Seriously itchy!

Gingerbird

Gingerbird

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Has any of you had experience with a ridiculously horse?

Badger is so itchy that even if you rest your hand on his neck he springs into mutual grooming mode and as a result he is very nippy (which is bl**dy infuriating!). He's like this all over his body, and obviously such things as a girth etc cause his itchiness to kick off.

has anyone tried any supplements like D-itch etc or indeed anything else that has eased this sort of problem?

Last summer he was diagnosed with sweet itch, even though it didnt show up until late August! So obviously shampooing and rugs helped. In the winter bathing isn't an option, but he does get regularly groomed thoroughly to help ease his discomfort.

Any ideas at all would be great
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Have you checked for lice? My boy was really itchy in November, for a day or two, it drove both of us mad. He was very distressed. People on the forum said to check for lice. I only ever found one massive type of louse thing, despite hours of searching. We never found out exactly what it was, but it was very big (1cm size), much bigger than a horse louse, too big for me to want to touch it!

He stopped itching after a day or so, I powdered him and clipped him once he was not itching. He had scabs on his rump, where I'm guessing the insect had eaten him, it was horrific. He still has the scars.

Ted has also started loosing his coat and is getting slightly itchy, as he always does when he looses his coat coming into spring.
 
As above check for lice
My pony is casting and itchy
Bedding--allergy?
Allergy to washing powder?
If horse has sweet itch skin liable to be more sensitive than most horses

Check diet--could be allergic to an ingredient in feed eg barley alfalfa or protein may be too high overall
 
Try feeding Brewers Yeast, it's very good for sweet itch but you need to feed it year round; it's excellent for coat and hoof condition and also helps with flies too.
But agree, check for nasties as well and treat although an insecticidal shampoo wouldn't hurt anyway.
 
I'd do him with some Coopers FR Plus, treats lice other little cretins that may be in living on him....just in case if not
it also helps to clear other itchy problems and sweet-itch.

Feeding a seaweed suppliment is very good for the skin and works very well on those with more sensetive skin that tend to itch and like rubbing (even if they are bug free) also garlic is good, combines in keeping the those biting flys away in summer and also helps the skin, feeding those two will be cheaper than buying these supplements like D-itch etc, not saying that they don't work but I'm just saying try the above first, will take a few months but it does work.
 
I agree with MFH_09 about feeding brewers yeast. I feed it to my boy who suffers with sweetitch, along with marmite, and they both seem to make him less itchy.
If I were you, I would also check through whatever feeds he has for garlic, as garlic, even fed in winter and even in tiny ammounts, makes horses with sweetitch 100 times more itchy.
 
Thank you all for your replies
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He doesn't have any lice or creepy things as he has been thoroughly checked and I did give him a good insecticidal shampoo just in case. He is also clipped so I've been able to have a good nose at his skin!

I hadn't heard of Brewers yeast or seaweed for itchy's so thank you, I will definitely invest in one or both of those.

tasteofchaos - I hadn't really thought of the garlic.........I took him off the garlic powder last summer but now you mention it he's on happy hoof which I'm sure has garlic in it........I'll have to check that out too
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Hi Gingerbird,

Don't feed garlic to a horse with sweet-itch. Due to it's anti-microbial properties, it affects the microflora of the gut and in doing so stimulates to immune system. SI involves an over-active immune system, so you don't want to be stimulating it further.

Interesting that you say your horse is itching like mad already. I've noticed a few midges round here, but my serious SI case (had wounds when I got her in June) has been on Brewer's Yeast and Ground Linseed (from Charnwood Milling) for a month or so, now. Her coat is looking fantastic and she's certainly not rubbing (yet...).

For bathing, I had the same concerns, so I bathed just the mane and tail dock up until mid-December, when it got fekkin freeeezing!!! She seemed ok with that and using dermoline/melaseb, I lifted a lot of the scurf. I've heard reports of Neem Oil being exceptionally good for dandruff/eczema/psoriasis cases, so bought Neem oil in it's native state through an online Indian supplies (Spices of india). I've mixed this with benzyl benzoate (roughly 1:1) to make it more manageable and I use this when it's too cold to bathe the mane, massaging into the roots and teasing the scurf out. She had her first session of this in ages last week and she loved it. Her mane and tail still look fab, now! Rubber gloves are a must, as is a squirty bottle if you can get one (with a narrow nozzle, so you can direct the goo to the roots).

It's very therapeutic, although you will find yourself asking your horse if he's going anywhere nice on his holidays and talking about the weather, lol!
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Alf Alfa can cause some horses to itch also.

A lot of the Sweet-itch supplements contain garlic as part of the ingredients, so if it is the case that garlic makes sweet-itch suffers more itchy then this might be something you want to double check just in case you have used them in the past.
 
i had a very itchy youngster everything seemed to make her itchy been hot ,wet ,flys she just seemed to want to itch all the time she didn't have lice i was recomended d-itch by a friend she now gets a heaped scope a day and i would say she is 90% better i'd def recomend it i couldn't believe the improvement
 
Too hot??
My pony was SERIOUSLY itchy a few weeks ago. Drastically cut down on rug weight and bingo, he itched no more!

He went from a 300gram T/O (which I didn`t think was OTT for a fully clipped ned in freezing weather!) to a 50gram Bucas T/O. He is always warm up between his back legs and seems happy as larry.
 
my horsey is itchy at mo too, clipped him out yesterday and found under his really thick coat little scabs looks like rainscald so i hibiscubbed him and i have been told to give either piriton or flowers of sulpher in his feed this is supposed to be really good with itchy neds
 
Forgot about the sugar factor. Sugar can affect sweet itch, too, but hard to say in Chloe's case, as it was damage limitation when I got her! I treat her as a laminitic and feed her as little sugar as possible. I limited grass for her in the warmer months and she's on Hi-Fi lite. Does contain alfalfa, but the oat straw dilutes it out and it has less molasses. Can't get unmolassed feed round here, which probably explains all the horses bouncing around!!
 
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