Itchy horse

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juliette

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Been to see my horse that is out on loan today. He is a retired cob on good grazing. Out all day, in at night. No hard feed.

He started itching the base of his tail a couple of weeks ago, he is now also itching his neck on the side where the mane falls.

His loaner is putting Sudocream on it, but it does look like it is very itchy. No lice or anything horrible like that.

He does suffer a bit from a pollen allergy which he has had for years and is on his usual hayfever treatment.

Any ideas of what could be causing it or any other products to try to sort it out?
 
Hi, I have an itchy cob (ha ha, i sound like i'm at an itchy cob anonymous meeting!). mine seems to be very sensitive to most things and I have to treat him for feather mites and I also treat him with switch during the summer. I wouldn't say mine has full blown sweet itch as does not rub till sore but does rub on trees etc if he can. I have been researching different supplements and am quite interested NAF love the skin range, they do a supplement and a wash and spray, I can't recommend it as haven't tried it yet but might be worth a look? The other thing I might try is some sort of bug rug however mine is a rug wrecker so am looking for one that is quite hard wearing, boetts are meant to be very good and hard wearing, my thinking for mine was that it might just protect him a little bit (mainly his mane).
 
Thanks for that hayley.t, off to the tack shop on Monday to see if they have any of the NAF products you mention. I'm not sure about a fly rug as he's a hot fellow anyway and in my experience they make them even hotter, so that could be counter productive! I do have one to use if we get desperate though!

Now my brain is kicking into gear I have remembered a friend had an itchy cob and gave him a herb in his feed to help. I've just asked her what she used and she's going to let me know tomorrow. So that may help too!
 
Ooh, please would you let me know what the herb is when you find out?

I also wondered that about the fly rug, I think I will keep it in mind as a last resort. I do struggle to keep his mane looking full, he doesn't have bits missing but it definitely looks thinner all over :(
 
My chap has been very itchy lately, I thought it was mites but the vet says it's a bacterial skin infection from the rain. I gave him a hibiscrub bath, scrubbing his skin with a dandy brush when I'd put the hibiscrub on. Then I shampooed and rinsed. When he was dry I put a bit of pig oil on a body brush and gave him a really good brush with it. The itching seems to have stopped but I'll be keeping the regime up as he was really upset with the itching and the bumps he had. I've also bought a water resistant fly sheet with a neck to keep the rain off and keep him cool; I don't like rugging if I can avoid it but I think that's not helped my chap!
 
I didn't wear the skin away, I just brushed him with the dandy brush while wet... I think he would have objected if it had been a problem, but he actually just stood there with the ol' lower lip wobbling. Probably should have made all my actions clear in the first post I guess!
 
Just got the herbs from my friend - Burdock Root.

Thanks for the bathing suggestion Sadken, I'd just been thinking maybe a Sweetitch shampoo would be good, but as i have some Hibiscrub will take it round tomorrow with the Burdock Root to get things started.
 
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