Please help...I'm out of ideas and it's driving me mad!!!

TopTotty

TopTotty

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OK...I have a two year old who if not careful is going to end his eventing career before it begins! :(
He has always been bedded on straw and has been fine until this spring when he started kicking the walls when he was stabled.
I tried every kind of shampoo known to man, creams, lice stuff etc etc and if I washed him off when he came in then he would be ok for maybe an hour before kicking again.
He had a steroid injection in May which made absolutley no difference at all.
We then moved house and he lived summer out and had a field shelter that had some barley straw in it. He seemed a lot better when he was in there so I ordered some barley straw and he seemed better than on the wheat straw but still occaisionally kicked the walls.
So I bit the bullet this week and got some very expensive shavings, bedded down on Monday and he has kicked more this week than ever before.

He is allergic to the vet in a big way so any treatment by the vet needs to be needed and not just 'tried'. :eek:

He is not just doing it for the sake of it as he gets very cross and tries to bit his hind pasterns and sometimes even draws blood on his front legs in frustration. :(

His ligaments above his hock all enlarged last year but over summer sorted theirselves out again..

I was so convinced it was the bedding as he is worse after I have put fresh straw down.

I wondered if anyone had any experience of this or if there was anything I could try feeding him......

He lives out at the minute with my three year old and they have a field shelter that is split into two and bedded down at night and have haylage twice a day.

He has never really had feed since he was a baby.

My next course of action is to bring him in and shampoo his legs before smoothering him in sudocrem or such like.

Is there anyone out there that can help me before he injures himself or knackers my stables!!!:confused::confused::confused:

In cr and vet too....
 
Could you try stable bandages or turnout chaps on him?

Does he do it in a particular place in his stable such as a corner? If so, try putting a large heavy tyre there. It worked wonders with one of mine.
 
I dont know if it would work or not but reading your post I wonder if you could use paper bedding might be worth looking into.
 
Irishuamerryxmas said:
Has the vet actually done a skin scrape to see if he has got mites or the such?
Click to expand...

I've had a cob with itchy legs/heel and i know that the lady i bought him off didn't have any probs at all so the grass mites live on our land ( this would figure as my next door neighbour's horse suffers badly ) but these are feathered horses and i'm guessing yours isn't , so if it is mites then they are in the source of straw and are using it to climb the legs. If i were you I would get rid of the bed in the shelter and put down mats maybe with a little straw in the corner as a wee patch , you can then monitor the situation and go from there.
As a soothing topical lotion/cream i would recommend Aromaheel , it's quite expensive but works miracles on things like mud fever and other bacterial irritations..def worth a try!
 
if he doesnt actully have proven mites..

could it be that he is finding the confinment of a stable to much for his baby brain and the bedding is tickling him, leaving him fustrated and lashing out.?>
 
Totally non-politically correct I'm sure but I'd try Frontline spray - and of course keeping him out as much as possible, is he shut into his field shelter at night and doing it? If he is what happens if you don't shut him in and allow him to choose?
 
Many thanks for all your suggestions..I will look into all of them.
He is out 24/7 and can come and go from his field shelter as he pleases. He has never been confined to a stable as earlier this year when he had to come in from the field he went in our indoor school and he was fine.....we have moved now though and don't have such luxuries!
I have mucked out and put barley straw back down this morning so I'll see if that's better than the shavings until I get something else sorted.
Thanks again :)
 
I must say, I thought of mites when reading this too. I use dog mite and tick spray on mine and it seems to work really well. However if it's that he would probably chew his own feet in the field as well when it itched.
 
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