Loss of skin pigment

[dellyb]

Hello
I am quite new on here, but reading posts there seems to be quite a lot of knowledgable people, so Im hoping someone may be able to help me.
I have a 7 year old grey Arab mare, who in April had her second foal. Just before she foaled the first time (Oct 2009), she had started loosing pigment round one of her eyes. Now she has lost pigment round both eyes and has started to loose it round her muzzle.
I know loss of pigment can be due to copper difficiency, so after the first foal was weened I fed her seeweed. As the matter is getting worse, I was wondering if there is anything safe I can give a lactating mare, or do I wait till the new filly is weened?
I will try anything, though I do also know it may be an hereditary thing, but IMO anything safe is worth a try.

(Oh, until recently she was fed alfa A with oil, alfalfa pellets and conditioning cubes and adlib hay. She is now on good grass alone for the summer)

[alivetnurse]

HI there does it lok like this.

My mare developed this on 1 eye a few years ago then it started to appear on her other eye. She does seem to improve on copper plus but it did take a few weeks to take affect. A type of worm is supposed to be the other cause but as she is covered in that department I am at a slight loss to cause. No other horses have it that share the field so why should she be the only one to have a copper deficiency is weird!

[donnalex]

I think it is called vitiligo.
No known cure but chestnuts are often affected more than other colours.
I have heard that seaweed and other supplements are supposed to help and one feed that was used that I do know of was made by Dodson & Horrell called Fiber P and the mare that was affected did get her pigment back so it could be worth a try.
You could also put on a face mask and keep her in during the day in the summer to emiminate the possibility of it being photosensitisation due to eating a plant with something in it that is reacting to sunlight.

[Kayti]

I remember a lady I know once mentioned a suppliment called Copperplex for arabs with this problem

the Arabianlines might be a good website to search for previous threads on this?

[tl]

It looks like a copper deficiency problem to me.

[loubylou]

I think you will find that the skin pigment on greys begins to lessen as they get older- my mare looks almost appaloosa if you bathe her and can see her skin and I was told this was because they grey gene causes the loss of pigment in their hair and eventually their skin.

Would stand corrected if someone knew I was wrong though!

[loubylou]

"Since Grey is a dominant gene, where it is present it is expressed - however the final phenotype of the carrier will vary from horse-to-horse. Some Grey horses fade to full depigmentation (almost pure white) whereas others may be 'fleabitten' - whereby Grey has faded almost all of the horse's coat but for a few tiny spots or 'fleabites.' The grey carrying horse may also experience depigmentation of the skin itself, and before skin is fully faded may display 'mottling'."

from here:
www.horsedna.co.uk/grey.html

the first part I noticed on Uva was around her eyes

[gwenoakes]

Clares chestnut horse Saintly lost all pigment round both eyes and white spots appeared on muzzle, at one point he looked like he had white spectacles on. Put him on Coppertrition and it did get better but not vast improvement, although vet said it was nothing to worry about. He has been on lots of different grazing, some miles apart, so do find it a bit hard to believe it is a copper deficiency tbh.

Have read somewhere that it isnt a prob unless I think it depletes the liver eventually, although it was a long time ago and cant honestly say that I remembered it right. The other horses he grazed with were never affected either. I seem to remember also that you dont have to pay VAT on Coppertrition either, so if you put him on it, check this out.