Sweet Itch

[Hemirjtm]

I know what it is, but what climates agravate it?

And also another question, can you ride a horse with sweet itch?

thanks

 

[Bananarama]

Muggy, wet and not windy basically. But warm. Basically the midgie season is from march to october. And is less so for less servere sweet itch sufferers.
Yes you can ride a SI horse, but depending on the severity of the case a boett blanket or at least midge spray may be advisable. There is studys of a vaccine taking place and I expect they will work it out soon.
Here are some pics of my very very severe SI pony. (he ripped his boett blanket on his neck and tail, and made a right mess of himself. The blankett was old and worn which is why it ripped.)

And this is him looking good, and one of him in his boett

 

[Hemirjtm]

he's so cute!! thanks

 

[ticobay831]

take a look at the sweet itch societys web site it is very good and tells you all you need to know and if theres somthing your not sure about, give them a call they are very helpfull

My ponies got really bad sweetitch, its now under controll and hes ridden all the time spent a week at pony camp lst year and was ridden every day there, no problems at all

 

[conniegirl]

My sweet itch pony still shows in summer. he is wrapped up in a boett when he isnt in the ring, but with his rug on he doesnt scratch at all.

 

[Hemirjtm]

thanks, i will tkae a look

thanks
xx

 

[carthorse]

It was so nice today I think I will have to start wrapping mine up ,he is in a turnout with hood but I think he will need his sweetitch rug under as I could see midge today

 

[Hemirjtm]

So sweet itch doesn't relaly bother anyone?

thanks for everyone's replies

 

[flyingfeet]

I wouldn't choose to buy a horse with sweet itch - their management is very intensive.

Mine will be rugged up shortly - unfortunately he won't be able to be stabled over summer as he rubs so badly. He lives out 24/7 with a myriad of rugs and bonnets and his exposed bits are slathered with sudocrem and nettex itch stop twice a day.

When competeing he is fine, just have to watch when he is tied up as will rub at any opportunity. However with rugs, to look at you would not know he had sweet itch.

 

[conniegirl]

Sweet itch in its severe state can be very distressing for horse and owner. I know of one lady who's horse had to be PTS due to it. the horse became so distressed even when wearing a boette and locked in a stable that was specificly set up for sweetitch suffers. It became unfair and cruel to lock him in a stable 23 hours a day between february and october, even locked in this stable with a boett on he still got bitten (you have to go in and out and the horse has to have at least some time outside to keep it sane). He used to tear the skin off his legs with his teeth trying to scratch them and he pushed was raw under the boett as he rubbed on the walls.

so whether it would bother me would depend entirely on the severity

 

[Hemirjtm]

ok thanks,

I'm not looking at buying one, i just wondered what everyones thoughts where, as there may be a pony being given away, because it has sweet itch, and it doesn't sound like a severe case!

 

[lilpinkdonkey4]

sweetitch only gets more severe though as they grow up. So if its a young horse with sweetitch then it can get worse (if you see what i mean).

My mare had quite sever sweetitch at my old yard and had no mane/tail etc etc despite boett. However she has been fine at new yard and spent some of last summer without her boett!!! she has a full mane and tail! So i think it must be to do with the types of fly as old yard had lots of horse flies and generally bugs, new yard, no horse flies and less midges!

Boetts are amazing however expensive they are worth the money!

 

[Lill]

Holly has sweet itch severely bless her. We need to get her a new boett this year she completely destroyed her last one. Its her tummy where she gets it worst and she is often found scratching it on the gruond which worried our liveries when they first saw her doing it they thought she couldn't get up

 

[flyingfeet]

There is one upside I just thought of looking at the pictures above - your sewing skills will dramatically improve once you have a horse with sweet itch

I can now do all rug repairs, even on the turnout rugs!!

 

[conniegirl]

Stan my pony has destroyed 3 boettes. weve since found out though that as well as sweetitch he also has an allergy to barley. we got suspicious when he was still scratching in december although it wasnt as bad as in summer so on the vets advice we swapped him to a ceareal free feed and the scratching stopped within a few days. This year will either prove or disprove that stan has sweetitch as he is no longer on any barley. however we do believe that he has a bit as he was on the sweetitch vaccine trials for the last 3 years and they have lessened the scratching.