Sweet itch help

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hmc

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Any advice welcome!! My yearling has started rubbing her mane, she lives out 24hrs a day and over the last couple of weeks has been rubbing her mane more and more until yesterday she had rubbed quite a big patch out. I had put her an amigo fly rug on last week but this doesn't seem to have had any effect.

I have tried the NAF D-itch cream and for the first couple of days this seemed to be working but now I feel like we are back to square one. So in desperation I have been and bought her the Rambo sweet itch rug and I am starting to bring her in during the day and turn her out about 9pm.

I have never had a horse with SI and reading info on the Internet makes me feel like that's the end!!! :( Any advice???
 
If it is sweet-itch then until the skin starts to heal, she will want to scratch. You've have done exactly the right thing - carry on with the cream and current management. Have you read the National sweet-itch centre info? They are brilliant and also have great products as well as the Boett rugs.

My Friesian developed the condition at 18 months and it was managed until she died in April this year at 19. Hers was very severe but she lived a fantastic life and was turned out all year round as hated being in. It never stopped us doing anything.

It is perfectly manageable so not sure why you say 'that's the end':confused:
 
Thank you that makes me feel better, I think it's all the doom and gloom on the Internet did you buy the Boett rug?
 
My girlie has an itch problem, not SI mind you but I think this is worse!!!!!
She has had all tests,SI injection (did nothing to help) Bloods,Swabs, scrapes etc and the vets are stumped they keep saying she has "an allergy" she scratches against anything to the point of bleeding , I have tried everything going and spent a fortune in the process, but have decided it just needs "managing" it got to the point where she could not be tied up in the yard so one of us holds her till she is tacked up! she is an oldie so very good in every other way.
Sorry not much help for you but just needed to post to say dont give up it's not the end!! my girl is a dream in the school and perfect on hacks just unable to leave her alone near anything she can itch on!!!
 
My youngster developed this at the end of her first year - nightmare!!!!!

She's now 3 and I've cracked it I think. Rugs are a must, bring in if its hot is also vital. Electric fencing to stop access to the rubbing points, but the absolute must that resolved it for me is Killitch (Benzyl Benzoate). Put this in the mane/tail as soon as she rubs, and for my horse its is an instant soothe, she relaxes immediately - like magic.

Good luck it is manageable.
 
Yes I did buy Boett rugs - many of them! They were the only ones that fit her properly as Friesians are an odd shape (huge chest & neck but short coupled).
 
my youngster developed SI last year as a 2 year old, I bought him a Boett but it was soon ruined with holes all over it and by spring this year was unwearable.

He is now in a Rambo sweet itch hoody which seems a little harder wearing. I do a combination of things, he gets a supplement called Hippo Excema, he also has a cream/gel called Hippo Itch Care, I have electric fenced part of his field off so he has nowhere to rub and he wears his SI hoody all of the time. I can't bring him in as he would just tear himself apart in the stable.

Last year he lost over half of his mane and loads of hair from the top of his tail, this year he gets the odd sore patch but nobody would actually know he had SI unless I told them where he had rubbed his mane so things seem to be working well for us.

The Hippo Itch Care gel is probably the single best thing I have found for him, he has an allergic reaction to benzyl benzoate which most SI treatments seem to be based on
 
try the wash and anti itch cream from botanica, amazing stuff, really works, cleared my girls up in less than a week, stopped itching and skin looking much better, scabs disappeared, happier pony irish company i think.
 
You can often help things along by where you keep them - away from ditches, ponds, undergrowth where midges breed and congregate, and somewhere breezy which the midges also dislike

I have had one of the best years ever with my SI mare so far. She wears a Boett (which I have not had to repair so far this season) actually there are 2 which I change weekly. She comes in overnight every night when I change the Boett for a cotton sheet. She gets a tiny weeny dinner of chaff and brewers yeast, which I think is the magic ingredient for her. No lotions or potions (or even a bath so far this year) at all. At the moment because it is so very hot and we have a nice light breeze, she is just out in a standard fly rug during the day In previous years, she has tended to suffer more in September and October, so I am not out of the woods yet.

Nettex itch stop is a good thing to have in your tack room for any rubbed sores.
 
Don't panic, it's not the end!! You're doing all the right things.
My late gelding had severe sweetitch but with careful management it was so easy to keep under control, in these last few years nobody even noticed he had it - he had a beautiful mane and tail and didn't scratch.
I did try many lotions and potions in our time together so will tell you the ones that worked for him..

First he wore a Boett rug, completely stopped him itching, he kept his mane and tail and was so happy in it. It was a bit of a hassle to put on and take off (had to slip over his head) but he was generally the spookiest horse ever and was absolutely fine with that aspect. They're incredibly effective, everywhere is covered - very durable too. It seems quite a thick material for hot weather but he never overheated in it.

I also found that the Global Herbs "Skratch" supplement worked absolute wonders on him - no scratching (so much that he didn't actually need to wear his boett 24/7, and could have a quicker to put on version ;) ) and kept his coat in beautiful condition. I noticed a big reduction in the amount of bugs hovering around him, it really does work.

For sweetitch lotion I really recommend the BiteBack products - I think it's called sweet relief? Someone recommended it to me and it really helped him, not at all expensive either - think it's only about £4.50? It comes up if you google it and is available on ebay as well.

Naf's DEET fly spray is fab too! x
 
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