Pony rubbing herself raw :-(

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lisadids

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Good evening all, I've not posted much on here before, so hi!

One of our ponies is an older girl, she's a little Welsh A. She's been stabled at night this winter (possibly for the first time in her life) on a Straw bed and has been rugged throughout as she has lost condition over the last few winters.

With her age, she was having a bit of trouble getting up after rolling, and began stamping her back legs, so we began giving her some added oil in her feed. The stamping appeared to stop.

Over the last couple of days she's been rubbing non stop on the fencing, trees well anything she can.... she has rubbed a large patch of her neck and it looks very sore.

Before I call the vet, is there any advise that you can give me as to what it could be, and how to ease the itch and clear it up?

Lisa
 
Has she started moulting? a couple of mine get very itchy and rub a lot, with the change of coat. Or look closely at her coat and mane, can you see any lice, as this will make her rub until she is raw,if in doubt i would dust her over with louse powder any way, but if you are getting the vet out maybe do it afterwards so he can see anything going on first.
Also if she has a rug on, could she be to hot? this could make her very itchy as well, the weather here has warmed up a lot over the last week or so, and i have been unrugging durring the day.
 
It could be a number of things...

My first thought would be mites/lice from the straw possibly although lice is quite common at this time of year. I find Coopers Extra very good for this.

Has she shown any other changes...is her coat curly?, or thcker than usual? is she dippy backed? Could she have Cushings maybe? I think they can suffer skin problems.

I know my little Welsh A would be baking in a rug at any time of year so maybe she is simply too hot?
 
Hi Fii,
Sorry, forgot to mention she's only got the lightweight rug on at night now. She has started moulting but this seems a lot worse than that. I'll have a good look through her mane tomorrow to see if there are any lice.

Could there be dust mites in the straw bed? I know I'm clutching at straws, just desperately racking my brain to think what it is and where its come from!

I'm thinking of giving her a bath, but should I use Virkon or Hibiscrub?

Lisa
 
Thanks all, my instinct is saying mites or lice...

No its not like cushings, she's not dippy backed or curly coated - yet?!
She's never suffered with sweet itch, I suppose there's always a first time...
She only has the lightweight rug on at night.

Thanks for the ideas and suggestions, sounds like powder here I come!
 
If you are going to bath her, you might as well use an insecticide shampoo - you can buy them at most horse shops. You need to dilute it and leave it on for about 5 minutes, and if it's lice, that should kill the little b***ards! I also followed it up with the powder, and to break the cycle I shampooed again - I think it's a 3 week cycle but check with the manufacturer's recommendations.

I also found clipping helped as the shampoo and powder could get right into the coat. You can see lice quite easily once they are clipped - and it's quite satisfying squishing them between your nails too :grin:

It is a bit early for sweet itch to be that bad, so I would suspect mites or lice either from the straw or possibly just from the field, if you have other livestock or deer nearby.
 
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