Sweet itch - ideas to get it under control?

[maya2008]

We have a little pony coming to stay with us for a month or two, who will go on to my friend’s yard when there is space, and whose sweet itch is rather out of control. Itching to the point of doing self damage in the winter, mane/tail almost non-existent, grumpy and miserable. Need to fix it before she goes somewhere there are lots of things to rub on (and obviously just need to fix it in general!).

So…will stick a rug on obviously as I rode through a cloud of midges yesterday, so definitely is an issue this year even now. But I think she may well be so itchy by now she will just shred the rug. Will be in an electric fenced paddock here with nothing to rub on except the ground.

Looking for help to break the cycle and get her comfy.

I have available:
- the ‘spot on’ stuff (does it help for sweet itch? In theory I think it would?);
- Biteback spray (found to be so good our old pony could live out without a rug with just that).

And could get a supplement if anyone recommended anything good?

Her ears are bad too - I have never needed a fly mask with ears but think she will need one. Are there any specifically recommended for sweet-itch?

I have had sweet itch ponies before (x2) but always managed to control it so it was fine - I have never seen one this bad before!

 

[D66]

Boett rugs work and have ears.
Windy fields can help.
Midges bite when the temperature is above 11degrees Even in the winter.
Garlic doesn’t help.
Brewers yeast can help.

 

[SEL]

I know this is contentious but my friend's mare has stopped itching by a huge amount after she wormed her religiously with ivermectin every fortnight for a few months. I know the science is dubious and I know resistance is a very real thing but it has made a huge difference.

 

[Surbie]

I've never found a supplement for sweetitch that works for mine. Not reliably and long-term. I keep mine scurf-free with a hot cloth every week, clean brushes, and use (Battles as it's white) udder cream on any patches of dry skin - primarily under his forelock and on the edges of his ears.

I use Killitch on mane & tail from about now, as long as the skin is unbroken as I know from getting it in cuts how badly it stings!

Biteback stuff is really good.

Re fly masks, anything with the small hole mesh on the ears is useless as the midges crawl through. Holes for forelocks are also a way for the midges to get in. I have 'adapted' my fly masks by sewing on new handmade ears made either out of old white t-shirts or ripped Snuggy rugs. Anything thin with a tight weave will do. (If you want any Snuggy material I have loads, thanks to a couple of rug rippers previously in with my boy!)

 

[Fransurrey]

I know this is contentious but my friend's mare has stopped itching by a huge amount after she wormed her religiously with ivermectin every fortnight for a few months. I know the science is dubious and I know resistance is a very real thing but it has made a huge difference.

Ivermectin is also an insecticide, so this makes sense, as all the usual crawlies that live on skin (including ours!) would be killed with treatment. It's used to control lice and mites in chickens.

OP, if she's itching in winter, she may well need grazing restricted. This was the only way I could get my mare's under control. She, too, self harms and makes herself bleed and be warned, some will bite to self harm if they can't rub. Mine bites her teats and belly. As well as restricting grass (and alfalfa), I rug during horse fly season, but in the lead up and afterwards I try to keep the rug off (as she's shedding), so use a diluted Selsun solution as a no-rinse shampoo. I used to combine benzyl benzoate (final concentration 10 %) with neem oil as a general all over potion, with pure neem on the ears and teats. This works brilliantly, with the downside that pony looks like an oil slick and stinks (upside - you get social space if you pop into the shops on the way home). Mine now detests neem so much, I've switched to using Farrier's Shire Oil (which smells paraffin based), applied with a hairdressers dye applicator to get deep into the mane and dock area. This was an accidental discovery, but she tolerates it a lot better than neem as it smells very minty!

 

[Gloi]

If she's itching now treat her for lice and mites.
Make sure absolutely everything she could rub on is electric fenced off when you turn out.

 

[Surbie]

As an aside, two of the super itchy ones at the RDA I volunteer at have just started itching. They have been on low dose Allacan all winter and that helped enormously. I suspect next time I go their dosage will have been increased again.

Is the pony clipped? The RDA ones aren't and are hot in this mild weather, which doesn't help with the itchiness.

 

[Chianti]

Unfortunately they are all unique in that what works for one will have very little impact on your own. It's basically trial and error. I mix neem into Wondergel and that seems to help mine as much as anything. Any rubs I use Sudacreme. I feed a mixture of herbs - nettle, burdock root, clivers, marigold and antihistamines. The other problem is that there are good and bad years depending on the weather, which affects the level of midge activity, so you think you've cracked it one year and the next will be awful. I've already got a sweet itch rug on and when the ground dries up he'll wear the Rambo bee keeper fly masks as it they make it harder to rub his eyes. Keep everything as clean as possible - rugs and masks - as that seems to help and bath frequently. Sweet itch is as absolute pain in the **** as it can make their lives very miserable.

 

[maya2008]

We treat everything that arrives for lice just in case, so that will be covered. The mane and tail is definitely sweet itch, and she was sold with it declared. It’s not beyond reason to think the poor thing might have both though.

 

[maya2008]

As an aside, two of the super itchy ones at the RDA I volunteer at have just started itching. They have been on low dose Allacan all winter and that helped enormously. I suspect next time I go their dosage will have been increased again.

Is the pony clipped? The RDA ones aren't and are hot in this mild weather, which doesn't help with the itchiness.

What is Allacan?

She’s not clipped, but not in work either. Plan is to bring her back into work as a lead rein pony (was a companion for a few years).

 

[tda]

I started last year very well as usual using Biteback sweet relief spray and pony did not have a rug on until June, then i think I got complacent and didn't keep up to the daily spraying and she started itching again.
But as others have said, what works for one doesn't work for another. I'm also going to try the ivermectin this year

 

[Surbie]

What is Allacan?

It's an anti-histamine

 

[ycbm]

Is the pony fat? It's not called sweet itch for no reason, the old timers knew that it was either an EMS/ IR symptom from too much sugar in the diet or that too much sugar in the diet made a midge allergy worse.

I was delivered a fat insulin resistant horse right into midge country, by open water. I was told he had severe sweet itch and he certainly had scars to "prove" it. I got on top of the IR with trickle feeding and weight reduction, never needed to rug him against midges and he lived the rest of his years without any sign of it.
.

 

[maya2008]

Is the pony fat? It's not called sweet itch for no reason, the old timers knew that it was either an EMS/ IR symptom from too much sugar in the diet or that too much sugar in the diet made a midge allergy worse.

I was delivered a fat insulin resistant horse right into midge country, by open water. I was told he had severe sweet itch and he certainly had scars to "prove" it. I got on top of the IR with trickle feeding and weight reduction, never needed to rug him against midges and he lived the rest of his years without any sign of it.
.

Interestingly, yes it is. It’s going onto the same diet as my EMS Shetland because it’s so very very fat!!!

It has almost no tail (a few scraggly strands), a mane that is about an inch long and rubbed. Ears are scurfy and itchy. Signs are that it rubs its whole hindquarters against the stable wall at night also. Currently not wearing a rug.

 

[Quigleyandme]

It is very difficult once the itch/scratch cycle has been allowed to take hold. I think I would tackle this by:
1. Giving the pony a really thorough bath using a medicated or soothing oatmeal shampoo.
2. Apply Benzyl Benzoate 25% in an aqueous lotion to soothe and calm the itch every day. Biteback products have a really good reputation but I can’t import liquids or gels into Ireland so use BB lotion (€20/litre from the pharmacy) and it works brilliantly for my horse.
3. Buy him a sweet itch hoodie and mask without delay and leave it on except when grooming/medicating. It’s best to have two, one on and one in the wash, because cleanliness is important.
4. Control his weight.
Personally, I think putting the pony into an environment where he can’t scratch as a form of management is not a solution because the poor thing will be tormented. The right thing is to stop the midges getting to him and to medicate the damaged skin so he doesn’t feel the urge to scratch.
I haven’t had any success with supplements.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

What’s helped for me (but obviously YMMV) has been herdleader supplement - essentially B3, it’s a cheaper version of cavalesse -and washing mane and tail regularly. What didn’t help were the insol injections and snuggy hoods hood (he got very hot and bothered in it and rubbed himself raw through the fabric.

 

[meleeka]

A friend had great success with Biteback Sweet Relief and also a repellent one (it was Summer Nights but I don’t think they do it anymore).

 

[ElleSkywalker]

Switch, a topical weekly solution available via the vets has meant my two sweet itchy ponies can live out full time without rugs. I tried many many things before and none worked as well.

 

[honetpot]

Antihistamine
Topical steriods, you can buy 1% Hydrocortizone over the counter used sparingly. It used to be in Green Oils, but no longer.
Diet and check for EMS
Barrier spray to help sores heal quicker, I use something like this,https://medicaldressings.co.uk/cavilon-barrier-spray-28ml/ There are cheaper ones, but its lasts three days.
I think you have to break the cycle before the midge season starts, any one who has skin problems knows once it starts, you want to rub it raw.
Then Deet and Boett style rugs.
I had a pony that I was looking after for a friend with sweet itch, got it under conrtol so it had full mane and tail, then she sold it without its Boett rug. Argh!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Absolutely no sugar in the diet.

 

[maya2008]

Thanks for all the ideas so far.

She will have, once she gets to me:
- rug;
- fly mask (need to hunt one down);
- louse treatment (because I need to be sure and her coat is dark so I can’t just get her coat wet and watch them come to the surface);
- A diet of 75% straw 25% low sugar haylage;
- Twice daily walks;
- handful of mollichaff lite with vit/mins powder, dampened with water.

I have the over the counter hydrocortisone cream for myself so could pop on any really itchy spots for a day or two to help while the rug starts to work.

Yard she is going to is hay only (whole field is hayed together) but I imagine my friend will muzzle to keep her weight down. She’ll get plenty of exercise there and of course her rug on all the time. I will experiment with the biteback - I think she may need that put on when the rug comes off to ride, as she’s really bad for the time of year!

 

[AdorableAlice]

maybe ask your vet about the Insol injections, I think they have to be done well before the itchy season starts. I’ve no idea how successful Insol is but worth a look.

 

[spotty_pony2]

As above - ask about the injections. First one has to be done mid February and the second one mid March so you are just in time! I’m trying it with my mare this year and she’s booked in for next week. Apparently it’s successful on some and not others and it’s a bit of a gamble as to whether it will work or not but it’s got to be worth a try.

 

[maya2008]

She’s here, rug on, deloused and totally horrified by the menu! About to go take her for a morning walk which I am sure will horrify her further! Seeing her next to a pony of the same size but a normal weight really drives home how fat she is!

 

[maya2008]

Her hair sticks up through the rug (it pokes through!). I have never had a sweet itch rug that allowed that. Is this the problem I think it might be?

 

[Quigleyandme]

It might be. Mine are a tightly woven cotton drill.

 

[Patterdale]

Get the vaccine. The depo one worked well for us. Has to be done in feb/March BEFORE the midges start.

 

[Widgeon]

Signs are that it rubs its whole hindquarters against the stable wall at night also.

My horse did that when he was overweight. Turned out he had EMS - once that was under control and the weight dropped off, the frantic bum scratching stopped. So I would also be very optimistic about a big improvement once you get the weight under control. Good luck!

 

[Gloi]

Her hair sticks up through the rug (it pokes through!). I have never had a sweet itch rug that allowed that. Is this the problem I think it might be?

I wouldn't think a rug like that would be midge proof.

 

[maya2008]

I wouldn't think a rug like that would be midge proof.

That is exactly what I am thinking. It’s really difficult to get on/off too. Came with her but I think my friend will need to buy her a new one.