There could be many reasons your horse is losing hair. Hair loss could be caused by gnats, horn flies, lice, mange, and/or some type of fungus or bacteria. Treatments are available for these types of ailments, including repellents that you can buy or treatments you can get from your veterinarian. You should consult your veterinarian as skin conditions may take on several forms and are difficult to diagnose on your own. Some causative agents for hair loss include: Biting gnats: Biting gnats feed on the belly, inner thighs, poll, mane, withers, and tailhead. The irritation will cause the horse to scratch on anything around it. This can cause the horse to actually rub the hair out. Onchocerca: Onchocerca infestation can be a very irritating condition in horses. It is not as common an ailment since ivermectin has all but eliminated it. Horn fly: Horn fly bites will also cause horses to rub to the point of hair loss. Pediculosis: Lice or lice infestation (pediculosis) will not immediately cause hair loss but will eventually irritate the animal enough to rub the hair out and cause skin irritation. You can take a magnifying glass and put it up to your horse's hair, and you will be able to see lice if they are present. Mange: Mange is identified by examining skin scrapings under a microscope. This is a very itchy condition and can be treated with topical chemicals, which you should contact your veterinarian about. Alopecia: This condition occurs due to inflammation in the skin and hair follicles, and not itching. Ringworm: Ringworm is an ailment that is fungal. Lesions appear scaly and crusty. Diagnosis is usually made by a fungal culture. You should bathe the horse daily for the first week, then bathe two times a week to control infection. The best treatment includes iodine shampoos, chlorhexidine shampoos, diluted bleach 0.5% solution, rinses, 5% lime-sulfur solutions, and fungal orchard spray as a rinse. When bathing with shampoos, work shampoo into the skin and allow it to soak for at least 15 minutes before rinsing. Many other topical salves and ointments are on the market which contain miconazole, clortrimazole, and thiabendazole. In severe cases such as immuno-suppressed or very young horses, systemic antifungal medication may be the treatment needed. Skin scald: Skin scald occurs on the lower legs and is usually due to poor hygiene in the area the horse is kept. Rain scald occurs in areas of high moisture. This is usually diagnosed with a biopsy from a skin scraping from the affected animal. Seasonal alopecia: Sometimes in the spring, a horse can experience seasonal alopecia where large patches of hair shed, and the new hair growth is not present yet; this leaves bald patches on the animal. New hair will grow within a month. Sarcoids: Equine skin cancer also known as sarcoids is in this category also. They are not painful but may be infective from one horse to another. This condition will need to be treated by a veterinarian. Selenium toxicity: Some horses develop a selenium toxicity where soil is rich. If this is the problem, the grazing area or type of feed will need to be changed.

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