Things You'll Need
- Barbicide
- Paper towels
- Disposable latex or rubber gloves
- UV or 'Woods' lamp
Instructions
When you first see clumps of hair loss on your horse, particularly if it is patches (rather than 'lines') consider ringworm as a possible cause and keep in mind that it is contagious to other animals, and to you. A sure fire way of detecting ringworm on the farm/ranch which gives you results right away is shining a UV or 'Woods' lamp on the area in a dark area and seeing 'green' on the hairless area or regions around it. However, only half of the species of fungi that cause ringworm are identifiable with the UV lamp. So...if in doubt, consider that it is ringworm. Ringworm, or fungus, often hides within bails of hay and wood next to it...thus it can be a 'winter' disease.
Obtain Barbicide from a beauty supply shop or a hair styling place. Dilute the Barbicide five fold in warm water(one part Barbicide to four parts water).
Soak a paper towel in the Barbicide:water solution while wearing rubber or latex gloves and apply a generous supply of it to the areas of skin that have lost hair and the areas around it. Avoid contact with the eyes and mouth or open wounds or skin that was inflamed. Clean all tack you have used with Barbicide as well.
Wipe Barbicide off the horse a five minutes after applying it. Toss out gloves you used. Fungus is killed by the Barbicide solution within a minute after it is applied. But since if has copper in it, which is toxic, it should be washed away with fresh water if at all possible.