[CloudsMystique]

I just body clipped my gelding for the first time ever, and he's absolutely covered in scars that I couldn't see before.


There are even more than you can see in these pictures... I took them with my phone so the quality sucks.

Front legs: http://i42.tinypic.com/qzq4b6.jpg
Inside of front leg: http://i40.tinypic.com/volbbd.jpg
Neck and shoulder: http://i41.tinypic.com/zl3m6h.jpg (his whole body looks like that)



The scars I'm wondering about are the ones on his face. He has a TON of circular scars all over his forehead... it looks like he was attacked by a nail gun or something.

This is the best I could do: http://i44.tinypic.com/sybhxd.jpg
http://i39.tinypic.com/24yux3s.jpg

There are even some more that you can't see.

Any ideas? My trainer thinks it might have been an allergic reaction to ant bites...

 

[CharliGirl]

The scars on his legs don't look like insect bites--more like he was scraped up in a wire fence or something. Has he ever been kept in a barbed wire pasture that you know of? Does he get picked on by other horses? The scars on his face look like they might be ant bites, but why they are all on his head is a mystery--you'd think bugs would bit around his ankles and such as well.

 

[myhorsesonador]

It could be scares from a bad case of rain rot on his face.

 

[CloudsMystique]

The scars on his legs don't look like insect bites--more like he was scraped up in a wire fence or something. Has he ever been kept in a barbed wire pasture that you know of? Does he get picked on by other horses? The scars on his face look like they might be ant bites, but why they are all on his head is a mystery--you'd think bugs would bit around his ankles and such as well.

I'm not sure if was kept in barbed wire before I got him, but he does fight a lot. I'm sure that's what those are from.

And I'm with you on the ant bites - I just don't see how so many could climb on his face without him noticing and picking up his head... unless he was sleeping, but if that were the case, they should be in more places.

It could be scares from a bad case of rain rot on his face.

That's definitely a possibility. I haven't seen scars from rain rot on any other horses... Is that what they look like?

 

[Honeysuga]

He seems like a rpetty rowdy guy from pictures you have posted of him, my bet is they are from tussling with the other critters...But the ones on his face get me... to be honest my first impression was birdshot...but I doubt he has been shot before lol.

 

[CloudsMystique]

He seems like a rpetty rowdy guy from pictures you have posted of him, my bet is they are from tussling with the other critters...But the ones on his face get me... to be honest my first impression was birdshot...but I doubt he has been shot before lol.

Haha, yeah... well, actually, he did used to be abused... so you never know : /

 

[Honeysuga]

How was he abused? That might give you a clue right there.

 

[CloudsMystique]

How was he abused? That might give you a clue right there.

Well, I don't really know the exact details... All I know is that he was with a really harsh trainer and he couldn't handle it and kind of lost his mind. Then somebody nicer bought him and he got a little better, but then they had to sell him and they lost track of him and he ended up with yet another harsh trainer and the same thing happened. That's when I got him.

 

[kevinshorses]

I would guess that he has scraped himself up once in a while and all the scars didn't happen at the same time. The fact that he is light collored only accentuate the scars and make them look worse than they are. None of them look like they were ever very serious. When you have a 1000lb animal with no more sense than a horse then they will get banged up a little.

 

[CloudsMystique]

I would guess that he has scraped himself up once in a while and all the scars didn't happen at the same time. The fact that he is light collored only accentuate the scars and make them look worse than they are. None of them look like they were ever very serious. When you have a 1000lb animal with no more sense than a horse then they will get banged up a little.

He still has a LOT more than most horses do... My mare is a little less than half his age and has exactly one scar. He literally has hundreds. I guess he's just accident-prone. He does fight a lot, but it doesn't seem like the ones on his forehead could be from that...

 

[my2geldings]

Hard to tell, tho right now I would have to agree with Kevin.

None of those scars look at anything much more than just kicks or your boy getting into trouble with general horse playing BUT having said that, it almost looks like there might be a patter to the marks on this legs. Keep in mind that like people, some horses will scar more easily than others. I would stay clear of pink skin, but would throw some ointments on there if you want to try to regrow some hair in most of those patches.

To be honest, if I were to walk passed your guys at a show, I would never notice those marks. He's got a really nice coat as it is.

 

[kevinshorses]

He still has a LOT more than most horses do... My mare is a little less than half his age and has exactly one scar. He literally has hundreds. I guess he's just accident-prone. He does fight a lot, but it doesn't seem like the ones on his forehead could be from that...

Maybe he hasn't always been kept in a stall. My horses get banged up fairly often. I have five horses in a corral together and it's only natural that they would bump into each other or fences or the barn.

 

[smrobs]

In all honesty, when I first looked at the scars on his shoulders, my first thought is spur scars but of course, there is no proof of that. Since he has them all over, that also kinda rules it out but that is sure what they look like to me.

The ones on his front legs more than likely resulted from the frequent skirmishes he ends up in or he could have gotten tangled in barbed wire sometime in his former life.