Feeding supplements for itchy skin...

[sydney02]

Evening all

I have a pony with poor skin and would like to help him out. He was very itchy when he came to me about a year ago, he had lice which are now sorted and i've cut all alfalfa out of his diet, the mud fever he had has cleared up but he still has pretty nasty mallenders on his front legs. He's barely itchy at all now but still has a very scurfy mane and neck. I've started bathing him in aloe vera shampoo when its mild enough (he's fully clipped).

It doesnt seem to be getting any better so i'm thinking of adding a supplement to his balancer (topspec lite). I've seen a few all with different ingredients, so I don't know which to choose! The global herbs one is turmeric and cedar tree but the d&h one is Chamomile, Burdock Root, Garlic Granules and Nettle. there's also a NAF one but havn't checked out the ingredients in that yet. Would another option be feeding one ingredient not the ready made supplement? I don't want to overfeed anything!

Does anybody have any recommendations or reviews of any skin supplements? tia

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

I've used Equidermis for a sweet itch horse and it helped. I don't feed it throughout Nov-Feb but I do feed Veteranaid for as long as a tub lasts starting a week before Christmas, that helps keep the mallenders from turning into mud fever. The veteran one has immune system herbs and skin herbs in it that's why I feed it. Equimins Original vitamins and minerals makes a difference to the general flakeyness and itchyness through most of the year and I change to Benevit for Nov-Feb to keep the oil going (equidermis is oil based too) as it helps prevent mine getting mud fever. Means I can get by with cream in mane and tail and a decent anti-midge fly spray and not need fly rugs. All the supplements except the Equimins one are from Feedmark. They sell individual ingredients too but I haven't used those. Apart from the vitamin/mineral ones, none of their supplements contain those so you can feed them alongside hard feed or a balancer or whatever. They're not the cheapest but I like the next day delivery and the products I've tried so far have definitely helped.