9999

Sooner or later, if you keep horses in a wet climate, you're going to encounter a condition commonly called "scratches." Also known as dew-poisoning, greasy-heel, cracked-heel, or various other monikers—scratches can show up pretty suddenly. Your grooming routine needs to include thoroughly examining the backs of your horse's pasterns just above the heel bulbs. You're looking for crusty, scabby patches on the skin. If you actually feel the area closely with your fingertips, you can often detect the condition well before it's fully blown into a crusty, scabby, cracking, oozing, painful mess. The condition is painful enough, sometimes, to cause noticeable lameness.

I'm not a vet, and I don't play one on TV—so I'm not qualified to give veterinary medical advice. As always, don't hesitate to talk to your own vet, farrier, or trainer. All of these highly-experienced folks will be familiar with your local climate, as well as any issues specific to your horse.

Scratches is the layman's term for what is, essentially, pododermatitis. Either a fungus called Sporotrichum schenkii , or sometimes a bacteria called dermatophilus congolensis seem to be the most usual causes of scratches. The condition can also be complicated by bacteria and secondary infection. You can't just ignore scratches because it's likely to get much worse, left untreated.

Every experienced horse person you talk to will have their own personal favorite remedy for this common condition. You'll hear advice that ranges from sauerkraut poultices to clipping the area and coating it with nitrofurazone, zinc oxide, diaper-rash ointment, or cattle-wormer paste. I've tried most of these things, and honestly most of them work just fine. You'll find even more advice if you do a quick Google search, including multiple offers for sure-thing remedies, if you'll just enter your credit card number in the box provided. Mostly what these remedies have in common is that they drastically change the environment that would have allowed the fungus (or bacteria) to grow unchecked.

In my own experience, for the most part, common sense is going to help you more than anything; first things first, get the horse out of the environment that's causing and aggravating the condition. Your horse, and his developing scratches, needs to be standing somewhere dry. You can bring him into a dry stall, or provide dry bedding in his pasture shelter. You'll need to clean up the affected areas, gently and thoroughly, so you can get a good look at the skin. I've had good luck with plain ivory dish-soap, in warm water, with the kind of scrubby mitt you might, in warmer weather, use to bathe him. It's an effective topical cleanser, but still mild enough not to further aggravate the already painful and inflamed skin. Then follow the advice of someone you trust to know what they're talking about, to get the infection itself cleared up.

Once your horse is showing healthy, pink, unbroken skin, it's time to think about preventing a recurrence. It's hard to go wrong with a good moisture-shield, when you're ready to turn your horse back out—and this is where I've had the best luck with diaper-rash ointment. You simply coat the healing areas with a generous layer of ointment to help protect the tender new skin.

Next time, we'll talk about identifying, treating, or preventing the last of the Unholy Three conditions I've come to associate with winter in the Northwest: Rainrot.