Questions for those who have experience of itchy horses

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Walrus

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Pony reacts quite badly to insect bites - we went through an itchy phase in May and he's not been too bad until this last week.

Now he has big, bald weepy bites on his bottom as well as lumps. He also has bites between his back legs, on his sheath and on his withers! He's sooooo itchy - he nearly sat down in the stable earlier trying to rub his bottom :(

He's been on NAF D-Itch since about April, he wears a fly rug 24/7 and he's covered in Phaser fly spray. He also wears a mesh fluorescent exercise sheet whenever we go hacking.

I bathed him yesterday which he loved and I'm putting calamine on his bites.

Any more suggestions or helpful hints for soothing his itchy bits, poor poppet I feel so sorry for him, being itchy is horrid!
 
my pony has SI but we are good this year with fly sheet and pig oil.
i must say that apart from the midges there are other nasties at different times of the year eg we usually have a spell of nasty black little ear flies,then we have a week or 2 that makes her rub her face and other black udder flies.
 
I recently bought a Welsh section c and he was ribbing his bum so bad he started to push the side of the stable out. I sprayed him with Avon skin so soft dry oil on his mane / tail and the top of his bum.
Within a week he had stopped rubbing and now his tail has started to grow back, this must have gone on for years as he only has a thin tail and it is above his hocks.
I contacted my local Avon rep and she got me discount (bargain)
Good luck with yours :O)
 
Watch using Pig Oil if the sun is out (are we ever going to see the sun?) because it will blister.

Try Neem Oil.

Mix 5 ml Neem, 3 ml soap, add 1 litre hot water and wash that over the horse. It really will keep the flies away.
 
Try removing all alfalfa products from his diet. I poo-poohed this idea for years until trying it in desperation and it seems to work for a fair few horses and a huge variety of types. Obviously it wont stop him being bitten but you may well find that all his lumps are not, in fact, bites and the rest of him will be a lot less itchy if he is one of those affected.
 
LadyinRed got it right. Take out alfalfa from food pronto. Give a magnesium supplement (mag reduces itching and is good for prevention of lami), plait a citronella tag into mane and get him a boet (one with a belly cover).

A friend of mine swears by SKratch (?) - herbal thing she puts in food.

Buy a garlic or flyoff lick and give him free access.

Get him out of the stable and in the field, preferably with leccy fencing around him so he cant rub his bum on anything.

Poor lad.

Hth's:)
 
Had an interesting chat with my trimmer yesterday who told me that the latest research into insulin resistance suggests that dietary sugars don't just cause inflamed laminae (i.e. Laminitis) they cause inflamation (albeit mild) all over the body (and we all know how itchy swollen limbs can be if you've ever suffered) and thus causes itchiness (i.e. sweet itch)... made a lot of sense to me and my boy has been a lot less itchy since his grass intake has been carefully controlled. Might be worth baring in mind.

I'd also agree - remove all alfa-alfa products from diet.

Try feeding brewers yeast too.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
Maybe the horse I knew was insulin resistant then, he did get laminitis once. The simple systems food is all alfalfa but no molasses.
Click to expand...

That was why we initially went onto SS feed. Fortunately now there is a much bigger choice of feed that is molasses and alfalfa free.

Alfalfa suited the others fine, it was just the one who itched and itched until we changed it.. for years we blamed it on sweetitch but since removing the alfalfa he is itch free and has a mane and tail again.. oh and the field shelter no longer threatens to disintegrate because of his rubbing on it.
 
Merlin reacted really badly to fly bites when he first arrived - they'd puff up into soft squidgey lumps about the size of a 50p. No problems since taking him off anything with molasses or cereals in it. He seems fine on alfalfa, but he only has a tiny bit of Greengold.
 
Its interesting that more and more of this itchiness is looking like it is diet related more so than fly bites...

I know that rugs don't make the blindest bit of difference to my boy so I'm pretty sure his itchiness isn't fly related...
 
I think sweet-itch is called that for a reason- the old horsemen knew a thing or two!

I have found that horses who are fed molasses are often itchier than those who are not and improve when the molasses is removed - and I certainly wouldn't give a molassed lick.
 
Is the pony fat ? IME getting a horse or pony really thin almost always makes them less itchy.
The post above is spot on its called sweet itch for a reason low sugar diet and as slim as possible.
 
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