sweet itch- purchase possibility

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Dizzydancer

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How much would you say having sweet itch should reduce the price of a pony?
Apparently easy to manage but does need supplements, just a rough guide how much you would want taking off price? I think current price is not taking into consideration the SI.
 
I'm not sure. I had a horse with sweet itch though and I'd have another! Boett rugs are the way forward.

All you can do is put in an offer.
 
Sorry I am not sure how much - would depend on initial purchase price really and maybe how bad the sweetitch is. I've used rugs, supplements and spray all together with timing turnout, but it was never completely successful. Those poor ponies really want to rub and scratch. I would preferably never have one again in this midgey location, not even for hacking/companion.
 
I've sold two ponies with sweet itch in the past couple of years. I didn't take anything off for it, they were both good ponies and sold without anyone haggling. Both of them went with two sweet itch hoodies.
 
If it's under control then I'd expect to pay around 75% of it's value

If not under control then a lot less

I bought mine with nasty sweet itch for £150 if in good condition and no sweet itch I would guess he would be worth around £800

Not many people out there happy to cope with it especially when ponies in general are cheap.
 
It really depends how bad a sweet itch they have. TBH id try not to buy a sweet itch horse/pony but would maybe consider it if i was buying in the summer and could see it was easily controlable it actually was. I wouldnt buy a horse with sweet itch at this time of year unless i knew it previously and and had seen it well managed.
 
I bought a pony from a renown breeder that had chronic unmanaged sweet itch. Once I learnt enough to manage it I never had any problems again.
That was before the new rugs came out that can pretty much prevent it. I wouldnt have swapped him for the world and would buy another without any qualms but I do have the time to deal with it.
We also dont show and so it isnt a problem
By the way i did pay a reduced price he was 400 13hh cob broken to ride and drive but he was in a very sorry state. If I had a good PC pony then I really wouldnt reduce by much
 
I would consider that it would reduce the value, but we discovered a fascinating side effect of ensuring that one of our horses had no sugar added to her diet, in any way. Her sweet itch completely vanished, I do sometimes wonder if the old boys who named this disease knew something that we have all forgotten.
 
The first ridden we had on loan had manageable sweet itch. Didn't really require anything more than an extra 5mins 2x a day. Owners would never sell, but the owners regularly get offers consistent with the price of any good fr pony.
Good point yorksg. Same pony originally had been crippled with lami & had severe si when they bought it. Since its been managed correctly for the lami, nothing special, just usual common sense low sugar & weight management you'd apply to any small native good doer, the si has only ever been mild.
 
Hmmm im not sure if i would reduce a horse if it had manageable sweet itch. I bought my boy with it and with a flyrug and benzyl benzoate and switch treatment hes never had an attack in over ten years :)
 
YorksG said:
I would consider that it would reduce the value, but we discovered a fascinating side effect of ensuring that one of our horses had no sugar added to her diet, in any way. Her sweet itch completely vanished, I do sometimes wonder if the old boys who named this disease knew something that we have all forgotten.
Click to expand...

Ditto this- I bought mine cheap from the stud where he was bred as he had bad sweet itch. When I changed on to a very low sugar diet (for his feet) his sweet itch completely disappeared.
 
Thanks all- its a family friends pony who have had him 8 years- he had very very mild sweet itch but it does seem to have progressively gotten worse. He doesn't get any sugar as is a lami risk as typical fat pony he would come to me as companion and for nieces and nephews to mooch on until i have kids of my own.
I will maybe offer to have him but take off price of rug as his last one is shredded. Although i need to think sensibly as feel friend put me on spot asking if i would like him.
 
To hijack the thread can I ask what people's sugar free diets are for their ponies?

Mine has HiFi molasses free, fast fibre and top spec balancer

It would be interesting to hear any particular recommendations

Does that also mean removal from grazing or grazing muzzles to keep them off sugary grass or hay analysis/soaking?

Obviously I will take all the normal lami precautions anyway so that would probably be half the battle
 
Can I add to WelshD's hi-jack. Would also love to hear sugar free diet guidelines.

My highland has mild SI but would not expect a price reduction on a pony with it if I had the knowledge and facilities to manage. In my case this means him wearing a Rambo hoodie when weather conditions indicate that a lot of midges might be out, as well as bringing him in overnight, every night and using Killitch (benzoyl benzoate), Avon Skin so Soft spray and Tritech 14 fly repellant as well as having him on NAF D-itch as a supplement. the nightly stabling also helps keep his weight under control of course.

Trying to hit it from every direction!

Won't wear a Boett as he seems to hate the flap thing under his tummy. Not sure if any of this helps! Good luck.
 
YorksG said:
I would consider that it would reduce the value, but we discovered a fascinating side effect of ensuring that one of our horses had no sugar added to her diet, in any way. Her sweet itch completely vanished, I do sometimes wonder if the old boys who named this disease knew something that we have all forgotten.
Click to expand...

ooh thats actually pretty interesting! always wondered where the "sweet" came from..
 
Depends on the severity....mild SI wouldn't be an problem to me and wouldn't expect a significant drop in price, but severe SI would make me think twice, with price reflecting the issue.
 
WelshD said:
To hijack the thread can I ask what people's sugar free diets are for their ponies?

Mine has HiFi molasses free, fast fibre and top spec balancer

It would be interesting to hear any particular recommendations

Does that also mean removal from grazing or grazing muzzles to keep them off sugary grass or hay analysis/soaking?

Obviously I will take all the normal lami precautions anyway so that would probably be half the battle
Click to expand...

soaking hay, muzzle or an almost bare paddock. Turn out at night, in during the day.
Does your pony REALLY need a feed? Why the Hi Fi AND Fast fibre? Fast fibre is enough! These natives have evolved to eat the lowest quality scrub. They do not need hard feed unless they drop weight or need some extra energy.
I have a lami prone one who has been clipped every winter and NEVER gets more than a bit of FF with a supplement (because he has further needs) but before health problems was clipped out, on soaked hay and NO feed - oh and in proper work too. The constant rain / sun / cold / warm we're having will play havoc with natives and many will come down with lami because the grass IS coming through. Ideally NOW is the time to start weight management. Lami prone ponies should -imo - come into the spring at about a 2 - 2.5. Not an ounce more.
 
Personally I dont see sweet itch as being an issue if you can control it. However it is seen as a 'vice' and I was told when I bought my gelding that people wouldnt have touched him with a barge pole due to his skin :rolleyes:

If the only is ideal for you then go for it and make an offer :)
 
I personally would not buy one - but..... we have a pony at our yard with it and with careful management (very early season wearing boet rug and LOADS of fly repellent!!) he seems to be itch free!
 
I bought a pony a while back with sweet itch which was undisclosed and very difficult to manage. She would literally be driven bonkers by her need to scratch including throwing herself to the floor while I was riding :eek:

After this terrible experience I am extremely put off buying another with the condition. However if I had been disclosed to me and was under control of perhaps a milder form of the problem I would be more open to it.

It's hard to say how much the price should be reduced (if at all) as there as so many different degrees of sweet itch so it all depends I suppose!
 
WelshD said:
To hijack the thread can I ask what people's sugar free diets are for their ponies?

Mine has HiFi molasses free, fast fibre and top spec balancer

It would be interesting to hear any particular recommendations

Does that also mean removal from grazing or grazing muzzles to keep them off sugary grass or hay analysis/soaking?

Obviously I will take all the normal lami precautions anyway so that would probably be half the battle
Click to expand...

For my horse it means very little grass, soaking hay, no mix/mollassed chaff/sugarbeet, no carrots/apples/other sugary fruit (anything that caramelises when baked is out!) I feed specific minerals as needed as I have had my hay analysed by www.forageplus.com and they have given me a feedplan so I know exactly which minerals I need to give him. I also feed oats and linseed for extra energy as he works fairly hard, 1-2 hours daily.
 
WelshD said:
To hijack the thread can I ask what people's sugar free diets are for their ponies?

Mine has HiFi molasses free, fast fibre and top spec balancer

It would be interesting to hear any particular recommendations

Does that also mean removal from grazing or grazing muzzles to keep them off sugary grass or hay analysis/soaking?

Obviously I will take all the normal lami precautions anyway so that would probably be half the battle
Click to expand...

I feed mine only oat straw chaff (it is very lightly molassed) and Speedibeet in the winter. I normally feed linseed and yeasacc, too, but ran out of linseed a while ago and left it out as a 'see how she goes'. With restricted grazing, she is 100% better than when I got her and I really think this is the main stay of SI management. She will be muzzled in the summer and in a lightweight during the spring, moving onto the SI hoody for the proper summer, until Autumn, when she's in the lightweight again (it's got a neck cover 2 sizes up, so right up to her ears and the belly is same cover as the hoody!).

In the quote above I notice you feed Hi-Fi and Fast fibre. One has alfalfa in it (I don't feed alfalfa for intolerance reasons, so consider this if you want to improve SI) and FF has garlic in it. Can be a gut irritant.

For OP, it's an individual case thing. Chloe was quite a lot, I thought, considering her anxiety and the SI (open wounds and no hair on the dock or base of mane) at £300 (unbacked pony). I don't regret it, though. I barely think about the SI, now it's under control. Having done the research and successfully managed one, I'd look at the environment the pony is kept in now, before making a decision. I don't have much faith in supplements and think they do very little without management changes also.

Basically, if you like the horse and think you can improve the management, I'd maybe haggle a little, but I would haggle whatever, as I'm like that!! :D
 
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Worth bearing in mind that the severity of the si can vary with the location. A pony living out up a dry windy hill might only appear mildly effected, or even not at all. Same pony in low lying ground with boggy patches could appear a severe case or suddenly show symptoms. So not impossible for someone to sell in good faith, only for the pony to show signs in a new home.
 
Depends. I have one and I probably wouldn't have considered or would have haggled in last place. It took no longer on the management side than daily checks and lived on site so not a problem, but I hated that I couldn't help her 100% and was always a little uncomfortable.

However now I'd not consider it a problem as where we've moved the horses to, mine is out unmanaged now and looks fantastic. Not affected in the slightest, although in a field with a lake and lots of midgies.

So I think it's very individual. As with most 'problems' horses come with.
 
my old cob mare had sweet-itch. Woudln't put me off buying another if everything else was right....I wouldn't even expect a discount!
Sweet-itch is easily managed these days!
 
We keep ours on old pasture (never seen a cow or new lay for over 50 years) nothing with alfalfa (one is intolerant) no sugar beet, no fruit or veg (except some brassicas, but very little and not very often). A mix of unmolassed straw and haylage in winter, unmollassed straw for bulk if they need to come in, in summer. If they need feed they get grass nuts, they have wheatgerm for their feet, brewers yeast and aloe vera juice for digestion. They are coming out of winter a bit bigger than we would like, but we are hoping to increase the work load to help weight loss. None of the current lot have sweet itch and we are not in a midgy place. When we had the one who was prone to it, we kept them next to a river, a mill dam and an ancient woodland, the removal of sugars apart from the grass reduced her sweet itch to nil.
 
My OH loans a cob with sweet itch and he's said that he probably wouldn't buy him because of it. His is quite bad and basically needs a rug on ALL the time or he will rub constantly there are scars in his neck where the girl who loaned him last year didn't look after him. We hope with decent electric fenced paddocks, the uber expensive rug we will keep him comfortable this year!
 
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