Sweetitch - foriegn horses in Europe V England Q

kickandshout

kickandshout

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 June 2008
Messages
505
Location
midlands
Visit site
here's a question for you . . .particularly for those of you not based in England.
is it common for European horses to suffer with sweet-itch when still in their country of origin. or do theses european horses develop sweet itch only when living in England.

basically if you've got a horse and he/she's got sweet-itch where are you and whats the horses country of origin ??

and if you confused by this post Ive just re-read it and i am too.
confused.gif

just a question to satisfy my curiosity.
smile.gif

thanks
 
There was one Shetland in France where I lived that had it badly, bless her. Never met any other cases there.

The ginger one over to England with me and he seems to be suffereing poor pone, he's never had anything similar before.
 
I think I know what you are getting at...

My current horse came from Holland, I got him in winter no signs of any previous sweet itch, lovely full mane and tail, no scars, scurf anything.

Come spring he started to show signs. Not only rubbing and itching like mad, pacing around in the field, biting himself and just going nuts when it was hot and the flies were out.

I've now moved 10 miles away.. but to a slightly more built up area and the problem vanished overnight!

(although new place has sheep ticks and mites instead...! )

Its caused by a certain type of midge bite, so guess it depends on the geographical distribution of that particular midge.
 
Unfortunately out climate is perfect for the midge which is why sweet itch is so prevalent in this country...
 
yeah this is what happened with my horse there were no signs at all then come the spring he got really itchy.
someone passed comment that foreign horses don't get sweet-itch ? wondered what other people experience of this was
ie unless they come to England ???
so i thought id pose the question
thanks for your replies.
 
I own an andalusian, she was born in spain and moved here when she was 9 months old. she had no problems when I brought her in spain although she was very young. she seemed to get a little 'itchy' the first spring, I have the misfortune of having a pool in my field. I just used fly spray the first year, however the following spring she seemed to get worse, but is completely controlled by putting on a very good quality fly rug, some coopers fly spray and basically making sure she doesnt spend any time without her neck covered unless it is either tipping it down with rain or blowing a gale, ie the midges cant fly!!!, she now has a beautifull full mane and tail and looks stunning, it just takes a little time and patience and hours of grooming to keep it looking wonderfull.
sweat itch can be a nightmare for the horse so work out whats going to work for each individual and stick with it. after all they are worth the time and trouble of looking after them
 
This is really interesting thread, I have andalusians, one of whom is an import, although all are what I would call 'itchy' and are sensitive to fly bites, none of them have full blown sweetitch. On the otherhand Sirena's half brother, born in England, developed sweetitch as a 2yo. I have always thought PREs are itchy horses but did not realise that other european breeds seem to suffer as much as they do when they come to the UK.

Edited cos my spelling is terrible!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top