Odd Itchy Skin

[EmilyS]

I am after some advice about my pony's bizarre skin complaint.

Around april this year she started being very very itchy. Taking every opportunity to scratch as much as possible. Interestingly she has never really touched her mane and tail much so its not a typical sweet itch.

Over the summer I tried various different creams. i tried her in fly rugs, in cotton sheets, in nothing, in during the day & out at night, the other way round, different shampoos, different washing powders on her bits and pieces, changing feeds....everything I could think of, and nothign seemed to make it any worse or better. So ir esigned myself to it disappearing once we got into winter and tackling it with acupuncture and homeopathy (as rec. by my vet) next summer.

But then she got worse coming into winter as her new coat started coming through. She also appeared to be scratching her right side more than her left.

I have fully clipped her today as she was just so uncomfortable I wanted to get her hair off so i could get at her skin. And I found something which is a bit odd......

She has what looks like little fly bites which she has rubbed all over the right side of her thorax. They are like little areas which she has rubbed and has lost the hair over, but only in little spots a few millimetres wide 0 which is what made me think fly bites.

But where she has maybe 20 or 30 on the off side she only has one or two on the near side.

So what are these marks, why has she only got them on one side and what can i do to settle her skin? I never tried her on any supplements for itching so do any of those work?

I have also read it can be a yeast build up which irritates the skin in dogs, does this apply in horses?

This summer is the first summer she has not had some form of oil in her diet, could it be this that she is lacking which has caused the deterioration in her skin condition?

Any information would be great (for me and for her!!)

Thanks!

From a very exasperated mummy!!

 

[Llwyncwn]

Hi EmilyS. It sounds to me that you have done everything in your power to find a solution to your mare's itching. Having ruled out everything else I would be thinking 'food allergy'. The bumps sound like urticaria which is simply an allergy to something. I would try giving her a complete break from hard feed for a week, then reintroduce it one type at a time. If time off from her feed improves the condition, you simply need to identify whether it's the cerial, chaff, sugar beet or other.

If you have no success here, I would have skin scrapings done and sent to a specialist hospital for analysis. We have a mare on the yard who, after years of investigations was referred to Willersley (Gloucestershire) who identified the allergy and developed a vaccine for her. After lots of initial injections, she now has her jab once every three months. She is absolutely fine now, however she cannot have another horse's rug near her as she reacts.

Hope you get your girl sorted and please do let us know how you get on.