help needed- really bad fly bites

[daisy_duke]

hiya,

i joined up today on this forum to get some advice from some horse people! I've had real trouble searching the internet for anything usefull.

ok, so heres the problem, i have a connemara x dunn mare who is 15 years old so becomming an oldie,

she has been kept out all year round for the past couple of years with her friend maggie (welsh sec B) she has constant access to the yard with plently of shelter.

she suffers most summers from alergies and last summer i thought i'd never seen it so bad!

but this summer it seems worse,
she is rugged in a flyrug and wears a full face ears and nose fly mask.

but to no avail, her face is covered in bites, that go into little bald spots, scab, weap, and she now has large areas of open sores where shes been scratching, she looks awful.

we have been cleaning her up and applying calmine lotion and antiseptic cream,

the vet gave us some lanacane but nothing seems to be helping.

how her pasterns are suffering from the same thing, sort of like mudfever but it appears to be flybites.

i feel awful evertime i look at her and i'm running out of ideas. she is fly sprayed every day also (which she hates) and i have just bought some avon so soft on good recomendation.

basically, has anyone else got a really badly suffering horse, or can give some good care advice for these horrible marks?

thanks

 

[Elle123]

have you tried the nettex range? i use it on my mare who is very fly sensitive and it is amazing. She comes in with big red hot bites (not open though as she has a snuggy hood) and i wash them with the wash and within minutes they start to reduce. i then put the balm stuff on and it lasts a few days and definately helps. the snuggy hood has also been a turning point. though it was expensive and had to get a payment plan with my mum! paid back pretty quick and worth every penny for her comfort. Is she is at night? that really helps with the flys as the dusk and dawn flys are awful. what fly rug do you have? because some offer hardly any protection at all really.
aloe vera gel is also really soothing for those sore areas. the nettex stuff seems expensive to start off with but ladts forever.
hope it helps
Elle
x

 

[fredthoroughbred]

Hi and welcome to HHO!!

Do you keep her in at dusk and dawn to get her out of the worst of it? My horse suffers but not as badly as your poor horse. He gets really itchy around the face, neck, tail and sheath and constantly rubs and scratches himself. I can't really use a fly mask because he rubs more but I do give him a very warm bath with lots of medicated shampoo and he loves it. I then put aloe vera gel and that lovely smelling citronella gel on him and the flies stop biting straight away. I do have to do this everyday when the flies are bad but he loves it!!

 

[daisy_duke]

no shes not kept in, i know this would help but where they are at the moment its not a possability, they do have access constantly to a large yard with thick shelter from trees, its hard to describe but they go over head and act as a complete roof.

the nice thing about this is they can put themselves in and out of the field as they please and they are both doing really well from the grass for the weight etc like this (not to mention the savings on stable bedding and hay!!)

to reply to elle, i have tried the nettex fly sprays but havnt seen any balms as such, anyone reccomend a good online tack shop source?

fredthoroughbred - any particular brand of medicated shampoo thats good? havnt tried this before, perhaps it wouldnt be appropriate for open sores?

 

[Elle123]

well i got mine from snuggy hoods originally. but you can get them from most tack shops. you can get it off www.horseactive.co.uk but the postage can be expensive. I am not sure if www.hyperdrug.co.uk do it but they are very good if they do.
Elle
x

 

[fredthoroughbred]

The only problem with shelter from trees is that midges love this kind of environment too!! It's annoying isn't it??? I never thought I would say it but bring on winter haha...
I just use a cheap shampoo from my tack shop. It has anti fungal properties for mud fever in winter but seems to work well on making his itchy bits less itchy and inflammed in summer. Fred doesn't have any open sores but I shouldn't think it wold much harm if you dab the area lightly with a soft sponge. I think the citronella gel is excellent for open sores as I just put a big dollop on the area and the flies don't bother it at all. Don't worry, it's nearly October phew haha

 

[shazza283]

Are the sores in a specific place ? or all over her face ? does it all go away in the winter or do you have some sores /scabs left over winter ?
- mud fever bugs tend to jump in on top of other things - 2ndry infection so you could well have mud fever on top of the ? allergy.
Just a quick suggestion try spraying the rug and mask as well as the pony - my theory the more things the spraygets on the further away the flies should be.
I know it's expensive but the NAF deet works better than most things for me - or you could try summer fly cream that's deet but it's bright yellow !! There's nettex stop itch salve which is good for unbroken skin - really heavy greasy stuff with deet and all sorts of oils and stuff in - is great for sweet itch.
- you could try www.hyperdrug.co.uk - they seem to have quite a lot in.
Hope this helps

 

[misstipsy]

Hi, I have a mare who reacts really badly to fly bites and is a fly magnet. We use Simple System garlic (www.simplesystem.co.uk)
since using the garlic she gets eaten alot less and also reacts less. I know it won't help much this summer as you have to start feeding it in feb/mar time before the flies appear but we now keep this mare on it constantly and it has helped. Also we use sudocrem on any sore areas, it's great as it sticks like glue and the flies can't get through it. I also use it on my other 2 horses who have whorls under their tummies that are about 4 - 6 inches long and the flies have easy access to the skin, the sudocrem keeps them off.
Hope this helps.

 

[kellyeaton]

net tex is good wash her sore patches with tea tree or aloa vera shampoo that will sooth then apply net tex stop itch salve that will stop the itch and keep other flys away!

 

[fay4]

Hi

We had a mare that had exactly the same kind a sores you describe:
"little bald spots, scab, weap, and she now has large areas of open sores where shes been scratching"
She was covered - I'm sure she had a course of antibiotics and some cream from the vets - thinking about it I think it may of been called flamazine but I know it definately contained silver ( silver has antibacterial properties) her owner also completely disinfected her stable, rugged her or kept her in and bathed her with antibacterial shampoo just incase! they did clear up!
Hope you find a solution for your mare
xx

 

[daisy_duke]

thanks for all the suggestions guys! moog - i was wondering about mud fever actually as she has the same nasty lumpy crusty sores on her fetlocks, and even the other little pony has started getting mud fever patches but is otherwise unaffected by the flies etc. could mud fever affect the face tho?

i've looked at a few sweet itch remedies, would these be innapropriate as i dont feel its sweet itch she has, but all the other remedies seem to use words like 'mild and 'minor' where as her wounds are 'bad' and 'severe'!!!