Oh no I think my horse has sweet itch!

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sophandbarley

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My horse for the last 3 weeks has recent become really distressed with flies. I have been away on holiday for a week (someone has been checking daily I may add) to find he has rubbed his tail bald and has bald patches above his tail and a few patches around his neck! I cannot find any creepy crawlies and im almost certain it is sweet itch. I am putting fly spray on 3 times a day and researching on rugs. He has never had a problem before anyone got any tips??
 
Has anything changed? Feed, field, grazing?
Sweet itch should have presented itself well before now so I would explore other possibilities too.
I would bath in dermoline or similar,treat for lice and worm for pinworm.
If it does turn out to be sweet itch the a good rug ( Rambo or Premier Equine are the toughest ), electric fencing to protect the rug , Net Tex Stop Itch Salve is excellent as is Coopers Fly Repellent ( also good for lice),a low sugar diet and grazing in an exposed field well away from water sources such as streams and muck heaps will all help.
It may take a week or so for the itching to die down after you get your rug on.
The main thing is to stop your horse being bitten by midges
 
I would bath in a medicated shampoo then use either nettex stop itch as someone else has said, coopers is very good but beware putting it on already raw skin its quite potent and one of my horses comes up in a rash when I have used it, I find you need to stop the itching before the rug goes on or they just destroy the rug, it can take a while for it to calm down, agree about the diet cut out molasses and sugar as much as possible, brewers yeast or linseed can help the skin recover since adding linseed to my mares diet I think its really helped, you need to put the bug rug on fairly early in about march to stop any itching.
 
Do use neem oil, wipe all over body, keeps midges at bay and truly does work, personal experience with a little mini who had bad sweet itch, gone in a week no more scabs, no more rubbing parts of her body, wash the horse pony regularly at least once a month. I do feed a good vit and min that has oil in and i wormed her. I am amazed how quickly it has disappeared, this is a pony who has had it all her life 14 yo.

i also put manuka honey and zinc cream on the scabby bits and washed off after 2 days scabs came off no sores underneath. Its called honeyaid from equine podiatry supplies
 
my boy gets itchy if he's sweaty, on the wrong food or bitten generally. He's in a fly rug that is seriously breathable (tried a few before finding one that works for him) and now no itching. :)
 
I would agree with bathing in medicated anti- itch shampoo - my horse rubs the top of his tale and around his neck , I usually have to bath him at least once a week and it seems to have helped and the hair has grown back. The vet also can give you special shampoo which is a great fly repellent and lasts a long time - it is quite strong though and has to be diluted, it is originally used for treating horses with mites but also works as a fly repellent. :)
 
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