Itchy horse

[peaches123]

Can anyone out there shed any light on why my horse is so itchy. He scratches constantly, mainly head, neck and trunk. Does not scratch the tail or mane. He rubs sores, they heal then he starts somewhere else.

He's four and a half, Spanish Gelding, gelded last may.

He has a stable with adjoining paddock, he is free to come and go as he pleases. No grass in paddock. He has hay and alfala mixed. He was no different when taken off alfalfa.
I have been trying to help alliviate his itchiness for months.

He's clipped and rugged, but scratched before clipped and rugged.

I have tried everything I can think of.
Gone through the usual common sense stuff, elliminating foods, forage, rugs, tack, washing powder, bedding, bit, etc., etc. Changed location of stable, used very good anti fly spray, plus Butox anti fly, an equine 'frontline'. I even treated him for skin parasites just in case, I've used Imavoril (think that's how you spell it) for Ring worm, neat aloe vera, chammoile, flax seed and mint in feed. I'm now using 'remount' liver tonic from Badminton Horse Feeds, knowing that if the liver is dodgy it can cause itchy skin.
My vet thinks its an allergy to fly bites, but there are no flies now. I don't want to start down the line of anti histamines or steroids. Vet will be taking some blood in the spring and doing some tests, but I feel the answer could be simple but I'm just not seeing it.

Thanks for taking time to read.

 

[Lotty]

Our little pony was very itchy, got little scabs under her coat and they started to ooze, she also had trouble loosing her coat and she was only 4. Vet came out and the problem stayed.

I phoned global herbs and they told me to use 3 of their products, one of them was a liver tonic (restore). A week later I noticed a difference and after a few months she looked so healthy and her coat was beautiful.

 

[peaches123]

Thank you, lets hope the liver tonic does something for my horse!

 

[Shantor1]

My elderly cob used to itch a lot until I stopped feeding him molassed D&H feeds. He's on A&P coarse mix and hasn't itched at all. Alfalfa has sugars and could be causing itchiness, have you tried feeding him a higher fibre type chaff to see if it makes any difference?

 

[Janah]

Try Detox pwder from NAF. I had tried loads of different things for my boys itches, including steroids from the vet. I tried detox powder from NAF as a last resort and it worked!!
Jane