Help, extremely itchy horse!

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AGAGE

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My boy is very, very, itchy. I turned himout this morning without rug (he is unclipped) and he started to swish his tail and started to twitch and scratch his left hip. I didn't think too much of it and he came in an hour or two later after having a good roll.

I just went to groom and lunge him (after a couple of hours, of him being stabled) but had to give up as he is so itchy. On the lunge he nearly fell over as he kept stopping dead and started to use his teeth to scratch his left hip/side of back (he is not very supple, and became very unbalanced0. I scratched him and he loved it but then went crazy if I stopped- charging round trying to scratch himself. He is not rubbing himself against anything to scratch himself.

He has no lumps or bumps where he is itchy. I intially thought he had been btten or stung, but there are no bumps. I have checked for lice but couldn't see any, although he does have a very thick coat. He has suffered from sweet itch in the past, but even when suffering from sweet itch he is not this agitated. He has not had his feed changed either.

He can be a real drama queen, he is a tb albiet 18 years old. So could be an over the top reaction.

I would be grateful of any ideas of what might be causing this itchiness, or how to relieve him.

Thanks
 
Sounds like lice to me if you look into the fur are there little tiny white things running around? Could be worth lice powdering him once? Does he have any sores under the gut area and armpits? they can get broken sores from lice also. Either that or could def be sweet itch knew a shettie with a really thick coat who itched like a nutter girl used to clip him out
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Thanks, will have a closer look again, and will probably powder just incase, as don't want his friend to get lice. He needs clipping, had planned to do it today but he's far too itchy. He also had an old stable rug on last night, he hasn't worn it since last winter, so could have some mites or parasites living in it- although I hope thats not the case as it is a great rug.

He had also sweated up the other day in the field, so his skin might have reacted badly to the sweat, although he has been groomed several times since.

I just hope he stops itching after he's powdered-it's driving us both mad!
 
Could be the old rug maybe eggs in there and when they got warm with his body they hatched? Thought they died when off skin tho? They do go mad with lice tho must be awful! You need to de lice the rug also!
 
Sounds lik lice to me too, especially as he wants to itch his flanks. coopers is better than powder for killing lice.
 
I'd clip him out if at all possible then wash him thouroughly in tea tree or lice shampoo. Wash his rugs and put plenty of powder on them! Remember you'll need to repeat the washing and powder in about 2 weeks time to allow for any new eggs hatching out! You'll proabably need to do the same with his stablemate. Good luck!
 
Does sound like lice or something in the rug thats irritated him, anything could be living in it if its been stood all Summer without a wash. When you wash it make sure you use something thats horse-friendly, not domestic wash powders, as it could irritate the skin further. Hope he feels better soon!
 
If you can gain access to a big freezer, if you put the rug in a plastic bag and then freeze it for several days that will kill off any invaders and their offspring.

I would clip out and then wash - purely as you can then easily see if there is anything going on with the skin which you can't with a very thick coat. You can then rug up until the coat grows back. Plus it will be easier to wash and dry him in the cold weather.

You could try also feeding some clivers from Feedmark which are great for skin support or it you are feeling flush, equidermis which will help sooth his skin if it has been irrirated.
 
Thanks for all your help!

It would appear my poor boy has lice! Yuk!! I can't believe it, his coat is really shiny and he looks well, we were only saying on saturday how well he looked.

After 15 minutes of going through his flanks with a mane comb, I spotted one big louse (I had no idea they were that big), I feel itchy just thinking about it. He isn't as itchy today. He only started itching when I inspected his coat. He does however seem much more itchy if his rug come off.
Thats the last time I will keep any of his rugs in the straw barn!
 
My hairy bunch picked up lice towards the end of the winter last year, amazing as there are no horses around for at least 2 miles and they dont go anywhere other than their field!!! my big lad started with mild scratching and within 2 days was going mad, by this time I had taken a sample of hair into the local vets and they looked at it under the microscope, they confirmed eggs on the coat and a single bug. They recommended Coopers fly spray, you have to follow the instructions on the box as it depends on the weight of the animal, perhaps would be better to clip first as its difficult to put on properly with a full coat. you then have to repeat in 10-14 days. and I had to do once again, this seemed to finally get the little buggers to die!!! be carefull though as they also like humans, even though they dont live on us they can certainly crawl and itch like hell. one final thing, get your rugs washed and they will clear the eggs as well, I took mine to the local saddlery and they took care of them with a hot wash in special cleaning solution. best of luck
 
After doing some research, I'm not sure if what I spotted on Ted last night was a horse louse. I only saw one of these-it's definately a lice of sorts but seems too big to be a horse louse, it was about 5mm in size, flat,greyish in colour and had a very round ridged body almost like a tick , only much bigger.

I could have picked it up using my fingers but was scared incase it would bite me- it was that BIG and looked much rounder in shape than photos of horse lice that I've since googled.

I've looked for the lice again and found no such louse just lots of dead skin and a small scab on his rump? He has not lost any hair yet, burt had a slight swelling on his flank where he was itchy-possibly due to him previously biting this area?

Does anybody Know what it might be?
It was definately a louse as it scurred back into his skin/fur very quickly. I hope its a horse louse and not something worse.

He isonly stabled with my sister horse. We are next to a dairy farm , but the horses field does not border the cows field. There are deer that graze in their field and the horses share the yard with 4 cats.
 
Crab flies drive horses beserk... it could have been one of those. The tend to scuttle along, are quite flattish and are very hard to catch. They need to be 'popped' to kill them. I think Coopers would do the trick though. Vile creatures!
 
They sound horrible!! Whatever he had was big. He is no longer itchy,so I assume they/it's gone. However he has about 10 small scabs over the area that he was scratching.

Whatever got him was very nasty-no wonder he was going nuts, and to think I thought he was being a drama queen. Judging by his scars it must have hurt. Lets just hope it's gone!

Thanks for all your help! He has been powdered and sprayed, and will him clip once scabs better, and have rugs washed just to be on the safe side.

I couldn't bear for him to go through this again!
 
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