Lice

TheCurlyPony

TheCurlyPony

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Hi

Could anyone help. I think my horse may have lice, he has rubbed some patches of hair off his face and under his jaw. He has'nt rubbed hair off anywhere on his body. How is the best way to treat lice. Ive had a close look and can't actually see any creatures moving around, But he has a very thick coat even in sumer, and the chances of me seeing anything on his body is ziltch. Any suggestions would be greatful.
 
To the naked eye you can't always see them but to be safe I would get some lice powder and give him a good dusting. Also make sure all his grooming equipment has been boiled etc as they can live for a while off the animal. It may just be where he is shedding and rubbing away his winter coat but good luck.
 
My old 26yr old NF/Dartmoor used to have lice. However, he was also quite run down and underweight, so wasn't able to fight them as well as your horse may be able to.

To start with we tried the powder, but it didn't have much of an effect, as he was badly "liced". We got the vet out, and she said he was anemic, as he'd had them for a while, so we put special blood salts in his feed for a while, long after he was clear of lice. We also had to give him a bath in an anti-lice/parasite shampoo, and used a headlice comb in the worst affected areas, which was his head/neck.

We also suspected that rugs didn't help, as they provided the ideal breeding home for any unwanted guests in his coat.

Personally I would:

- On a nice day asap give your mare a bath in an anti-lice lotion. Carefully read the label though, for instructions to get rid of them first time round.

- Fine comb her (headlice combs are ideal!) to find out how bad she is. Obviously it would be nearly impossible to do this everywhere, so just the areas you suspect she has them worst. I think the lotion you washed her in should take care of killing the live lice, but not sure what affect it has on eggs.

- Once she's dry, lice powder her for good measure!

- If you think your mare may be anemic because of the lice, put her on a feed supplement to help, ie Blood salts.

Good luck- lice are SUCH a pain, but they're not too hard to get rid of, just so long as you do everything right first time round! Hope that helped. =D
 
Thanks Bramble, The combing of the hair could be interesting, my boy has a coat that is curly like cushings. Mmm. Fingers x for a warm day.
 
Much to our horror (and the first time in over 20 years of owning horses) we found lice in my mares mane last week. Coopers fly repellant is an easy no rinse wash which has killed all the buggers. Rugs and everything else etc must all be washed. To make sure you really have them all we shall be doing twig on day 10 (tomorrow) and day 14. Good luck, horrid little things!
 
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Thanks Bramble, The combing of the hair could be interesting, my boy has a coat that is curly like cushings. Mmm. Fingers x for a warm day.

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Hehe, the pony in my sig, Bramble, has a coat like that too- it'd be awful if he got lice!
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Mine got them last year, the vet said they'd seen lots of cases due to the weather (warm & wet) they gave me 'spot on', 2 treatments 14 days apart and the little buggers were dead! Very easy.
 
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Mine got them last year, the vet said they'd seen lots of cases due to the weather (warm & wet) they gave me 'spot on', 2 treatments 14 days apart and the little buggers were dead! Very easy.

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Is that like the one with dogs and it goes on their necks?

Thanks

Mandy
 
Another vote for Coopers Fly Repellent Plus - kills the little horrors and keeps the flies away too which is good now the weather is warming. You can often find the eggs even if you don't see lice, they are small, pinhead sized white blobs stuck to the hairs. They also often congregate under the forelock where the hair is thick and soft on some horses.
 
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