possible sweet itch - advice

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narkymare

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my horse has rubbed chunks of his mane away and left sores.
He has also rubbed his tail.

Today i bathed him using baby shampoo, rinsed thoroughly then put sudocream on sore bits and covered him in fly spray.

I have a fly sheet, neck cover and mask but i havent put them on - somone said it makes it worse - midges can crawl up through belly and be trapped.

Any advice please?
 
I would wash in Nettex Itch stop pre-wash then apply Nettex Itch Stop Salve to all the sore bits. It will soothe the sores, help stop the itching and keep the midges off. If you can bring him in at dawn and dusk when the midges are at their worst this will help too. Is this the first time he has rubbed chunks of his mane away? If so he may be allergic to something else other than midges.. If you are convinced it is sweet itch then you will only be able to relieve the Itching this year. You will need to start preparing before the midge season next year. We feed brewers yeast all year. Some people use sweet itch rugs and put them on before the midges arrive in the spring and keep them on all summer. Good Luck!!
 
I'd always use a rug. You may find that he keeps scratching as its already started... We use an aloe vera gel on the red/itchy areas (a human one that is for sunburn). Normal fly rugs don't seem to last. We find sweet itch hoodies the best. A midge cream on the mane (crest) and top of tail helps too, and don't forget to put repellent on when the rug is off whilst you ride..x
 
thank you both - he didnt do it last summer (when i bought him)but he was at another yard then so it could be an allergy - im buying him a sweet itch rug tomorrow and the creams you reccomended - ty x:D
 
Hi Narkymare, my little Tic has sweet itch, was only really diagnosed this year as she is now off a yard and I thought it was the other horses eating her mane off!!!

Got her a fly rug - have had to sew it up 3 times - and it has worked wonders, her mane is growing back and her tail is now full of hair again (wonder gel helped a lot with that too).

I'll keep her fly rug on till she wears her winter rug and will get it back on again in the spring.

I'm hoping that next year she will have a mane for the first time since I've owned her lol

Good luck with it all

xxx
 
My old boy has been in his Sweetitch Rug since April and I have also applied Switch and apart from his sheath, he has been 100% Sweetitch free and I am so pleased. His mane and tail look fantastic :)
 
We've used rugs, masks and whatever we can to stop the itching getting worse when it starts, as a suplliment marmite or brewers yeast is recommened (yeast extract from Tescos for us!) and recently there has been a large interest regarding Magnesium suppliment - been researched in other countries, but not popular here yet. Prevention is our ethos on this, so cleanliness, prevention in the form of rug/masks and then relief to prevent worsening.

Be careful with shampoos- personally won't use baby shampoo as it has had the reverse effect on one of ours (but its individual) we use demoline shampoo as it is insecticidial.

There is also a cream that is a human one that some people recommend - think its by Avon, but we have ours under control so haven't looked at.
 
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