Eggs or Nits on Hairs on Horse's Legs

[Berry]

Maybe we only see them on Alaska because he's black and has long feathers on his legs. He's got hundreds of little white specks stuck to the hairs on his legs. Like lice eggs in a kid's hair except very white and not clear. We don't see these on the other horses at all. We have tried to pull them off with no luck. What could they be?

[rivervu2]

Sounds like bot eggs. The flies lay their eggs on the horse's legs so that when the horse bites at flies, he ingests the eggs. You need to buy a bot comb to scrape them off. Or a dull razor will work, just be careful with that.

[Berry]

Thanks. I posted the message here and then went and did an internet search and found the same thing. They must be on all the horses and I just don't see them. We just got Alaska last winter so this is his first summer with us. Sounds like we should remove them when we see them, but that they'll be taken care of with the right worming regimen as well.

[SunnyKS]

The lava rocks from gas grills or grooming stones at the farm supply store will get those right off with a swipe. They are very hard to remove other ways.

[Faceman]

As said, probably bot eggs - if you have bot flies up there. You can't miss them if you see them - weird creatures. The eggs should be yellowish white. A Bic razor will take them off too.

[reiningfan]

It's much better to just remove the bot eggs than hoping your dewormer will deal with them later. By the time you deworm, they may very well have already done damage. I use a bott egg knife and scrape them off everyday as part of my grooming routine.
Also, they can hatch in your horse's mouth, burrowing into tender tissue. Better to just spend a few minutes a day getting rid of the darned things.
Watch what you use for dewormer. Not all of them deal with bots.
The bot flies look like weird like bees.

[fishing_trex]

Bot eggs have a yellowish tint to them. Bot flies buzz around the horses, usually their legs. You'll know one when you see one. Although they normally lay the eggs on the forelegs, check the mane, shoulders and flanks as well. If you can't get them all removed, you can put baby oil on them to keep them from hatching, but removal is the preferred approach.

Any deworming for bots should be done late fall after a killing frost, and again in early spring to catch any larvae before they pass out of the horse. And RFan is right -- they can cause problems in the horse's mouth as well. Bots affect more than horses. When living in the midwest, we had to take a bot grub out of a small kitten's neck at the barn where I boarded my horses. The grub kept poking it's head out of hole in the neck. It was truly a nasty job.

We don't have them here - I think our guineas eat them. In 15 years, we haven't seen one bot egg on anything.

[Horselessnomore]

The eggs tend to show up much better on darker horses as well. I spend a lot of time trying to remove them from my black horse. Have found them in the wierdest places (some of the flies are not too bright I guess) as well -- legs, chest, neck, flanks, mane, a few in his tail, saddle area . I guess the fly must have been desparate to lay those eggs.

[version1955]

I can't remember where I found them, but I bought these cheap little razors and they cut off those bot eggs so easily. Actually I suppose any razor would but these have a nifty blue plastic handle. Yup, just cut 'em off, rub 'em off and look in the mane too. Those bots are everywhere! The nasty things

[Berry]

Originally Posted by Horselessnomore

The eggs tend to show up much better on darker horses as well. I spend a lot of time trying to remove them from my black horse. Have found them in the wierdest places (some of the flies are not too bright I guess) as well -- legs, chest, neck, flanks, mane, a few in his tail, saddle area . I guess the fly must have been desparate to lay those eggs.

That's the thing, if Alaska has them all over his legs...the other horses must too but we cannot see them. We'll have to figure out technique on Alaska and then just do the same to the other horses in the high risk areas i guess. We did go out and tried out the stone last night, but it was nearing dusk so we'll have to take a look today to see how successful we were with removal.