CALL YOUR VETERINARIAN WHEN

A horse develops an especially severe, widespread infection. If the rainrot causes painful crusts over wide swaths of your horse’s body, your veterinarian may provide you with a prescriptionstrength antimicrobial treatment as well as a systemic antibiotic and phenylbutazone or Banamine to address the pain and inflammation. She may also want to examine the horse for an underlying illness, such as Cushing’s disease, that may be compromising his natural immunity.

Rainrot grows worse or does not respond to treatment. Drying out the coat and

applying antimicrobial treatments ought to lead to improvement within a few days. If not, you may be dealing with something else. Your veterinarian will want to rule out other skin issues that can look like rainrot, such as ringworm, scratches, allergies, insect hypersensitivities or even certain types of sarcoids, which require different treatments.