Sunburn on Horses
As human beings we’re conscious of the threat of staying in the sun too long. We know that if we waste to much time out in the sunlight we run the chance of turning a nice tan in to an unpleasant burn. As well as being ugly and painful we are aware that sunburns often leads to skin cancer. We use all varieties of methods from sunscreen to light weight covers to avoid our
skin from burning.
Because they may be large and appear to be infallible (a feature that each horse owner understands is an illusion) we often forget about the affect the sunlight has on our horses.
Equines, same as people, can burn. Sunburn is most often observed on horses with light colored hair coat for instance Appaloosa’s, Lipizzans, Paints, Pintos, Andalusian, and Grays. Horse owners who own equines with pasty noses and lots of pale skin around the eyes often find themselves treating their horse partners for sunburn. A rapid change in hormones, like horses that have been bred, may cause a horse to develop sunburn. Even though dark horses aren’t usually aggravated by sunburn the sun often bleaches the dark hair. In some cases severe sunburn is believed to contribute to some liver impairment.
Horse owners should also be aware that some medicinal drugs may also activate sunburn in horses. Tetracycline is one medicine which has been recognized to trigger sunburn in some horses.
Equine sunburn seems to be similar to human sunburn. Skin turns an irritated shade of pink or even a violent red. If skin is left untouched long enough it starts to dry and crack. Horses that are experiencing harsh sunburn will start to break out in blisters. Sunburn may cause hair loss.
Treating sunburned eyes is relatively trouble-free. All an owner must do is buy a fly mask for their equine. When using a fly mask it is very important to make sure that the fly mask is kept spotless. Simply use a hosepipe and also a sprayer to clean the dust and eye substance from the mask. After washing the fly mask hang it in the sun to dry.
A quantity of fly masks have an extension that guards the top of the nose from becoming sunburned. If you do not own a fly mask that covers your equines nostril all you need to do is rub your horses nose with sunscreen that you should purchase at your local drugstore.
A number of horse owners, in particular ones who are interested in showing, try to avoid the sunlight from damaging their horses coat by keeping them inside during the day time hours when the sun is essentially the most hurtful. Extra proprietors choose to keep their horses covered with a light weight turn out blanket or fly sheet to safeguard their horses hair coat. One of the reasons some owners rather a blanketed equine to 1 kept in the interior is they think that retaining a horse stalled and wholly free of daylight often leads to despression symptoms.
If you are looking for horses for sale and ponies for sale, you could always try the Horse and Pony Directory.