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Bite marks- will the hair grow back

33K views 19 replies 17 participants last post by  MaggiStar 
#1 ·
Recently two two year olds (Hanovarian and an Andalusian/Fresian) moved into Citrus' pasture..... besides the two year olds, he is the youngest horse out there( he is five and the rest are ten, twelve, twelve, fifteen and sixteen).... the two year old bite constantly... I have watched the Hanovarian tear off skin and hair from my boy. Citrus now has multiple spots on his skin where there is no hair.... will this grow back? And what is appropriate for me to do or say about the two year olds eating my horse?
 
#2 ·
No, the hair will grow back. This happens very often when you get more than one or two horses together & one prefers to show their dominance by biting instead of kicking.
I've seen some pretty nasty ones, but the hair has always grown back ;)
 
#3 ·
My friend at the barn seemed to think otherwise... she wants to see Citrus when his winter coat is gone and see what the new boys have done to him......
 
#4 ·
i had a horse who got bit on his flank and the hair never regrew. It was always just a black spot where you could see his skin. It as the only spot of hair that didn't grow back and trust me, he was the punching bag of the herd.
 
#5 ·
Citrus is not the punching bag but I personally don't think he is firm enough with the two year olds.... he runs the hanovarian around and around while it is biting him.... ugh.
 
#6 ·
The hair always seems to grow back, the horse I used to ride was really mean to other horses (but not to people) and he got bit and kicked all the time by his many haters. Although he ended up having scars the hair would always grow back and you would not oven be able to tell that he had a kick/bite there.
 
#7 ·
Poseidon always manages to have bite marks all over her because she's a total jerk to other horses and once in a while they're strike back. Her hair has always grown back..

However, Abby has a spot on her shoulder where I assume she was bitten. She got it in probably September or October. As far as I know, the hair has not grown back in that spot. That's the first time I've seen that from a bite mark.
 
#8 ·
My new little guy just got turned out with a new herd today....he is the youngest out there at 11months old....did fine with 2 of them until the 31year old QH gelding went in there with them....doesnt seem to be fond of my little guy and has been trying to bite him, and kick him...the marks where he is getting bitten doesnt seem to be bad, which is good...just seems to be getting spit on him, and pulling out some of his shedding hair!

But, Im sure he will get some pretty nasty bite marks....glad to hear that hair can grow back on them :)
 
#9 ·
His hair will grow back. It would help if you put some medication on it. He will get a scab on it, just whatever you do, dont pick it off!!
They are just trying to figure out the ranks of the horses. Like whos in charge and all that, they arent meaning to hurt your horse.
-horserider4evr
Hope it helps!
 
#11 ·
The hair will grow back, though the severity of the wound may slow the process. I've also heard of the area of bad wounds with the hair growing back white, but I've not experienced this problem.

When the scab starts to peel off on its own, I peel them off. This helps the new skin "breathe." But if I get resistance from the scab, I leave it until it's "ready to go." Most of the scabs are caught up in the existing/growing hair and don't just fall off, and I think it looks terrible to have that nasty bit of "dead" on the horse.
 
#12 · (Edited)
It seems everyone else has already answered your first question: Yes, the hair should grow back, so long as normal skin is grown back in the place of scar tissue, which seems to typically happen. I do not know why sometimes a body regrows normal skin over an injury and sometimes grows scar tissue. I think, but am not one hundred percent certain, that if the other horses aren't actually tearing off all the skin layers (which would leave a very bloody mess with visible muscle wall and/or bone, depending on location) and so long as it's only the upper layer of skin that is removed, it should grow back normally. In humans, what we perceive as scar tissue, over very shallow wounds, such as scrapes or small burns, is actually normal skin tissue, it just grows back sometimes with a different skin color, sometimes darker, sometimes lighter. Actual scar tissue is typically raised off the skin and is often times almost opalescent in the way that it reflects light. Scar tissue does not grow hair, because there are no hair follicles, because the skin was destroyed. Therefore, so long as they are just skin wounds, they should heal up just fine, though there might be spots here and there that do not grow back as well. Also, sometimes scar tissue will never go away, and sometimes the skin will slowly regrow and remove the scar tissue. Sometimes the skin will just grow over a scar, and the scar will be under the horses skin, as my horse has on his hip, where he was injured in the trailer ride on his way to my house. It healed and the skin healed over it and there is no problem, just looks a little funny!

Second question: While it is normal for horses to play fight and normal for them to establish "who's boss," sometimes they just flat out do not like each other. This can result in a lot of fighting and a lot of damage. When I moved Siaga to the stable he is currently in, I made sure that there was something in place for this. The lady told me "No horses are allowed to fight. Play and the dominant issue is one thing, those are normal. If they just don't get along at all, they won't be turned out together. I won't even keep them in stalls that are side by side or across the isle way from each other."
As he is your horse, you have every right to request that he not be turned out with the 2 year olds because of the damage they are doing to him.
 
#13 ·
I know a lot of people use weird stuff to regrow hair. Like bacon grease... Ew... I guess for the hydration/protection?

I've used mtg and it seems okay. My favorite though is Hoof Alive. Its technically for hoof regrowth and cracks, but it sticks on naked skin and grows that hair back fast! And it smells good :)
My guy was covered in scars when I bought him... Bites, kicks, who knows what! I had these two scars especially that would never grow hair... Until I slathered hoof alive on them!
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#16 ·
HEY!!!! You use Hoof Alive. That's great stuff isn't it. We had a horse with soft, cracked, and tender feet. We put that stuff on for about a month and it worked like magic. Also we use it on our horses to for scars and stuff.

I Recommend Hoof Alive to EVERYONE! If you want something that works use it. I haven't found anything more effective.
 
#14 ·
Yes the hair will grow back. Or else my horse would have patches all over. Also some times the hair that grows back will be a different color. My horse is grey and has a boot shape black or brown (I don't know what color. One day it will be black then the next brown) mark on his side from one of or others biting him. But why he does that i think is he use to be all black when he was a baby and thats his natural color. So when his hair is bite off it will grow back black or (brown) instead of grey.
 
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