Help gypsy cob feathers

[Tiffanyalicesmith]

Hello, I have had my 3 year old gypsy cob mare for a month now.. she hates her feet being touched at all! She's not started stamping and itching them constantly.. currently treating her for mites using powder and gel but she seems to be constantly still digging.. any ideas on what I can do to help her or do I just go extreme and get rid of the fluffy feathers

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Something that my vet recommended for mine, was to get some Frontline spray and spray the horse underneath the bulb of the heel, one burst of "spray" for each foot. You may have to repeat this every so often.

Harvest mites are endemic at the moment.

But my advice would be, if you're not sure what you're dealing with, is to get your vet to take a look. Mites are a form of chorioptic mange and can cause the horse a great deal of distress. Your vet is the only person qualified to tell you what you're dealing with and recommend suitable remedies.

You may have to get the vet to sedate the horse so that you can clip off the feathers - hint, if your vet comes out, if you have rechargeable clippers (like mine), have them READY and CHARGED for when the vet has done the sedation, so you can crack on and get the feathers off straight away while the horse is still under sedation.

 

[Tiffanyalicesmith]

Thankyou for your advice think sedation is the best way as she wouldn't let me hold her feet long enough to sprat that we'll! Vet it is!

 

[Rach46773]

I agree very much with the last post. If you are not 100% sure on this situation yourself, i'd speak to your vet, maybe even call them out? And maybe get a set of clippers at the ready just in case the vet doesn't have any! The vet who clipped my share horse's leg worrying his tendon had gone (and she only clipped one - he looked like a right mug XD), had her own on her. But i'm not sure on this with every vet!
I know a horse at the moment with Harvest Mites, and she is being treated with some purple spray. Not sure if she is still using Sudocream too, but that seemed to soothe the irritating feeling for the horse after spraying with purple spray. If not i've heard Frontline spray is just as effective.

Hope this helps, and hope you can get something done about it, as i can't imagine your poor girl is comfortable Can imagine it's very itchy.

 

[Rach46773]

Thankyou for your advice think sedation is the best way as she wouldn't let me hold her feet long enough to sprat that we'll! Vet it is!

Ah, my friend had the same problem, the mare would spin or pull back on leadrope when being sprayed. She got someone to hold into her, and held up one leg while she sprayed the others on the ground, as the horse can't lift another leg very easily if one is up in the air already! Seems harsh, but you're doing it to help her and she'll soon get the hint and let you do it whether she likes it or not hopefully

 

[Dolsey1]

I'd speak to your vet about Dectomax injections if it is mites (which it sounds like if she is stamping). You'll need to keep getting them done - my cobs have the jabs twice a year. For some reason the mites are worse in Spring and Autumn.
If the problem is really bad, you may have to clip her feathers to get on top of it. I haven't had to resort to this with any of mine, but if you don't want to show her then it will be easier to keep them clipped.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Thankyou for your advice think sedation is the best way as she wouldn't let me hold her feet long enough to sprat that we'll! Vet it is!

If she won't let you do anything, she's deffo in considerable discomfort and if you try anything without sedation you'll only be creating a "doing feet" issue for the future. My boy is such a flippin great Gurk that he needs no encouragement to start of an episode of Silly B@ggers about sommat.

When the vet comes, he will show you the problem, little miniscule pin-head sized horrid little mites, they really are vile

 

[Tiffanyalicesmith]

Thank you for your reply.. she's so uncomfortable at the moment don't really want to take them all off as was hoping to show her as she Is beautiful. . But she had been poorly treated before I took her on so trust issues are a big thing so may be nicer to her to just get rid and treat where I can see better than constantly fight with her!

 

[Sukistokes2]

You can treat without removing the feathers, get your vet out and have the injections. Once she is more comfortable start working on handling her legs and feet. Get her comfortable with having her feet washed and cleaned regularly , as you will have to if your going to show.

 

[missmatch]

I just had the second dectomax injection done Tuesday. It does work. I've also been rubbing the net tex mite powder into his legs in between the injections. We've had no more foot stamping since. It's the one injection my cob winces at. It's a thick viscous liquid which seems to be uncomfortable but it's worth doing.