[Peaches1111_00]

I just bought my 1st horse this afternoon!! Well, I saw that she has a nice little chunk out of her mane as well as some nice big bites on 1 side of her neck that have happened recently (the owner said she thinks it's because all 3 of the mares are in heat *sigh* PMS ). She's extremely touchy about these areas right now because they're still tender. If this has ever happened to your horse, how long did the spot stay tender and sore? I'm just worried because she's my 1st horse and she's already my baby. I don't care about the mane because it'll grow back, but I don't want her to lash out at me in pain; I want to baby her.

[Amigo]

Go about it gently, talk to her, and just let her get used to you and trust you.
If you have only had her a few hours shes bound to be wary of places that are sore.
Just out of interest how do bug bite relate to the mares being together? are they caused by the horses, or incects?

Make sure they stay clean, if they are bug bites they sghould go down unless she starts to scratch them.

Get her used to you by grooming her often, all over, head legs, and gently over the sore patches. Also groom her with your hand, so you can get to know how she feels, see any new lumps and bumpsa, and let her truxt you without having something between you and het the whole time.

I would expect a bite to last a few days , maybie just over a week, and then go down, however if its a bite from another horse it will be bruised and may take longer than that.

Don't baby her too much, (i know its nice too :P) but shes still getting used to her new surroundings, and companions, and some horses dont appreciate being fussed over. Especially if they are nevous and adjusting to their environment. it is when they are like this thay are most likey to lash out, so dont be tentative about being around her, just be gentle, and talk to her.

Hope that helps, let me know if you want to know more,

Amigo xxx

[jgrinols]

Amigo, Peaches said BIG bites, not BUG...I had to double check too.

[Amigo]

oooh lol, oops

how bad are they? have they peirced the skin? They will be bruised for quite a while, be very gentle around them, arnica gel can help reduce bruising.

Do you have any pics?

[Peaches1111_00]

It's definately too big to be bug bites. We are pretty sure that the bites are from 1 of the mares. She doesn't get along with 1, so they cannot be let out together. They are not stalled together, but she can stick her head out of her stall where the other horses are turned out. They looked all scraped up and are scabbed over. When I went to visit her the day after it happened, she was a little better with me touching around the bites like they wern't tender anymore.

She's not in a new place. She's still in the same stall for right now. I want to learn more before I move her to another stall at the same place. It won't be anything drastic, just a few stalls down the row from her current home. I'm not extremely new to her. I go visit her pretty often now. She even nickered to me yesterday! She associates me with food and attention since I used to go out there when her old owners would feed her, and her old owners never really gave her attention...they just feed and leave. I can't take her out of her stall by myself until I become a member of the club out there (Atchafalaya Bit and Bridle Club...ABBC). Her old owner is taking care of her for right now.

Her bites are covered by her mane, and I really don't want to shorten it. I might have to in a few months because the yanked out chunk will be growing back a different length than the rest. Any advice besides MTG on getting this thing to grow back? And they have a scabby type thing in her main in different sections. Is this horsie dandruff? It doesn't seem like it hurts her to pull them off, but it just kinda bugs her.

Edit: I would have taken pictures yesterday, but my batteries were dead. I plan to go visit again today and I have good batteries in. I'll try to upload them on here.