Aloe Vera Juice - Anyone Use It?

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cobs and carrots

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my lovely traditional mare has been itching her feathers for 2 months now. Shes got 2 sores on her lower legs in the itchiest spots (not sensitive to touch, not heated, just bald red lumps -_- have been treating with wonder gel which reduces redness and size slightly) I'm constantly treating her for mites, and am seeing an improvement in the itching with pig oil - its helping her feathers grow and shine too (Everything's good except the smell, that stuff stinks!) However, I've always noticed that she hasn't got the best quality skin allround - she gets a very thick, greasy coat all year round. She moults like a trooper all through the summer, and gets flaky skin in patches occasionally. she had a bath the other day, and I didn't realise that she was so yellow before until I saw how white she was after being dried off! Poor girl, was thinking her skin may have something to do with her itchy legs.


I am going to add some aloe vera juice into her feeds as I've read up about its health benefits and it would seem that it'd be great for her, especially to improve her skin and give her coat a nice shine. I've also read that it's a good immune system booster, which is something i was looking for in a supplement for this coming winter (I can't believe I'm saying the w word already, where did summer go...)


Could anyone who uses aloe vera let me know what they use it for, how much they feed and what brand they use? I've heard holland and barret's aloe vera juice is cheaper than equine branded stuff and is pretty much exactly the same - can anyone back this up? Was looking at an equine brand online earlier and the price was extortionate compared to some human grade products...
 
No answer for you but will watch for replies with interest.

My friend swears by this (for herself, not equine use) and one of my FB friends is always going on about it for horses, but I've not paid much attention to him. (Think he sells it).
 
After I acquired a cob X for myself to ride in my dotage my competition horses had mites. My vet blamed my cob and his hairy legs (how dare they!) but the only cure has been Dectomax injections both for the competition horses and for the cob. He is now injected on a regular programme and that has cured the problem and magically the competiton horses no longer suffer either so I have to agree with my vet that the cob was the cause of the mites.

I have used Aloe Vera juice to boost the immune system over many years but always when the sport horses are a bit low with a 'virus' and it really does seem to help them pick up again.

Having tried many things to cure mites I can honestly say that the Dectomax worked o
ut the most effective and thus the cheapest.
 
sport horse said:
After I acquired a cob X for myself to ride in my dotage my competition horses had mites. My vet blamed my cob and his hairy legs (how dare they!) but the only cure has been Dectomax injections both for the competition horses and for the cob. He is now injected on a regular programme and that has cured the problem and magically the competiton horses no longer suffer either so I have to agree with my vet that the cob was the cause of the mites.

I have used Aloe Vera juice to boost the immune system over many years but always when the sport horses are a bit low with a 'virus' and it really does seem to help them pick up again.

Having tried many things to cure mites I can honestly say that the Dectomax worked o
ut the most effective and thus the cheapest.
Click to expand...

Will definitely look further into this! Did call the vets a few weeks into itching with regards to injections recommended by a friend and they told me to just continue what I was doing and to call if it got any worse, think I'll get them on the phone within the next week as I'm getting tired of seeing the poor girl pulling out her feathers and rubbing at her sores. Thanks for the reply!
 
Capriole said:
No answer for you but will watch for replies with interest.

My friend swears by this (for herself, not equine use) and one of my FB friends is always going on about it for horses, but I've not paid much attention to him. (Think he sells it).
Click to expand...

I've found aloe vera to be great with human skin (I can be found guilty of falling asleep in the sun on several occasions and waking up to horrible burn...) if it has the same effect on the horses then I'm sold!
 
We feed human grade aloe vera juice to all four of ours, mainly as a digestive aid. Sisters draught mare gets itchy legs and we have had to clip her feathers off :eek: she has been much better since we did, but we are having to keep clipping them every 3to4 weeks.
 
My horse has it, along with bee propolis tablets, to help with his kidney failure. I know it won't cure him, but if it makes him a bit more comfortable, then that's good enough for me. Although since he's been on it, he's putting on weight again, and looks generally a LOT better. Feels more "wanting" to do the work as well :)

I use the forever products!
 
Aloe Vera Juice is normally used internally ie taken by mouth. Aloe Vera Ointments and indeed the sap of the plant leaf itself is highly effective for the treatment of sunburn and minor cuts and scratches.

Having seen myself the devastation and itchiness of mite infestation on horses legs I would never again attempt to treat topically - I wasted a fortune on suggested treatments and it all added up to far more than a vet call out (we are lucky and have free visit days when we only pay for treatment not call out) and using dectomax. After about 18 months of regular jabs, I do now keep my cobs legs clipped but I have not had any treatments this year and so far no problems. (I hope my words do not come back to haunt me!)
 
I have only fed it to my horse as he had a virus, I think it was called forever feedom in a yellow bottle about £20 and I think I fed 60ml a day so can be expensive.

Why not try feeding micronised linseed very good for skin and itching, my mare gets mild sweetitch and its really helped.
 
I used in on mine as an immune booster when he had a scarily low WBC count. Got it from Holland and Barrett (they often have 1/2 price deals). I fed 240ml a day and WOW was his coat nice. It was so soft and lovely. He'd also had some rubs that had not healed while he was sick and within a few days they were all regrowing hair.

240ml is probably way more than you need in this case. I was going to use 120ml as a maintenance dose in a one week on, one week off programme not to let his immune system get dependent on it.

It did take a couple of days for him to get used to eating it but after that he didn't notice the taste. Of course I was feeding heaps. :)
 
I've used Aloe Vera for myself to "cure" a cough; it worked! Plus I've given it to my traddie when he was coughing last winter and it seemed to sort him.

Have you thought about micronised linseed to improve your horse's coat? My two have it, and its helped a lot with my Sweet itchy boy plus mare is lovely and gleaming!!!

Be careful with the pig oil........ I used it on my traddie's legs (pink skin/white hair) and it made him come up very sore and pink. So just a thought perhaps.

If you want to blitz feathermites the vet suggested I use three separate doses of ivermectin oral wormer, and give them to the horse at fortnightly intervals. You'd need vets advice on this tho' as you can so easily build up an immunity to wormers this way.
 
We have a horse here that's suffered from leg mites for years despite dectomax injections, clipping and regular washing. In desperation we tried dog flea collars and within a week he stopped stamping and the sores started to heal. That was 4 months ago and there's been no relapse so far.

They are fitted round his pasterns and replaced every 8 weeks. They're just cheap flea collars from an online pet superstore. At £2.50 each we figured it was worth a try.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone! Itching has become a rare occurence since a thick coating of pig oil was put on a few days ago, she's never had a reaction but will heed the warning about pig oil and keep a close eye on her, as she does have pink skin. Love the flea collar idea RobinHood, will definitely keep it in mind!

Was coincidentally looking at some micronised linseed online earlier after seeing a friend's pony rapidly go from a half rubbed to death sweet itch sufferer to a gleaming show pony whilst fed on it. it's something I've decided I'm going to try feeding to my mare after hearing so many positive reviews. May also try the aloe vera juice, the holland and Barrett variety is low priced so it's worth a go.

Thanks again everyone :)
 
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