Itchy horse.....HELP!!!!

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junior_7178

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Before i go down the expensive calling the vet out route,i thought i'd see if i can get any good advice on here.

My 8 yo Coloured American Saddlebred has started getting VERY itchy.

Ive only had him 2 months,and after about 3 weeks he started scratching himself.At first it was around the ears and a patch on his neck.He rubbed the hair off in a few spots and took it down to the skin,all in all about 3 or 4 one pence peice size spots around the ears,and a matchbox size area on his neck.
I gave him a bath with Dettol in the water and then applied some tea-tree gel onto the bare skin areas daily for a few days.This seemed to help and the hair grew back quicly.

He hasnt rubbed any more bare patches,but for a few weeks now he's been going "itch mad" the second i take his rugs off and scratches his shoulders/chest area with his teeth,sometimes he's almost biting his skin.He does this continualy until i tack him up and then he stops ( i think he knows its work time),but as soon as ive finished riding he starts again!! Ive not seen him itching any other areas in the same way,although ive caught him rubbing his bum on the wall this week,but this could just be normal.
If i scratch him myself on the neck or shoulders he starts throwing his head around in relief and "wobbles" his bottom lip,i know this is quite common,but he seems to get such relief from it that im sure it must be very itchy for him all the time.

Up until today it hasnt seemed to be causing any problems whilst he's working,but today he was constantly trying to put his head down and bite/scratch his chest whilst we were hacking,so much so we ended up getting into an argument and he did his first ever buck and mini rear which has made me worry as him must be in some discomfort.

When i finshed riding today i gave him a bath in some Global Herbs "foot stamp".A potion i had left over from when my Shire horse had mites.It says its for all skin complaints so i gave it a go,and ive given him clean rugs just back from the cleaner.If this doesnt work i'll get the vet out in a couple of days but i hoped someone on here might be able to give me some alternate ideas of things i could try.

His diet has changed recently,when i got him he was on D&H competition mix.We've gradualy changed him onto what all the others are on at the yard,and also his Haylage would have changed when i got him 2 months ago,although what we have at the moment is very high quality and isnt causing any of the other horses a problem.

He's stabled at night and in individual turn out during the day,and is in very good health otherwise.

Any ideas would be brilliant!!!
 
Any lumps/bumps/spots? Any scurf or dandruff? What are his rugs lined with? What feed have you changed him on to?

Feed intolerance would be my first thought, having had an itchy horse who turned out to be intolerant of alfalfa.
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Any lumps/bumps/spots? Any scurf or dandruff? What are his rugs lined with? What feed have you changed him on to?

Feed intolerance would be my first thought, having had an itchy horse who turned out to be intolerant of alfalfa.
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Erm....no lumps or bumps,not sure what Scurf is...but yesterday i noticed SLIGHT dandruff,to be honest im not even sure if it WS dandruff,it was just a sprinkling of dusty stuff around the back of the ears and very top of the neck.I just brushed it off and it wasnt there today.

Erm,im not sure what the rugs are lined with...cotton i'd guess...its just a normal weatherbeeta under rug type thingy with a neck...the blue ones.

Im also unsure as to what feed he's gone onto exactly....he's on part livery and as the yard staff are far more knowledgeable then me i leave it up to them.I'll try and find out!!
 
He's now on Half Alfa,half pasture mix and half sugar beet.Garlic and Salt too.

He's been gradualy changed onto this from Dodson & Horrell competition mix over the last month or so.
 
Scurf is pretty much the same as dandruff - you know that sort of off-brown dusty dandruff they get if they're not regularly bodybrushed close to the skin?

In that case I'd be curious to hear what he's being fed, that might well be the key to it.
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Would you be able to arrange for him to come off all concentrate feed for a couple of weeks, just having hay/haylage and grass? If the symptoms go away once he's off feed then you know it's feed related, and you can slowly reintroduce different feeds and work out which one is causing it.

Feed intolerance is more common than you might think, mine's a hardy Welsh Cob who will eat anything but as I said alfalfa will leave her an itchy dandruffy wreck, and I also know a horse that comes out in big itchy bumps if it has barley.
 
My boy comes up in itchy lumps if fed sugars like mollassed feeds, he's fine on unmollassed sugar beet though. Haylage also does this to him.

I have started to use Skratch Plus from Global Herbs but you must try to find out the cause first

Could he be to hot?
 
My WBxTB is a nightmare with exactly the same symptoms and has been for the past 3 years. If the itching has just come on now it could be the migration of neck treadworm larvae - try giving an Ivermectin wormer and see it it helps. I am sure that this was my horses root cause but now we've cured the worms its become a habbit and he doesn't live without some covering (summer or winter) to put a barrier in the way. PS He also finds really hot/steam baths with medical shampoo very soothing and avoid grooming/scratching him as he will 'buy into' the endorphine release. Hope this helps!
 
Feed intolerance almost certainly. I'd be getting him off alfafa on to a more basic chaff, maybe just normal Dengie. My TB can't cope with alfafa. I'd also get him off all concentrates and see whether he improves.
 
Sounds very much like a feed allergy, wasnt surprised to hear that it was your coloured, as they seem to be alot more sensitive in skin issues.......itchy skin and feed intolerances.

Look up a lady called Ellen Collinson on the internet, she helped me no end with my chap who was so poorly with his skin, that he nearly had to be put sleep....the problem with feed intolerances is they can irritate the system so much that they become intolerant to more and more different feeds, so it is important that you deal with something like this asap

I hope this helps you, and sorry if I have scared you, it isnt meant too.
 
My horse when bonkers with his itching when I fed him alfafa. As soon as i took him off it, he was a lot better. I would certainly try taking yours off any alfafa.
 
i have a horse that itchs so bad i was going to have him pts, after 18 months of arguing with a vet that the damn horse doesnt have sweetitch (and trying every thing possible steriods/skin biopsys etc) i finally got the blood tests dont that id been asking for, for months,

anyway...

bloody horse is allergic to most things in life~! most of which is found in food, soya, beet,, linseed, timothy grass, rye grass,... thats just for starters, poor horse cant even have a apple!

if you can afford it id have bloods done, some people argue the tests arnt worth it, but for my boy it was a life saver, and very imformative. (i can email you a copy if you want it.)
 
where the fur has been rubbed off put camrosa on it i use it on my pony who has sweet itch and it works really well also it stops itchy and is waterproof
 
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I had a horse who suddenly became itchy, turned out to be the straw, worth ruling that out if bedded on it.

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Nah my boys on Shavings,but i suppose if he's having an allergic reaction it could always be them.Still...vets taken blood samples,so hopefully it wont be too lon before i get the results back!!

The 2 jabs the vet gave him on Friday seemed to have worked in the short term and stopped him itching thank god,still need to get to the cause of the problem though as the jab only has an effect for 2 weeks maximum.
 
My itchy horse became much better after changing his feed completely. He is itchy with alfalfa, garlic, and sugar and I cut all of these out and he is much better.

My horse had terribly itchy ears which he scratched so much they bleed and also his neck and shoulders.

Dectomax injections helped my horse when his itching was at its worse.

I really hope you find out what the cause is and can make your horse much more comfortable.
 
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