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Hair loss from sweat, help!

608 Views 11 Replies 4 Participants Last post by  Acadianartist
Hi all
This year my gal has sweat more than ever, and combined with the fact that I’ve been stuck in the house meant that unfortunately she hadn’t been groomed. Trust me I’m already feeling awful about it. Now she’s lost a lot of hair on her face, neck, and chest. What should I do? I’ve kept it clean and washed with anti fungal/antibacterial shampoo.. I’m so frustrated with myself for letting it get this bad (although I didn’t have much choice since I had no transportation..). Looking back on last summers photos she’s completely different.. any help is greatly appreciated..
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You best thing really is just try to rinse her off every day to get that salt built up off in the evenings. Shampooing often is not to great on the skin.
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It’s been such a miserable humid year, it’s possible she would have rubbed the hair off her face and part of her neck anyway, so don’t beat yourself up too bad🤠

I agree with @My Salty Pony , dont shampoo her a lot. If you are now able to get to the barn, shower her down every night with just water and use a sort of rough mitt to wash her back, hips, and chest.

Be sure to wash her nether areas as the sweat buildup in her butt and tears could cause a yeast infection.

Squeegee her as best you can, then dry her as best you can with a couple of old bath towels.

I bought the large dog washing mitts at the local PetSmart. They have a soft side and a side with stiff nubs that does a pretty good job of getting the deep dirt.

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IF there’s a vacuum at the barn and she will tolerate it, you could also loosen the dirt with a brush and vacuum her neck, shoulders, and back:)
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It’s been such a miserable humid year, it’s possible she would have rubbed the hair off her face and part of her neck anyway, so don’t beat yourself up too bad🤠

I agree with @My Salty Pony , dont shampoo her a lot. If you are now able to get to the barn, shower her down every night with just water and use a sort of rough mitt to wash her back, hips, and chest.

Be sure to wash her nether areas as the sweat buildup in her butt and tears could cause a yeast infection.

Squeegee her as best you can, then dry her as best you can with a couple of old bath towels.

I but the large dog washing mitts at the local PetSmart. They have a soft side and a side with stiff nubs that does a pretty good job of getting the deep dirt.

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IF there’s a vacuum at the barn and she will tolerate it, you could also loosen the dirt with a brush and vacuum her neck, shoulders, and back:)
DEFINITELY will do!! Should I use any sort of product??? I have some bannixx cream and some healthy haircare coat spray?
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DEFINITELY will do!! Should I use any sort of product??? I have some bannixx cream and some healthy haircare coat spray?
I wouldn’t put anything on, if it’s just sweat related. If you see there are sores where the bugs have bit her, put some Triple Antibiotic Ointment on them.

How bald is she? Are you able to get some pictures and post them? If she’s lost a tremendous amount of hair, its always possible she has picked up lice or some sort of mites from another horse, other barnyard critters, even wild life passing thru if she spends any time in pasture.
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I wouldn’t put anything on, if it’s just sweat related. If you see there are sores where the bugs have bit her, put some Triple Antibiotic Ointment on them.

How bald is she? Are you able to get some pictures and post them? If she’s lost a tremendous amount of hair, its always possible she has picked up lice or some sort of mites from another horse, other barnyard critters, even wild life passing thru if she spends any time in pasture.
It’s not an insane amount. Mostly around her front chest and a little up the neck from there. It’s pretty bare, but I know it’s sweat related as it got caked on there and made the coat “rough up”. On her face she’s got a big patch between her eyes. I don’t have any good pictures but I have one that I can zoom in on and compare to an old photo.
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I wouldn’t put anything on, if it’s just sweat related. If you see there are sores where the bugs have bit her, put some Triple Antibiotic Ointment on them.

How bald is she? Are you able to get some pictures and post them? If she’s lost a tremendous amount of hair, its always possible she has picked up lice or some sort of mites from another horse, other barnyard critters, even wild life passing thru if she spends any time in pasture.
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It’s not an insane amount. Mostly around her front chest and a little up the neck from there. It’s pretty bare, but I know it’s sweat related as it got caked on there and made the coat “rough up”. On her face she’s got a big patch between her eyes. I don’t have any good pictures but I have one that I can zoom in on and compare to an old photo.
Two pictures are from yesterday, the white stuff is swat since I didn’t have a clean fly mask on hand. Other one is from June 26.
My gelding's get a grim/salty built up between their back legs under their tail and I always clean with water to make sure all the built up is gone, I run my hand up under their tails between their legs to make sure its all smooth and no grim is left behind, and they get really salty above their tails heads too. So I try to rise them of at least every other day, they love that running water in the late afternoons, its got to feel so good getting all the grim off of them.
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I wouldn’t put anything on, if it’s just sweat related. If you see there are sores where the bugs have bit her, put some Triple Antibiotic Ointment on them.

How bald is she? Are you able to get some pictures and post them? If she’s lost a tremendous amount of hair, its always possible she has picked up lice or some sort of mites from another horse, other barnyard critters, even wild life passing thru if she spends any time in pasture.
Also, the hair on her forehead looked like it was pulling off all waxy like cannon crud..
Also, the hair on her forehead looked like it was pulling off all waxy like cannon crud..
That could be a different hair loss issue - tick bites, midge fly bites, etc., and she’s rubbing her head from itching.

Its been a brutal summer in terms of weather, making keeping the horses comfortable extra tough. Keeping them comfortable can be further compounded being in a boarding situation and not able to see the horse daily.

I wouldn’t put Banixx on her head, I would worry she might somehow rub it into her eye. If you can afford regular Vetericyn spray, that would clean & sooth her face and would be less apt to do damage to the eye.
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I've never heard of sweat alone causing hair loss, but I suppose it could make them itchy. I wouldn't overdo it with product if his skin is irritated. Unless you know exactly what is causing the bare spots, any product could make it worse.

These do look like rubs to me, like fly bites that got rubbed raw. Swat is good for that (it is an ointment that also keeps flies off the wounds so it won't get worse).
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