How to Treat & Prevent Scratches in Horses

Swelling, Scabs and Scratches

You bring your horse in from the pasture, grab your groom box, and start brushing away. You work your way down to their legs and begin to remove all the dirt when you notice little scabs flaking off... along with tufts of hair. A heavy sigh, an eye roll, and one thought, “Great, scratches.”

What are Scratches, anyway?

Scratches in horses are a common skin ailment. It's typically found on the lower legs, beneath fetlocks, or on the cannon bones and pasterns. This equine skin diseases can flare up from a fungus, bacteria or mix of both. And it runs along the same lines as mud fever, greasy heel, funk, gunk, cannon crud and rain rot. Whatever you call it, it’s all about environmental conditions. Our culprit being muddy, moist, wet, humid, damp or dirty footing.

So how do you treat scratches in horses? And is there a way to prevent your horse from getting them?

Let’s start by mentioning the fact of what a search for “how to treat scratches in horses” calls for. Because that includes clipping off all feathers, shaving down to the skin, applying harsh treatments, and covering the area in antibiotic creams. I’m happy to do that for my horse, spend the time and money. But is there a way to save both?

Yes. COAT DEFENSE® has created a very simple solution to equine scratches. One that doesn’t including clipping, shaving, picking, cleaning, and slathering on creams or ointments with a bunch of unreadable ingredients.

“ No matter how well you care for your horses, skin funk can show up and just not go away. We treated this to no avail - until we tried COAT DEFENSE. In just a week we noticed a huge difference! The best part is, it’s all-natural. Check it out and see for yourself how fast it works! “

Sharon White; Last Frontier Farm, Virginia