My horses pink muzzle skin is....dry and damaged

Desitin/Zinc oxide does work great to help heal sunburn on noses.
For prevention, a generic, waterproof, baby SPF65 sunscreen every few days does the trick (even without a mask) for our almost all white, very pink skinned mare when she decides to spend days in the blazing summer sun.

I agree with the others Desitin works better and longer than sunscreen. I had a horse with an all white face and it was the only thing that did the trick. I tried many different types of sunscreen, was way happier with the Desitin. Your horse will look all painted up like a clown, but will feel way better. Keeping them in the shade for the prime hours also is a good idea.

Use baby water proof sunblock! They also make sunblock sticks to use. I had a paint with a pink nose and everyday he got sunblock on. We never had a "burnt" peeling nose again! He was very greatful and soon learned that sunblock was his friend. And its friendly to their skin.

They do make those flymasks like buttermilk said. Its good extra precaution with the sunblock! I would use both incase your horse is frisky and likes to "loose" his masks! Also the sunblock is good when you are riding.

To help heal up his nose from the sun burn and peeling, use an aveeno lotion its water proof, fast healing, and great for sensitive skin as we all know horses have.
Good luck with your poor horseys nose, the one downfall to pink noses :)

Is zinc oxide easy to find? Where should I look for it?

Thanks for all the replys

It is easy to find most grocery and drug stores have it. The brand name is Desitin the generic is zinc oxide. It is a diaper rash ointment.

I looked after a horse for my granddad in Alabama one summer. He had a white face and would get sunburned. I would gently wash his nose each night with a damp washcloth to try to clear away the dead skin, then slather his nose with Vaseline petroleum jelly... it stays on well and helps heal/moisturize, plus it's absolutely harmless even if ingested. I would also put waterproof sunscreen on him in the mornings. His nose was soft and pink again in no time.

I loooove the vaseline idea! (=

The thing about a sunburnt horse's nose/muzzle is that when the roughness/scabbiness has set-in the skin damage has been done so treating the symtoms is necessary. It amounts the same as to treating an injury aka skin damage.

SWAT is really good for healing sunburn and it keeps flys off.

I usually use sunscreen, but vaseline works well too. The kind with lavender especially helps with healing : )