Itchy Pony Help

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turfey21

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I have had my cob for about 4 months now and am now running out of ideas. Can anyone help.
He has been itchy for the 3 1/2 months i have owned him and when I say itchy - when I bring him in to groom or ride him if I leave him tied up unattended for even 15 seconds he will try and rub his head or his bum or sides. When he is turned out 24/7 there is nowhere for him to rub as he is kept in an electric fenced paddock.
I have had 2 lots of Dentomax (sorry if spelling is wrong) from the vets - the vets, farrier and instructors have said he does not have harvest mites - yet he is a feathery cob and he stamps his feet, itches his legs with his mouth and after I have bathed him twice he appears to have little sores on his fetlock areas.
I have applied pig oil and sulphur and he is still itchy.
I have thought about clipping him out completely mane, feathers and then bathing again.
I can not stable him or even leave him in the stable for 5 minutes as he will itch.
He is only fed grass and a small handful of pasture mix, garlic powder, mint and chaff - which is gone within 2 mouthfuls.

I used the Ruggle It and yes I have made sure I have used it properly but still he itches bless him :-(

Should I clip him out or perhaps get the vets out again to do a skin scrap to look for bacterial, lice, mites etc?

Also tried a 2 months worth of the Feedmark Equidermis Plus and it has not worked.
 
Does he have sweet itch ?
It could help if you can clip, it will be easier to treat whatever the cause.
I would stop the garlic as it can affect the immune system and make the horse more itchy.
 
Hi all,

nope no sweet itch as he is itching his face and rump and ankles really hence why I thought he might have mites but the vets say he doesn't!

I will cut out the garlic but thought the garlic would of helped him against flies and mites.

Just would like him to be settled really
 
I had a pony that itched like this ... Eventually he was making his sides bleed and was so unhappy because of this. He had blood tests for allergic reactions and they couldn't find anything we tried lots of medication and eventually the only thing we could find relived it slightly was steroids. He was on over 300 steroids a day which where not good for him but where the only thing that relived him slightly. After three months of agnoy he had itched himself silly and he had to be pts. Sorry this is not what you want to hear and hopefully it is something completely different. We where told to bath him alot with meliseb (think that's how you spell it) as thats refreshing. Good luck!!!
 
What do you feed him? I had a similar problem and was told by a friend that she knew of three horses with an allergy to alfalfa.. TBH I thought she was talking c**p and ignored her. Two years further down the line and still with a manically itchy horse, I couldn't get my usual feed and had to substitute to a feed that was, coincidentally, alfalfa free. Couple of weeks and an itch-free horse, I so wish I had listened to her earlier. Even the 'sweet-itch' has gone, and I wonder if the midge intolerance was aggravated by the feed. Only took me six years :-(
 
My understanding of sweet itch is that a horse/pony with it badly will scratch all over and not just the classic places.

Remove the garlic and wash down the areas that are itchy every day or so, maybe with some teatree oil and / or lavender in the water to soothe and calm the skin.

My man has injections every 2 to 3 weeks to keep his sweet itch at bay
 
Thanks all,

he has had the injections from the vets.

I have bathed him twice and on bathing him his white coat seemed to have brown speckles coming through it which I thought might be mites.

He is fed Honeychop a tiny hand pinch a day and D&H pasture mix again a tiny hand pinch and then some garlic and mint.

What general mix would you suggest that is free from any molasses (I am sure the pasture mix is)

He grazes fine in the fields and doesn't itch on the bath but if he is brought in he will itch if left :-(
 
I have a Dartmoor with very bad sweet itch, though by this time of year it is starting to ease up. Garlic definitely makes him more itchy. He itches every part of him, but his tail/rump & withers are the first to go (in fact if allowed to rub these areas he leaves everywhere else alone??) I dont think yours sounds like a sweet itch case, it does sound like lice or mites to me. We had one or the other years ago & the vet gave me a pour on lotion to go over the spine (its really for sheep) and this solved the problem. It could still be midge irritation without being sweet itch though? A friend of mine had a mare who would get mad as hell with midges biting her heels! You could try a barrier cream like Itch Stop & see if that helps?
 
Hi there - I am in a similar boat to you atm. My 3.5yo is also incredibly itchy, biting at legs and rubbing skin off face in stable. She also wants nothing more that for you to give her a good scratch - all the time.
I too fed garlic with all the bext intentions, and when I removed it (going through diet gradually), her patchy areas of hair settled and her coat much better, and alot less itchy. She was also scouring, and that stopped too.
Have invested in a product called Ruggle It, not cheap but I have heard alot of good press about it and Indi seems far more settled although we're not on top of it all yet.
Have removed Alfa completely, and she's fed on a feed balancer (low sugar/starch etc), Readi-Grass and fast fibre. Has helped a lot.
Good luck though as I understand how frustrating it is and also how horrid it is to see them like that ;)
 
thank you all for your replies.
I today removed the garlic from his feed and he just had his pasture mix, which he left as it was not what he is use to.
He has been bathed in Ruggle It and he really enjoyed it but he is still really itchy but I am due to bath him again on Sunday (7 days after his last bath) I hope to see an improvement soon as I really feel for him constantly trying to rub.

Once hopefully I get it cleared people have told me that he might be prone to itching each summer and that I might have to clip him out and bath him early each spring and maybe then fly rug him up throughout the summer - what have you all done with similar itchy horses.

Glad I am not alone in my plight to sort out itchy horses
 
Iv also got a very itchy youngster, so watching this with interest. No ideas I'm afraid but iv cut out garlic, cereal and molasses and have started feeding brewers yeast to help for next year hopefully. Maybe try carr day and martins killitch which has a money back guarentee if it don't work. I hate watching my lad itch and next year will be covered from head to toe in a sweetitch rug to try that. Good luck with yours
 
still trying to sort out, have been suggested to try louse powder / frontline spray or neem oil - have anyone used this with their horses and to what success did you have
 
From the beginning of the winter coat coming through my 4 year old Conny has been extreamly itchy (not to the point of creating sores or hair loss), he's since been chaser clipped which I would say he scratches more now on the furry areas. I've cut out feeding him pasture mix as although as far as I am aware the starch content isn't mega high, but I read somewhere starch can aggrivate some horses skin. So I've put him on a low cal balancer as he's a bit of a fatty anyways! I also tried Global Herbs Skratch Plus - lots of good reviews about its effectiveness but it smells rank and it was really difficult to get him to eat it in his feed. I've resorted to using Global Herbs 'Flax Oil' and seen much improvement, he still likes a little scratch now and then, but not to the point of nearly knocking through the stable partition!

Also using Aloe Vera on itchy areas is really effective and soothing.
 
I am watching this post with interest too and I also have two itchy horses! I have however discovered that different things work for each.

For my welshie, she is a really hot horse and if rugged up too heavily will get vry itchy. I think this is tyed into the fact that she generally has dry skin. I wash her with a deep conditioning shampooo whenever it is warm enough (can't remember the name of the shampoo but it is from the vet and actually intended for use in dogs!)

For the other mare, she is ID, she only came a couple of months ago and on her vetting , seborrea in her mane was noted. I spoke to the vet who didn't think it would be a problem as she wasn't particulary itchy, so we duly bought her. Since cominghome she has been quite itchy though, mostly her neck and mane but also her face. Her forelock is looking especially sorry for itself at the minute!!! We have tried washing her regulary in a shampoo from Seleen (from the vet) which works but only for a day or so. I am currently trying Neem Oil after someone recommended it. It is supposed to have anti-inflammatory properties and also gets ride of parasites. I have seen an improvement and have ordered a bigger bottle and an emulsifer to make my own spray to see hwo we get on...I'll keep you posted.

Because she has got worse since coming to us, the vet says it's likely to be an environmental factor (i.e stabling, bedding, dust mites) and an allergy which was well masked by the dealer we boughther from.

Like you, I have also cut out molassess from feed (though not convinced this has done much) - I wil try taking the garlic out as never heard that before!!!

I have alo discussed allergy testing with my vet. He is of the opinion that any results from such testing has to be taken with a pinch of salt and used mroe as 'guidelines'. One method of allergy testing also sounded awful too...basically your horse goes in and thye inject it systematically through the day to see what it reacts to...they do this over 40 times!! poor horse! The other method of allergy testing is by blood sample and to be honest, is the only method I woudl consider.

However, for now...I am persisting with the Neem Oil and I think I will change her bedding to Shavings (less dust mites than in straw)
 
I notice that I am not the only owner with an itchy horse.
When he itches he doesn't itch to the point that he has bold spots but not sure if this is due to the fact that he has nowhere really to itch in his field.

How are you all coping with stabling your horses that itch, my lad can not go in the stable as he would literally fall over itching his rump and goodness knows what he would do to the stables. His last time stabled he broke his stable door and was wondering around the yard. Hence why now he is out unless I bring him out for grooming/tacking up.

I notice a few of you use Neem oil - which varient do you use and where do you apply it - ie spray it all over.

I think I am going to try one thing at a time now ie if I change his diet and try Neem Oil and it works I will not know if its the oil working or the change in diet!

where would you all spray Frontline spray ie all over.

I think my lad still has mites and not lice as the other horse in the field is fine. But how to get rid of the blinking things :-(
 
Right feathers off completely today, dry skin under the knees and around the pastern. No sign of mites of lice but a few open sores the size of a pound coin on each leg around the pastern area. Someone said this is mud fever but surely this is the point my horse is biting them and the mites are biting?
 
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