Itchy pony and NOTHING helps!

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lucy_108

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So my wee man suffers from what I think is sweet itch and have always treated him as such, but as the years have rolled on, the more I am thinking it is not sweet itch but something else.

In the summer, he will scratch his mane and tail and along his body if left to his own devices. He doesn't rub it raw, but he does get very into the itching. Management includes: good quality sweet itch rug (but a breathable one as he also gets hot), neem based fly repellent (we're in Scotland and it is the only thing that actually seems to repel midges!), no turnout at ''peak midge time'' - dawn and dusk, application of Kill Itch (C&DM) early in the year once/twice a week (and then more as needed throughout summer). He then gets a gentle bath every 10 days of so to get rid of residues and we start afresh. All of this has been advised/approved by the vet who agrees it is likely sweet itch.

But I've noticed over the winter if I let him grow in his winter coat he gets these horrible tiny scabs under his coat that ooze yellow and scab over - they are incredibly itchy for him and he'll literally come and sit on you to get them scratched off. So last year, I decided to fully clip his body to get a good look and what was going on to find he was covered (mainly over his quarters) in these little horrible oozy scabs. Vet said it was likely dirt getting trapped in the coat and him getting hot, to treat with a medicated shampoo and keep him clipped and lightly rugged if needed.

This year we're mid October and I've had to fully clip to get down to the bottom of his coat to find lots of little lumps forming - once again, we've gently washed and are sticking to our normal routine of fly repellent/rug and kill itch but I'm starting to wonder if there is something else at play. He is still HELLA itchy across his back, either side of the withers, flanks, mane and tail...

For clarity, we have tried slowly taking items in his care routine away to see if it's an allergy, but nothing seems to affect it - we've tried removing types of feed, supplement, bedding, hay, rug washing liquid, brushes etc. and by process of elimination have found....nothing.

ANyone got any ideas!?
 
Have you got pictures?

I suppose the vet's idea of it being something trapped near the skin would be my first thought also, like acne or blackheads almost. (Can you use salicylic acid on a horse???) Second thought would be a fungal thing like rain rot, maybe? If it is sweet itch, that's an auto immune reaction, so there is always a chance he has something else auto immune related, like cushings. That can have skin related symptoms. Might be worth a blood test to rule out.
 
Does the neem oil block the hair follicles causing issues. I've not used it but just a thought.

Assume you have tried antihistamines
 
I would be looking at diet. Having had a pony that we thought had sweet itch, when grass sickness struck others and she came off all grass onto a track by a very midgey hedge and fed only hay, her itches all vanished. Any hard feed also brought her out in itchy spots but fortunately she was a good doer and did not need feeding up.
 
I had our itchy mare allergy tested when we first got her and it was obvious she had sweet itch. It wasn't cheap, but the allergens were identified, she was treated for them and is now completely itch free and has been for years.
 
The thing this year that has really helped out SI horse is black salt.

No hot spots, no mane out.

He wears a sweet itch hood from about March/ April onwards - it's so on now, even though we are also in Scotland!

Loads of CDM fly repellant, plus think fly and black salt in his feed. We will keep up the black salt through the winter. The think fly has now finished and will start again in March.

At 14 yrs old, this has been his best year ever.

We actually stopped clipping him, as felt it made it easier for the bugs to get to his skin.
 
Have you tried antihistamines? I have mine on them and this is the first year I have been able to turn out unrugged. I still use killitch twice weekly, but it's been an amazing change.
 
I would try feeding Black salt and maybe Stinky stuff (had good success with both) it may be beneficial to ask the vet to give him a steroid injection to try and break the scratch - ithch cycle so you get on top of it when it’s at its worst.
 
Britestar said:
The thing this year that has really helped out SI horse is black salt.

No hot spots, no mane out.

He wears a sweet itch hood from about March/ April onwards - it's so on now, even though we are also in Scotland!

Loads of CDM fly repellant, plus think fly and black salt in his feed. We will keep up the black salt through the winter. The think fly has now finished and will start again in March.

At 14 yrs old, this has been his best year ever.

We actually stopped clipping him, as felt it made it easier for the bugs to get to his skin.
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I was going to say exactly the same thing. I've been feeding black salt this year, just a pinch a day. My old boy has had an excellent year, itch-wise. He's always had mild sweet itch and has always lost most of the hair on his face, as well as scrubbing out his mane and tail every summer. This is the first year in 17 yrs of owning him that he's retained his mane and tail and face hair, and has actually managed without a fly sheet for most of the year - he just wore it for the horse flies. I can't categorically say that's what's made the difference, but it's a big coincidence if it's not..
It's cheap as chips as you give so little, so definitely worth a go.
 
Agree it's worth a cushings test. Skin issues were a symptom of mine. She's only 10. For about 18 months before diagnosis she had repeated hives and just generally bumpy, scabby, very greasy skin. It has improved massively on pergolide.
 
We used to get benzyl benzoate years ago from the chemist (human version) - I think it’s used for scabies 🤣 so it was quite embarrassing to tell the pharmacist as to why I thought I needed it. They wouldn’t have given it to me had I told them who the recipient actually was. Killitch has it in a very diluted dose. It used to work wonders for a horse I had with sweet itch.

Worth a try - probably been banned by now though as often these things are
 
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