Something driving my horse mad

[Marigold4]

Yesterday while doing groundwork, horse went berserk frantically trying to scratch round by his stifle - an awkward place to reach and he was really throwing himself around, then set off bucking and tail swishing. I had a look in his coat but couldn't see anything. On the other side in roughly the same place he has lost 3 small patches of hair.

Any thoughts what this might be please? Mites? He's a small warmblood type, unclipped and no feathers.

 

[dixie]

He could have a crab fly. They bury themselves into the horses coat and can cause this reaction. They’rea devil to find as well.
Also possibly pin worms but I would expect rubbing off the tail as well.

 

[jenni999]

I agree, could be crab fly. My normally sensible lad went berserk when one was on him. Made worse when they are exposed to daylight (taking a rug off for example). Hard to kill them as well, took me ages of squeezing between fingernails to finally destroy it

 

[SussexbytheXmasTree]

Deer ked (louse fly) I haven’t see them every year but when they’re about they seem attracted to my old boy in particular and he goes bonkers bucking and kicking out at them. When it first happened I couldn’t work out what it was and thought he might have colic. We spotted something moving and managed to catch one and looked it up to identify it. They’re hard to squash.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipoptena_cervi

 

[Fransurrey]

I'm going with crab fly, too. Probably still a few around with the mild Autumn and they're not restricted to the New Forest or even South East, these days!

 

[Marigold4]

Thanks for your replies. I had just taken his rug off so the daylight theory fits. Had another look around today but nothing to see. Any thoughts on how I catch a crab fly or deer louse? Is there any thing I can spray on to encouage it to leave?