itchy horses

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grace00234

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2 of my horses are scratching like mad around their manes face and tails... ive tried louse powder last week but they're still at it, also they both have runny noses. Could it be hayfever, if so is there anything i can do to prevent it?
 
Obviously I'm not a vet, so my view is as a layperson. However, I wouldn't have thought rhinitis (hayfever) could cause a horse to itch on it's mane and tail.

The allergy would surely be located within it's sinuses, if it were hayfever, and could cause runny noses, swollen and runny eyes....much like it does it humans.

Never known a human hayfever sufferer to complain of an itchy bum!
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It may not be relevant but I had the same trouble with a cob and a shetland (other five were all fine)We discovered that our haylage was too rich for them. My cob had big itchy circles around her eyes, her muzzle, runny eyes and nose; her neck was itchy, her tail and particularly any area that made contact with the haylage. Consequently the more she rubbed herself the worse she seemed to get. She looked swollen around her eyes. We stopped the haylage and put her on hay, bathed her and carefully bathed around her eyes. Two weeks later all symptoms gone. Little shetland rubbed himself bare around his eyes muzzle and neck and bum. Again stopped haylage and he was better within two weeks. His hair is all growing back now. Don't know if I'm allowed to say this but we used NAF De-itch to soothe symptoms (but not near eyes) until itching was less. It is a miracle formula in my opinion. If you're not feeding haylage then this is obviously not relevant.
 
Louse powder will not clear an infestation of lice! Your vets will tell you that! Good powders can help control an outbreak and hopefully stop a louse-free horse from getting them in the first place, but once infested, you need a stronger approach. Frontline rubbed well into the problem areas works a treat. You have to repeat after 10 days or you will have wasted your time. Louse eggs are unaffected so they hatch out after 10 days and bingo, your ned is infested again. If you look very carefully on the horse's hair in the itchy spots, you should be able to spot small white shapes that look like a grain of rice, creeping slowly about - that's a louse!

Are you sure it's not sweet itch? Apart from the runny nose, the symptoms you describe are text book sweet itch.

A pollen allergy (tree pollen at this time of year) will cause a hacking cough or a runny nose or weepy eyes or all three but it wouldn't make the horse itchy. Pollen allergies are difficult to control - you could try some of the supplements available commercially but you may find no difference. Your vet can prescribe antihistamine drugs that will help a lot but this won't be a cheap option.

Have you actually had the vet out hun? You really need to know what you're dealing with before you try home remedies, just in case something nasty is brewing x
 
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