Itchy horse...any ideas?

[YummyHorses]

My mare has rubbed her backside against the stable wall so much she has caused a number of sore patches and lost a considerable amount of hair. The sore patches continue under her tail and around her bits and pieces. Her tail looks dreadful.

Called the vet in about two weeks ago (when it happened) and she placed her on antibiotics, gave me some steroid cream to apply and put her on bute for a few days. The vet said no lice, mites, obvious sign of worms. She wondered whether it could be sweet itch but didn't seem to be confident of any diagnosis.

All seemed well and the area started to recover but then today I caught her at it again. The rubbing. She seems so itchy. I gave the area a clean, scrubbed her tail but she didn't seem happy.

I will call my vet tomorrow and have a chat but I wondered whether anyone on here had any ideas.

Thanks in advance. x

 

[Irishbabygirl]

A horse on my yard is doing exactly the same thing! Vet thought just a heat rash as she's a highland pony and gets very hot! She's much more comfy now the weather has got colder and has stopped doing it...

 

[Fantasy_World]

When was she last wormed? I know the vet said they were no signs but you don't always see signs of worms in horses, only usually when they have heavy burdens or colic after being wormed after un-noticed heavy burdens.
That would be my first thought.
Second would be if she is too warm, although you would usually see some sweating or rubbing of other parts.
Is she allergic to something you are feeding or using on her?
Have you bought any new rugs recently or washed them?
Are the leg straps or fillet string irritating her?
As she is a mare is she a bit mucky behind, does she have any bad wee stains on her tail, or matting, or down the inside of the back of her legs.
I would doubt it is sweet itch due to the time of the year and it does normally involve the mane as well. Having said that I swear I saw some midges the other day when out riding as it was warm and had been damp, so perhaps there are some around at the moment.

 

[RoobyDoobs]

My mare has rubbed her backside against the stable wall so much she has caused a number of sore patches and lost a considerable amount of hair. The sore patches continue under her tail and around her bits and pieces. Her tail looks dreadful.

Called the vet in about two weeks ago (when it happened) and she placed her on antibiotics, gave me some steroid cream to apply and put her on bute for a few days. The vet said no lice, mites, obvious sign of worms. She wondered whether it could be sweet itch but didn't seem to be confident of any diagnosis.

All seemed well and the area started to recover but then today I caught her at it again. The rubbing. She seems so itchy. I gave the area a clean, scrubbed her tail but she didn't seem happy.

I will call my vet tomorrow and have a chat but I wondered whether anyone on here had any ideas.

Thanks in advance. x

Worm for pinworm. The normal wormers tend not to touch them as they are way back in the gut and anus. Their egg secretions drive the horse crazy with itchiness so they rub themselves on anything and everything (and spread the eggs everywhere). Panacur will do the trick if it is pw. Would be my first port of call.

 

[iconique]

Would do a pinworm sellotape test, pinworms lay eggs outside the body and are notoriously hard to detect in worm counts i.e. the faecal type. Abbey diagnostics do the counts for free or your vet should be able to - only uses sellotape, a slide and a microscope.

We had one that came through with clear counts and only by chance I found a worm nicely waving at me whilst cleaning around his tail. We've had a hell of a job to get rid of them, even though we poo pick every day, individual grooming kits etc.

Otherwise as FW says, allergy or reaction to something.

Please don't just worm - its why we have so much resistance and why Rossdales and Liphook where at such a loss with our case, the more we worm without needing to the more the problem is - there is a way of testing!!

 

[YummyHorses]

Thanks both. Up to date on the worming, no new rugs, clean behind, no fillet string (I removed it on all her rugs in case it rubbed), same food - no change and I have been careful to keep her cool, don't think she is warm.

I kinda agree on the sweet itch as well - seems odd time of year and nothing on mane.

At a bit of a loss to be honest. Really feel for her coz she is obviously really itchy.

x

 

[Fantasy_World]

Please don't just worm - its why we have so much resistance and why Rossdales and Liphook where at such a loss with our case, the more we worm without needing to the more the problem is - there is a way of testing!!

Agree with this so much which is why I have mine egg counted and then just make sure I do worm for tapeworm though each year as couldn't afford blood tests for all 4 horses every year.

 

[YummyHorses]

Will investigate the pin worm option with my vet but she didn't think that was the issue but hasn't tested for it.

It almost seems to be coming forward. I noticed she was rubbing areas on her rump as well so not limited to the tail area this time.

 

[Fantasy_World]

Thanks both. Up to date on the worming, no new rugs, clean behind, no fillet string (I removed it on all her rugs in case it rubbed), same food - no change and I have been careful to keep her cool, don't think she is warm.

I kinda agree on the sweet itch as well - seems odd time of year and nothing on mane.

At a bit of a loss to be honest. Really feel for her coz she is obviously really itchy.

x

You and me both I'm afraid because if she is up to date with worming and was given something like ivermectin or moxidectin it should have killed the pinworms according to an article I just read online. It also mentions about the sticky tape being used to take samples to see if eggs are present.
I know my youngster was doing this last spring, just after winter and I think now it was these. I did worm him again in the spring and he stopped doing it. He was also rubbing other parts of his body though including his mane and I did think sweet itch at one point. But after being wormed and the weather getting nicer he stopped doing it.
Sorry I can't be of any more help, you could maybe trying putting a post in the veterinary section or even breeding as she is a mare and you might get some more possible ideas as to what it could be.
Good luck and if you do find out what it is exactly then please post back as it always helpful for the future as I look back on posts and so searches if I want to find out about a subject. x

 

[ibot]

keep me posted on this as i saw my beast itching the other day, i also thought it was too early for Sweet itch.

 

[Jnhuk]

When my lad did the same the vet disn't consider it as at that time there was no evidence of resistance in normal wormers for pinworms. The only thing that worked in end was 5 day panacur after I found one on his derrière. Sent a sample to vet who then agreed pineor

 

[Jnhuk]

Sorry last word of previous post meant to be pinworm !

 

[Fantasy_World]

It almost seems to be coming forward. I noticed she was rubbing areas on her rump as well so not limited to the tail area this time.[/QUOTE]

Now this makes me think of lice or mites.
I have experience of both. Chorioptic mange on the legs in my cob but it did only affect his legs although I believe it can affect other areas on the body. Lice too as my mare has had them twice ( not in my care though, ie she didn't get them when I was looking after her).
My mare was very itchy on her rump and bum when I first had her and she was louse ridden. The rump was affected and she had sores and hair loss on rump and other areas of her body. when she returned from a short loan last year she came with them again. This time different and not as much skin damage as I managed to catch it before she did too much mutilation. First time she had been neglected for weeks/months judging by the numbers, ages and sores. Second time I reckon a month to 6 weeks at most before I got her back. She didn't have much hair loss on flanks etc as she had held onto winter coat which was odd considering it was May. She did though have moth eaten patches on her rump which made me think lice? Upon observation I found nits in her mane and live lice attached to my t-shirt while I was checking. When she was deloused there were probably thousands and I know so because when they were dying with the Barricade she got very upset
I would just have a check of her and see if she had any signs of nits in her tail and mane as my mare did have eggs in both areas.
Unless you know already good way to check for lice is to hold your hand on areas on her body and see if anything appears as they seemed drawn to heat hence why they crawled on my belly lol.
I know you said the vet didn't see any signs but that was 2 weeks ago and there may not have been enough of them to spot.

 

[YummyHorses]

Will keep you all updated on progress. And will test for pinworm. Bless her, cant be nice.

 

[RoobyDoobs]

When my lad did the same the vet disn't consider it as at that time there was no evidence of resistance in normal wormers for pinworms. The only thing that worked in end was 5 day panacur after I found one on his derrière. Sent a sample to vet who then agreed pineor

More or less same for my boy. Wormed twice, and five months later with no hair and horrible sores on his bum cheeks, I had tried pretty much everything. Sweet itch creams , excema shampoos and creams... Far too many lotions and potions to mention. For them everything past their withers becomes itchy as I think they start to get itch / scratch syndrome after a while. Joined IW, and they showed me a sample of a pw, and explained in detail why most wormers don't get rid of them. I had actually seen, and cleaned away, mucus from around his anus, blissfully unaware of what it was. At the time i was bathing his rear end with cooled boiled water and sometimes a drop of hibiscrub to prevent infection of the sores.

Five day panacur treatment and hey presto, no more itching. I can't begin to tell you how relieved we both were!!! I did then do the Sellotape test a week and six weeks later and both returned clear results.

 

[kylee86]

hi as every body else said could be pin worm my 9 month old colt is suffereing with pin worm he came with them when i bought him i have been giving wormer up the bum which vet told me to do as wormers dont tend to get to the back of the intestines where the lavae live once the pin worm is matured it then lives in the bum the female will wiggle its head out the horses bum and lay eggs under tail round the bum its the eggs that itch you can see the eggs as there stuck in a yellow liquid im having to wile horses bum every morning to take any eggs off laid the night b4 also if it is pin worm you need to disifect anything your horse has rubbed on as the eggs will be on there and you dont want a reinfestation