Funk —

aka the Creeping Crud

aka Aack, my horse is itching his face off . . .

You guys all know what I am talking about. First you notice your horse rubbing his face. Then there is the hair loss under the eyes, the chest, along ventral midline (on the belly), under the mane and at the top of the tail. All the while your trusty steed is rubbing and rubbing and rubbing along fences and stall walls to try to relieve the itchiness. The rubbing often irritates the areas and breaks the skin so that secondary infections begin. Then you have a mess with oozing gooey sores and scabs.

What is this? What causes it? Why might you see it in only a few horses out of the group? Why here?

Yet another name for this problem is Equine Seasonal Recurrent Dermatitis (ESRD) or Sweet Itch. The root of the problem is a biting insect of the culicoides family, which includes mosquitoes and midges. The allergic animal mounts an extreme immune response to the proteins in the insect's saliva. The exaggerated immune response damages the horse's cells creating the hair loss, pruritis (itchiness) and sores that are seen. All of the horses in the group are most likely being bitten by the insects but only the allergic ones show signs of ESRD. Due to the lovely combination of swamp, sun, rain and mild winters the insect population thrives here. Horses are just food for them!

So now that we have discussed what is going on. What can be done? There are several ways to think about this. One is to prevent biting from occurring. Since the culprit is an insect then it makes sense to implement an insect control program. This includes strong fans while the horse is in a stall to blow insects off, the use of insect repellants on the horses and insecticides around the barn. There are insect control programs that use other insects to kill the annoying ones which may be helpful to control the problem on your property. Another option is to use a blanket that is marketed to prevent insect bites. These usually do leave some areas of the horse vulnerable and may be hard to keep on when the horse is out. Keeping the insects from biting all of the time is very difficult.

So what should you do when the insects sneak past the defenses and bite them anyway? Now it is time for the topical treatments. There are a zillion products marketed for horses. They come in salves and creams and pastes. They are in tubes and jars and tubs. They have catchy names and make many promises. Most horse owners have a favorite or something they rely on. I have found that Quadritop ointment which acts in four ways (as an antimicrobial, antiinflammatory, antipruritic and antifungal) to be useful when the hair has been rubbed off or lost and when there are sores present. The other salve that I have heard wonderful things about is Crud Blaster or Crud Zapper. It can be purchased at feed or tack stores and online. I recommend this as well. There are other products that I have been told are useful including Malaseb shampoo, Frontline spray and a compounded antipruritic antibiotic cream.

A third way to treat this problem is by quieting the immune system or attempting to treat the pruritis systemically. This can be done with the use of steroids or benadryl. There are some risks associated with using steroids. One is laminitis. Another issue is that the body may acclimate to the dose given if it is given frequently and then more must be used. This situation leads to an increased risk of laminitis. Judicious use of steroids should be considered but only if the pruritis cannot be controlled in another way. Benadryl tends to make horses sleepy and often does not work effectively.

So go out and attack the Florida funk. Rid your horse of the creeping crud. Fight off those nasty Culicoides and anxiously watch for winter's arrival.

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