Sweet Itch helpgroup??

tasteofchina i have found the same thing it really is trial and error and i am open to try anything. its a good day when i get to the yard and find he has not rubbed his tail,

its when you look back at pictures and realise how well you have done. my horse is a friesian and when i got him he had very little maine and a small forlock his tail was just coming back.
but i got him from a dealer who had him living out near a pond so hope as i am trying to manage it we might make it through but everyday another grey hair appears :o
 
the only thing that works for us is to cover up BEFORE the midges bite.

once the pony is itching it has already been bitten.
 
i agree with cahill , i had a mare who has severe sweetitch ,i mean severe mane ,tail ,mid line of belly up by udders ,face ,ears girth area , when i first brought her , i thought she had lice because she had mane and tail, but after going through summer , we realised it wasnt , so the frist thing was to help relive the itchness ,because the midges had already bitten , the following year she was rug up early in a boett rug she had so we could stop her getting bitten ,she had d itch on , alos neem oil , and brewest yeast .
which helped the other thing i would recommend is at midgey season stable through day time and put out at night so they dont get bitten .
if you can prevent then getting bitten then ,its better all round
 
well paddy got bitten yesterday at some point and when i was grooming this morning he had a couple of sores so i wacked some neem oil on them. he was turned out after i rode him so i benzo him and then fly rugged and sprayed fly rug so fingers crossed.

sound out the shampoo my doctor recommended for sweet itch polytar. he says wash areas once a week and use coopers or deet. so tomorrow if kids are being good i will do his tail.:mad:
what a stress this is do you know someone said i should hog him today :confused: i was like what hes a frieisian lol!!!!!! :D
 
I found the Nettex sweet itch salve worked for my gelding - he had one really bad year when he was 5 - nothing worked, bathing,fly rugs, BB, deosect all had no effect. The Nettex eased the itching the following year and the year after that I started it in March through to October. Once a week until the hot weather then every other day until about September.....

Mind you, it is gungy looking on them and it also didn't work for every other horse even on the same yard. PO&S worked for some other SI horses I know.
 
I feed my cob Brewers Yeast (Marmite is same stuff basically); plus Linseed and also Clevers (you know, the sticky stuff that you find in hedgerows) - someone elsewhere on this forum recommended it a while ago and swore it helped hers. I just pull some out the hedge and put it in his haynet, but apparenlty you can get it as a supplement to add to feed.

I tried the pagony rug (cheapy version of Boett) - awful! he got all tied up in it and wouldn't let anyone put it on him again, haven't tried the Boett proper though. The Pagony is supposed to be cheaper but the quality was awful, the seams came undone as they were only single stitch and it didn't protect his legs very well; and altogether it was a disaster. Shan't do that again!

I'm putting pig oil & sulpher on him, his legs particularly, also brushing it through his tail (lovely & shiney!).

Has anyone tried the new Eos tablets (think thats right) that the National Sweet Itch centre recommend? I've got some, and am giving it to mine, too early to tell at the mo BUT to be honest he's not as bad as I would expect, so stay hopeful. Basically you give them one pill a fortnight (I'm giving mine one a week at the mo, they say you can).
 
ibot said:
hey so this is your first summer with your horse :D mine too. i just hope we can come up with something. feel so sorry for them,

where does yours scratch? mine scratches in the stable what do i do about that? i mean yesterday i left him in the stable with benzo on him and tried to get some deet on him but he hates any fly sprays.
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hi Ibot, just seen this,
yes 1st summer with my new mare and boy im on a new learning curve with her.

where does she scratch - god it might be easier to say where she doesnt lol. ive caught her this morning scratching on the hay ring which is the only place she can scratch on at the moment in her current paddock. Literally she will scratch anywhere she can get, stable, post & rail fencing, telegraph poles. ive got electric fencing everywhere now just to stop her itching.

Though as her current paddock has nothing in apart from the hay rings, she loves her feet. this is the only way she can scratch her head :( her face looks shocking and has lots of open sores. She just seems to keep reopening them.

Apart from her fly rug, today shes had a new oversized fly mask on which has seemed to help the face scratching but I also overdosed her with the fly spray. Thank god she isnt bothered by being sprayed.

Have you thought about putting the fly spray on with a sponge or cloth? I have to do this with another of my mares who hates being sprayed with anything, much easier to put on her.
 
Boett rug and mask for my mare. I tried the benzoe bensolity stuff, as soon as she smelt it she went ape-sh*t as it can burn on thin skinned horses which she is or on skin rubbed raw, burnt my skin, and that was when I tried putting it on her, vet's advice.She is a lot happier in the Boett and mask. I have 2 rugs will order another mask for her the only problem is her front legs. The rugs do work out cheaper in the long run, as I can take one off to wash and put the other on and as a former mare from hell!!! she stands there and lets me put the rug on and seeing it has to go over her head, thats pretty dam good:D:D:D:D
 
i have actually got clever about putting fly spray on i now put it onto the rug and then put it on paddy.
he is funny he does not mind me putting mane and tail on him just hates fly spray :confused: he is so silly,
have no idea what im going to do tomorrow what if he has more sores :mad:
hmmmmm ITS ONLY JUNE !!!
 
totally agree with you both re its only June! maybe we can hope its not going to get very very warm as it has been the last few weeks although the forecast looks nice for the next few weeks.
Im also hoping that her snuggy hoods rug appears this week as promised, might ring them to check tomorrow, though dont want to pressurize them as I know they are already pushed out with work.
 
hi daisy and john robert i am here for you both. the point of my post was to find some people that would be in the same boat as me and maybe we could help each other through it.

i hate to think what i am going to find today but if my kids are being good i think i will get the polytar out and give him a wash it does seem to help.


have a good day let me know how you go :D
 
Hoping to turn her out in an 9 acre field with my other mare and shall slap as much gunge on her front and back legs as poss, as she needs to go on good grass to pick up weight, as she also has trouble with vet and equine dentist big time and I mean big time. I've always brought her in at night the 10am-4pm slot but running out of hay and her paddock has been burnt off with the hot weather. I'm on sandy soil and she doesn't like haylage. So this is the first time she will be out 24/7 and fingers x and everthing else, I shall see how she copes. Will keep you posted:):):):)
 
johnrobert said:
Hoping to turn her out in an 9 acre field with my other mare and shall slap as much gunge on her front and back legs as poss, as she needs to go on good grass to pick up weight, as she also has trouble with vet and equine dentist big time and I mean big time. I've always brought her in at night the 10am-4pm slot but running out of hay and her paddock has been burnt off with the hot weather. I'm on sandy soil and she doesn't like haylage. So this is the first time she will be out 24/7 and fingers x and everthing else, I shall see how she copes. Will keep you posted:):):):)
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please keep me posted pm me. i stuck a load of neem oil on paddy today bless him no new sores so lets hope im getting somewhere.

we don't have lots of grass in our field but he seems happier out than in not sure why.

Nicky
xx
 
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