So for a the past week every time I go out to the barn which is 2x a day my fillies back covered in this white chalky stuff that is crusted and dried all over her back at first I thought it was "stud stuff" and I was FURIOUS when I thought about that but it's not near her lady bits its from her withers to her tail head running along her spine and the studs that are at the barn aren't anywhere near the mare pasture and there is 1 gelding but he's been in the same pasture with them for 2yrs now and has never even once has showed an interest in any way towards the ladies he pastured with. Could it be sweat? Does sweat dry white? I've never seen sweat dry white before. Bird poop maybe? If so that's a huge bird there are a lot of white crane/heron looking birds that hangout in the pastures. The stuff isn't sticky at all, there really isn't a smell to it. I don't put anything on her coat other than fly spray and I use Absorbine Ultrashield EX in the black bottle. She hasn't had a bath with soap in like 3 months (She's not a show horse and doesn't get bathes with soap a whole lot just a good hosing down after a work out) It is really hot a humid where I live and all the horses sweat just from standing in the pasture the temps here have been in 90(F) degree range. Here are some pictures to show you to maybe help me figure out what it is or isn't:
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And when you go to rinse it off it foams up like soap but it's not soap:
Any idea on possibly what it could be what it could be?
looks like dried sweat to me. sweat doesn't have a smell, the bacteria on the skin mixed with sweat is what causes odor. And sweat will foam up when you spray it with water. does she have any shelter? I would be concerned with that,amount of sweat every day. Posted via Mobile Device
how mamy other horses are in the pasture with her? reason I ask is my gelding is with three others, and those three go into the barn when its hot, but won't let him in. we had to give access to another shelter that he coulduse by hhiself to get out of the elements. Its is still warm in a shelter, but not as bad as it is standing in the sun. Posted via Mobile Device
There are 5 horses total in the pasture including her and the shed is 20ft x 18ft it's decent sized none of them use it other than when it's raining and they all fit and stand in there just fine
I'm fairly sure it's the fly spray. When I ran out of the Absorbine Ultrashield EX I got a different kind and my mare hasn't had the residue since using the new spray
I'm going to have to try and switch the spray and see if that's the cause because I did start to notice it right around the same time I started using the Ultrashield fly spray on her.
while i don't have any comments to make about the white marks/dried sweat/whatever it is, i do want to point out a very unsafe situation i see in one of your photos.
you have your horse tied to a metal post that is part of a wire fence. if a spook should happen or your horse were to pull back suddenly, i see a horrible wreck happening with that post coming out of the ground and the wire going flying. please don't tie to things that aren't secure!
Why would horses get sweat patterns on their hindquarters, but not their shoulders? The shoulders sweat way before the hindquarters... this doesn't look like a sweat pattern to me, at least not like one induced by exercise.
You can get patterns like that from bird droppings that run in the rain, but I can't tell from the photos if that's exactly what it is. The fly spray things is worth looking into also. Interested to see what answer you will come up with! Certainly the pattern seems to originate from the top and migrate down.
Why would horses get sweat patterns on their hindquarters, but not their shoulders? The shoulders sweat way before the hindquarters... this doesn't look like a sweat pattern to me, at least not like one induced by exercise.....
Yes, I agree - shoulders do tend to sweat first. Is it possible that he's got the front half of his body in the shelter with the hind end sticking out and exposed to the sun? I think the OP said there's five horses in the pasture and the shelter is 20x15 which would make it a bit tight for that many horses to share comfortably (as is no pushing or territorial disputes if they're inclined that way).
Alternatively, it could be fly spray build up/reaction. Also, are other horses getting sprayed/bathed and he's close enough to catch some of the fall out?
Shoulders may sweat first, but it is a horse's butt that always has salt streaks on it. We see this on a lot of our horses after it starts getting above 90 -- especially when it is really sultry and they sweat a lot. Some get a lot more salt dried on them than others. I always figured it was the ones that eat the most salt.
There is a salt and a mineral block out in the pasture so she could be standing around and licking on them all day and getting a large amount of salt. Maybe?
One easy way to test - but I wouldn't do this unless I hadn't applied fly spray - is to see whether the white powder tastes salty. Having said that, if you think it might be birds, taste it only a little and wash your tongue well if it's not salty... ;-)
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