Dermoscopic assessment of the skin and its formations in Polish sport horses during the winter season.

Videodermoscopy is a diagnostic method increasingly used in veterinary medicine, primarily because of its non-invasive nature, which is preferred by pet owners. The aim of this study was to determine the characteristics of the skin and its derivatives in the Polish Sport Horse breed. Twelve clinically healthy Polish Sport Horses (SP) were qualified for the study. The group included 8 geldings and 4 mares. The age of the study group ranged from 4 to 26 years. Videodermatoscopic evaluation of hair and skin was performed in seven body regions on the left side, i.e., forehead, mane, neck, chest, flank, rump, and tail. For dermoscopic examination, an Italian Video-Dermascope 7 (Medici Medical SRL equipped with a 3 VIDIX 5Mpx camera, and VX1 – Contact type cap Ø 3.5 cm) was used. Videodermoscopy revealed that the darkest pigmented skin was found in bay horses, whose skin colour was clearly darker even than that in black horses. An interesting observation is that in all coat colours, the skin on the head and around the mane was the lightest. Hair density in the field of view of the dermoscope ranged from 1106 on the tail to 1749 on the chest. Hair thickness ranged from 30.2 μm on the flank to 47.3 μm on the mane. Comparing our results with previous studies, we can conclude that skin pigmentation increases with age.