Advice on sweet-itch

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Linz29

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My mare tends to develop sweet-itch throughout the summer months, i have tried 100's lotions and potions only to find they dont work. i tend to keep a lightweight rug and fly spray on everyday (unless really hot and i take the rug off). ive tried camrosa which is ok but doesnt stop her itching her main/tail out.
Just wondered if anyone has tried the sweetitch rugs?
i dont want to spend a fortune on one if they are not great as my horse tends to like ripping rugs ALOT!
any other things you have tried that helps??
 
I bought a loveson fly rug for my boy & it was fab & worked really well, best thing i found for him though was moving his grazing (not always an option i appreciate) but hes on grazing now which is really high up & hes got a full mane & tail now, it was lovely seeing him not rub last year.
 
Have a word with your vet about what new treatments are available. I spoke to someone the other day who participated in a trial for a new sweet-itch treatment which involved a once a week tablet. The pony concerned had the most awful sweet-itch before and yet the treatment apparently kept him SI free all summer.
 
Mine has mild to moderate sweet itch. I'm feeding Brewers Yeast and Linseed Oil. Last year we started the BioEos de-sensitisation programme (info from the National Sweet Itch centre which is where you can purchase from). But as he moved yards its difficult to tell whether any improvement. But I shall start again this year, probably soon as I normally tend to start prepping for the dreaded sweet itch in mid-February.

Personally I'm very cynical of all the so-called miracle supplements. We tried the "Think Fly" stuff a few years back; although as he was on working livery it was difficult to be sure that he'd actually been given the stuff, it made absolutely sweet FA difference IME. A total waste of money.

Apparently Marmite is good - mine loves a Marmite sandwich! - but the Brewers Yeast supplement is basically the same thing.

Re. rugs. I've got a Premier Equine and a Rambo hoody, with fly mask. I use a solution of Pig Oil and Neem Oil, plus some Tea Tree Oil in too, and wipe it across his coat with a sponge, and brush through his mane and tail. All other flysprays are as useless as pisswater IME.

I did buy a "Pagony" sweet itch rug for him a few years ago; supposed to be a cheapy version of the Boett. Totally useless, the stitching on the seams was only done as a single row and started coming apart almost immediately, had to get my poor little sewing machine out on it, was so disappointed with the quality, plus somehow or other he got himself tied up in his hind leg, with the bit that goes from the headpiece to attach to the rest of it, so would hesitate to use it again. Plus the disadvantage with these sorts of rugs that you have to get it over the head to put it on - again, not helpful!

We seem to be OK with the Rambo at the mo, will have to see for this year, might just invest in a Boett as he's home at my place rather than at livery.
 
thanks guys!
such a pain S-I especially as she would be a very good show pony, she only developed it as a 4yr old for some reason and was fine before that!
i mite give the rugs a go this year, heres hoping my other horse doesnt bite a chunk out of it!
i have asked the vet for advice she gave my some steroid cream which didnt work.
superfly plus flyspray i found is the best solution so far.
Il ask vet about those tablets, sounds like a miracle if it works!:D
 
Might sound a bit barmy but i've heard the Avon Skin So Soft dry oil spray is good - my friend used it on her 3 yo who had itched her tail badly. Its recommended for people to use as a mosquito repellent. Might be worth a try - is only a couple of quid, smells nice too :)
 
I have mine only in Boett rugs, I havent tried the cheaper rugs purely from the fact that if they dont work, then I would end up having to buy the boett and paying more money.

So far my rug has been my life saver! I have had to do some repairs - mainly last summer for some reason - the odd little rip and one of the belly strap clips broke - when I bought my rugs they came with spare material and spare belly strap. I have 2 rugs that I have had for the last 6 years and so far touch wood I havent needed to buy any more.

You do have to pull the rugs over their heads but my boy has gotten very used to doing it and will lower his head for me to do it! The only issue I have with mine is that the mesh on the hood does wear so I have had to replace the mesh a couple of times (easy to do with a normal sewing machine) but my horse has to wear a grazing muzzle through spring and summer so think that causes some of the wear and tear on the mesh of the hood.

As someone has already given the link - the switch itch site is really useful! I have found using fly sprays and ointments as an additional help but the rug is the main control for me as you would need to keep reapplying sprays etc often through the day to maintain effectiveness (dep on the severity of the sweet itch)

There has been trials for drugs to help with SI and there is lots of info on this on the sweet itch website but I have never used it so cant comment but if you did think about using it I would speak with the people at the sweet itch site and your vet.
Hope this helps and good luck with whatever you decide!
 
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My shetland has had cronic sweet itch for 22yrs now after he was gelded at 5yrs. We have gone through numerous rugs, lotions, potions, steroids, tried different turnout routines etc and spent thousands over the years in attempts to help him. He will rub himself raw all over, from March - November, anywhere the can make contact with ground or buckets (he has soft plastic buckets), even with a regular bath and rugged 24/7 in boett/pagoney/fly rugs.

We trialled a new product last summer in a vain attempt to make him more comfortable and I have never seen an improvement like it. He was calmer in himself not trying to itch constantly and his coat went from scurffy to shiney in 6weeks this was in a generic fly rug (i.e. not for SI). This was without his regular baths as I wanted to see the product really work and was started in the middle of the season so no loading in the Feb/March. The product is called Think Itch by Brinicombe Equine and is being launched in the very near future. It is made by the same people as Think Fly but the formula is different. Fly sprays/supplements do diddly-squat IME as its the midges that need to be detered, getting rid of the flies is an added bonus.

I hope that people will give it a go and experience the potential difference it can bring to a SI suffers life. I do not work for Brinicombe Equine I was mearly given an opportunity to trial a product on a cronic SI pony, before anyone thinks I am advertising. :)
 
I would totally recommend the Boett rugs for sweet itch. I bought a mare knowing full well she had SI and she was in a bit of a state looks wise when I got her especially on her mane and tail.

I've taken an "all angles I can think of" approach - she has unmolassed feed (very much like the simple systems stuff) plus cider vinegar and linseed oil (I feed a cup of outshine actually). No garlic as that can be an irritant. I started her on Brewers Yeast this autumn, following a major injury we had decided to put her in foal, so now I am trying to do what I can to make her repellent to midges for the summer and if I possibly can, keep her naked once the foal comes in April. There is a yahoo group which is run by the people who make/supply the nettex itch stop cream (that's a good one to buy) called Sweet Itch Help and Advice, and their research is beginning to show some good results on horses who are being given the Brewers Yeast. My thinking is, it has got to be worth a try when it is so cheap and a natural product...

You need lots of electric fencing in the field to try and stop the rug ripping, but it is amazing how they still manage to do it. I wash/change the SI rug every week and mend it at the same time, a pain, but a necessary one. Fly rugs are nowhere near as good as the SI rugs, we sent her off to stud with a fly rug (an amigo one, so not total cheap tat) and the midges were getting through it judging by the rubbing that had gone on.

Anyway, we show our mare, she does pretty well thanks to the Boett rugs, and people are surprised when we tell them she has SI. She has a decent full mane, and a good tail, not perfect, but that's me looking very closely at it. So it can be done, just a bit more effort required. I think baths help a lot too. Once a fortnight if you can in the summer months, but you need to be careful what you use and some things (tea tree being one) can irritate the skin and do more harm than good. Just my philosophy, I find the midges/mozzies bite me less when I am freshly bathed/showered than when I am sweaty etc, so why should the same not apply to a horse?

There is loads and loads of stuff on the internet regarding Sweet Itch, and plenty of advice on forums like these, which is where I have learnt a lot.

Oh and where you keep them can make a HUGE difference, the more open and exposed the better as midges don't like that!
 
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My mare came to me with such sever SI it was already on her passport in red ink, signed by the attending vet! She had raw wounds down her neck, on her rump and no tail, from top to tip of the dock. That was end of June 2009. So, last year, my first full season with her, I started feeding BY and linseed in Feb - the BY is upped to a 50ml scoop (whatever that weighs!) by end of March and I feed it all year round, working down to about a 10ml scoop during the cold months (Dec to Feb). Once the flies were out, I made up a lotion of:

10% Benzyl benzoate (the stuff bought is 20%, I diluted it to 10 with water) - 400ml
Neem Oil (the cheapest place I've found is Spices of India, where it's £10.50 for 1L) -100ml

This is in a 500ml water bottle. During most of the year I was using it every other day, on her mane, rump, tail and belly (sponged on and shaken before each use). The 500ml lasts up to a week. I'd like to say I bathed her every week, but she was simply too nervous. I gave her what can only be described as 'bed baths', using Dermoline Shampoo diluted in water, once a week or so, to remove all the week's goo from her.

She only wore her rug for about a total of two weeks in the whole year. Some of that was due to her rubbing when I'd run out of BY and simply not realised how dependent she was on it! The rest was when she's leant through a fence to eat the grass outside the field and rubbed some mane off - cue me panicking, thinking it was the SI.

I'm also going to add some turmeric to her feed this year. There are a few (scientific) papers now on the anti-inflammatory properties of this, so I bought a couple of kilos from Spices of India (again, cheapest place I've found). I'll be adding a teaspoon to each feed, but without a control, there's no way of saying for sure if it'll help.

Oh one more thing! SI is as much dietary as it is the midgets. Too much grass WILL aggravate it (high sugar levels). As far as diet goes, she’s treated as a laminitic, which is handy, as Henry is prone to LGL! That’s partly why I still took her on, as her needs mean that I can feed the same to both of them! So, she’s restricted from May onwards until Henry stops getting a raised pulse when I introduce grass (November last year, hence my hay situation!).

I have to say I'm much more confident, this year - last Spring I was cacking my pants at the thought of the months ahead, but the management seemed to work!

p.s. I know it's midges, really, but those midgets need to be watched, too, he he!
 
Forgot to say, during the shedding months, she was groomed rather roughly (she likes it rough, dirty hore), with a rubber curry comb, every day. My reasoning was that the loose coat does make them rather itchy at the best of times, so I was desperate to remove that as a factor! Hard work, but worth it to see the pleasure on their faces, lol!
 
10% Benzyl benzoate (the stuff bought is 20%, I diluted it to 10 with water) - 400ml

- is this stuff not been taken off the market in the uk?
ive been looking for it with no luck? where do you buy it from?
 
Firstly, Thank you to Archiesmum for posting such complimentary feedback on our new product! I can confirm that she doesn't work for us, and we didn't pay her to say such nice things!
If anyone is interested in our new Think Itch, please send an email to:
info@brinicombe-equine.co.uk We are planning to launch the product at the end of February and anyone who contacts us in advance will be the first to receive product details and information about our special launch offer.
We look forward to hearing from you.
 
We had a pony with SI a few years ago. The only thing that worked was the boett rug. Lotions and potions were a waste of money, though of course I haven't tried the latest ones. The unexpected advantages of the rug were that it polished his coat, helped shedding the winter coat and kept him really clean for riding. You could wash it in the domestic washing machine and have it dry for the next morning. He was quite gentle on his rugs and it lasted for years, though I did mend it once on my sewing machine. They soon get used to having it put on over their heads.
When we sold him the new owners had a windy field on a hill (ours was in a boggy, valley bottom) and the SI disappeared.
 
Linz29 said:
10% Benzyl benzoate (the stuff bought is 20%, I diluted it to 10 with water) - 400ml

- is this stuff not been taken off the market in the uk?
ive been looking for it with no luck? where do you buy it from?
Click to expand...

I got mine from an independent pharmacy (for humans). Admittedly the year before last and it cost peanuts. £3.00 or something like that for a 500ml bottle. I just told them it was for my horse and there was no problem at all.

I don't think it was that good TBH, I prefer using that Nettex Itch stop stuff, it works better (IMO) and is gentler on the skin.
 
I tried BB (got it from a local pharmacy) and found it worse than useless. If anything, it made him itchier.
What I have found with sweet itch is that it is trial and error - what works for one horse won't necessarily for another.
 
update - my mare had very bad sweet itch last year - this year i seem to have found how to control it! as she has a full main and tail and is not itching!! -
-premier equine sweetich rug on at ALL times and
- itch buster oil - by heavy horse leg oil supplies painted on main and tail.
just thought id let you know as this has worked for me!!!
 
archiesmum said:
My shetland has had cronic sweet itch for 22yrs now after he was gelded at 5yrs. We have gone through numerous rugs, lotions, potions, steroids, tried different turnout routines etc and spent thousands over the years in attempts to help him. He will rub himself raw all over, from March - November, anywhere the can make contact with ground or buckets (he has soft plastic buckets), even with a regular bath and rugged 24/7 in boett/pagoney/fly rugs.

We trialled a new product last summer in a vain attempt to make him more comfortable and I have never seen an improvement like it. He was calmer in himself not trying to itch constantly and his coat went from scurffy to shiney in 6weeks this was in a generic fly rug (i.e. not for SI). This was without his regular baths as I wanted to see the product really work and was started in the middle of the season so no loading in the Feb/March. The product is called Think Itch by Brinicombe Equine and is being launched in the very near future. It is made by the same people as Think Fly but the formula is different. Fly sprays/supplements do diddly-squat IME as its the midges that need to be detered, getting rid of the flies is an added bonus.

I hope that people will give it a go and experience the potential difference it can bring to a SI suffers life. I do not work for Brinicombe Equine I was mearly given an opportunity to trial a product on a cronic SI pony, before anyone thinks I am advertising. :)
Click to expand...

My mare wont touch the stuff :(
 
I am looking after a wee mare with SI
No 100% cures but she has had Brewers Yeast all year
She does get half a dozen Piriton a day in fly/midge season
She can run into a dark shed when flies midges are bad
She has a history of wrecking/escaping out of fly rugs so has not been rugged here as we have trees and bushes in the grazing
We are near the river so midges can be bad when the air is still
She gets bathed once a week and lots of conditioner on
Is sprayed with Avon so Soft and Nettex Stop Itch rubbed into base of mane and dock.
She has a full mane but tail is rubbed short and spiky at the top but no broken skin or scabs

After this I would not knowingly buy one with SI, you really could not go off on holiday as you constantly have be on top of treatment
 
At a yard i help out at, they have 2 sweet-itch horses and have found the best thing is a Horseware Rambo Sweet Itch Hoody Fly Rug with a snuggy hood underneath and Sudocrem on sores (which seems to clear them up really well). The rugs seem to last really well and have found that nothing matches them really as they both ripped all previous ones. They also bath them once or twice a month and don't pull manes to keep them thick, just use one of those solo comb things. Seems to have worked really well and from a distance, it doesn't look like they have sweet-itch. I think my RS do the same sort of thing on their sweet-itch pony. :)
 
Hy Guardian is a fab fly rug. I absolutely swear by them and at about £50 they aren't too expensive.

Also feed brewers yeast from nettex and spray daily with naf deet - the black bottle :-)
 
We have had two sweet itch ponies. They both had it relatively mild - only itched top of tails... We have found the Rambo Sweet Itch Hoodies to be great - so much that we put our normal horses in them too. With Sweet itch ponies/horses you absolutely need a spare rug, so that one can dry out in wet weather. Previously to this we found that leaving them rugless or putting a normal lightweight rug on in wet weather resulted in bites and rubbing, even if it was only for a short while. If its really bad weather we put a no fill waterproof rug on top. Even though they are more expensive than normal fly rugs, they stay in place and last a few seasons, so work out better in the long run.

Ours come in from 5/30pm until 10.30pm (easy as we have them at home) to avoid the worst of the midges (we have very wet fields and its midge paradise. I put Aloe Vera on their crests and the top of their tails to soothe the itch. They get six piriton a day (our local chemist sells 500 tablets for £7). Then we put equimins Biting Insect cream on their crests of mane and top of tails/front of faces. They are bathed every couple of weeks with lavander/tea tree shampoo. They are lathered with insect cream when they are ridden too.

Generally we just about cope. We use a sterroid cream that the vet gave us if they do get any sore bits.
 
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We use a Premier Equine hoodie fly rug and a product called Sweet Relief - google it - our SI pony has been free from irritation all summer and as well has not developed her summer alergy cough for the first time.
 
intouch said:
We use a Premier Equine hoodie fly rug and a product called Sweet Relief - google it - our SI pony has been free from irritation all summer and as well has not developed her summer alergy cough for the first time.
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Biteback Sweet Relief -ebay -is def the best lotion I have tried. It worked on a mare with a dreadful itchy belly on our yard that mothing else would clear up. We use the ointment too.
 
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