Tea and Sympathy needed please (sorry very long)

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Lel

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I have had a real belly full of everything at the moment. I feel like giving up. After the floods last summer my coloured cob got very badly fly bitten and had an alergic reaction to the bites. This made her skin hypersensitive and in late October she became very very itchy. She has wrecked all my fencing, ripped rugs, smashed her stable partition several times but worst of all has rubbed herself completely bald and to bleeding in several places. I have tried alsorts of ideas and remedies as recommended by fellow horsey people but to no avail. Just after christmas, she developed an infection in some of the rubs and I have had the vet. We have done skin scrapes scab cultures anti-biotics and little progress has been made. She has developed folliculitis. I have to bath her every other day with this special shampoo. (trying hard to keep her warm)I can't ride her because of the tack rubbing on the bald bits and scabs and anyway it does not seem fair when she is on antibiotics. My poor baby, and I am having to wash and disinfect rugs and under rugs every night and she doesn't seem much better.
On top of all this, we were taking her up to the vets last night and even though we have travelled her lots of times and to lots of places for lovely hacks etc, she has suddenly decided that she cannot stand up in the trailer. She has never been frightened or had a bad ride, she has no fear of going into the trailer, but she just couldn't balance on the corners at all last night and ended up falling in the trailer and getting wedged. It was 6 lanes of backed up rush hour traffic. She was panicking and thrashing about with all four feet against the side of the trailer and her body at a 45 degree angle against the partition. I thought we were going to have to put her down in the trailer because she was wedged at such an angle. We had to undo the partition and let her fall onto the floor. When she got up she wanted out big style. Some people stopped to help us and stopped the traffic. We got her out. (thank God she is bomb proof in traffic) there were great massive lorries and every form of transport you could think of. Thankfully going very slowly. We walked her for about half a mile up the slipway and onto a minor road. Thank God she was ok apart from grazes and bruises. Eventually we decided to load her again and my husband (very dangerously but we had no alternative) travelled in the trailer with her. I drove very slowly and every time she leaned and tried to do the 45 degree thing my husband firmly told her to stand up and gave her a tug. She responded and we made it home. Battered bruised and very frightened and shocked all 3 of us. My cob is a pleasure horse. We often box up to the beach or to a local trail and I take her on holiday with me and do pleasure rides and things like that. If I can't travel her I dont know what I will do as there are very few good rides without a journey. Does anyone have any suggestions at all. She is not ill in herself; full of beans when I turn her out. Eating well etc. Had a blood profile done last week and all fine. How can I teach her to travel again. Has anyone else had either of these problems please?
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I am sorry you are having a terrible time.
Firstly ,I have a lovely horse with sweetitch and it is important to start early and cover them up ,even in the stable, cover them from head to tail and tummy too.
Secondly , your horse ,for some reason ,now needs more room.Travel her without a partition so she can spread her legs .If you travel two horses you will have to get a lorry and give her loads of room.
Sorry
 
With regards to the hyper-sensitivity I know someone who's horse developed something very similar after the floods last year.

She has found that it is actually some sort of photo-sensitivity. So her horse only goes out in the field fully rugged, with one of those nylon show hoods on. In the summer he goes out fully rugged and generally only at night and that seems to reduce the irritation/sensitivity.

RE. your travelling problems have you thought about getting a natural horsemanship type person out to help you? Have a look on the Monty Roberts website www.intelligenthorsemanship.co.uk they have a list of recommended associates, who specialise in things like loading/travelling.

Good luck!
 
Poor horse!
You could try travelling her without a partition as long as you have a full width breastbar; if you haven't one, your trailer maker can supply them. Without a partition she might feel better able to spread her feet and balance, some horses need to stand with feet wide apart. It might also have something to do with her condition, she might have wanted to rub and it coincided with you turning a corner or slowing down; it's something you'll never know unless someone following you could say. If you do travel her without a partition, do cross tie her so she can't bend round or reach from one side of the trailer to the other.
 
if you take the partition out you can `cross-tie` her ,2 leadropes,one each side.my cob only travels like this and likes to stand diagonally.
 
Poor horse, I bet you're tearing your hair out trying to help her. I can do tea and sympathy but I'm afraid I've not got much experience with either of your problems. Only suggestions I've got are; for the skin problem put sheets under the under rug next to her skin so these are easily changed and less hassle to wash every day; and for the travelling try no partitions or a lorry. There are lots of people who have experience with travelling problems come on here, you'll get loads of help on that one. Hope your mare feels better soon, she sounds lovely apart from her recent bad luck.
 
Is it possible that either the illness or the antibiotics have affected her balance, hence her 45degree angle problem when travelling? There could be a build up of fluid in her inner ear which is causing this problem.
 
Dont despair over the travelling issue my friends horse did the same thing last week.This week they took her out round the block for a very small journey and she was fine.They have since taken her further afield .Like your horse this was the first time it had happend.Good luck with sorting your other problems out .
 
I agree with cellie. Let the vet come to you I know it costs more but it's better than stressing her out even more at the moment. When they sort out what's wrong with her skin. You can start the travelling by loading and just going round the block a few times and then increasing the distance after a while so that you can get her home and are not stuck in traffic and have to unload her. I would die if I had to do that you are very brave. Keep us all posted on development. Loads of tea and sympathy
 
So sorry, it sounds so awful and I can just imagine how awful it must have been to unload on a main road. Everybody's worst nightmare. Good luck, I 'm afraid I don't have any helpful comments other than to echo more room in the trailer.
 
Is your vet trying to find the cause of her condition? It does sound (from reading your post) that he's more concerned with treating the symptoms? Is she being fed? ie could she have something ludicrous like a wheat intollerance?

I really feel for you, this must be an awful situation.
 
Just to say I hope she recovers - Cairo's itchy problems have really improved with brewers yeast, linseed and he has Simple Systems feeds - nothing more than organic fibre - the boys eat better than I do. I also rug just enough to keep warm and he has a rambo protector when out - this probably won't help you as it sounds like she has more problems that being an old itchy hairy like mine.

I travelled Chancer at the weekend cross tied without the partition - I have a full width front bar and am now going to get the full width rear bar. He travelled far better and was very happy and relaxed and more content to stay in the trailer whilst I went and did things. My first TB had to travel with way or she would fall over.

Sending you a cup of tea with a large packet of biccies and a big hug.
 
Poor you and poor horse! I can't help with the travel issue but I too have a very sensitive-skinned horse and what works with him is wrapping up in a Rambo Sweet-itch Hoody from March-October and feeding NAF D-Itch during that period too. Avon Skin So Soft helps with his face (he doesn't tolerate a full hood) and any other exposed bits.

Somebody suggested putting a sheet under your horse's rugs to make the hygiene aspect easier - that's a great idea and an inexpensive summer sheet/fly sheet would do the job.

Hope you find solutions to both your problems.
 
I had a pony who did exactly the same in a trailer - he always loaded (bless him) but, as soon as we went round a corner he'd scrabble and fall, it was terrifying when i followed behind ocnje to see exactly whats was going on. We finally resorted to buying a small, 2 horse, forward facing (and v old!) wagon instead and he travelled in that no problem so journeys were stress free. I have never gone back to an trailer since and.

As for the skin, my horse gets horrendous dermatitis on his legs in the damp weather (well all year round but seems aggravated in damp weather) we treat with aloe vera and some other dermatitis cream you can buy. I fully clip himin winter and also in summer as he has a coarse coat which, when he gets hot causs him to scratch more.

As mentioned you really need to find out the cause. If it is photosensitvity this can be due to an underlying liver problem and for some reason the UV rays cause the skin to react (this happened to my old pony as he was on bute for bone spavin for many year but it had damaged his liver). I won't use bute again for long periods now for that reason.

It is more likely to be a simple allergy to something but definitely the vet shoudl do more tests.
 
You sound like you are having an awful time. I agree with the posts about removing the partition as I have seen this a few times before and that appears to solve the problem. We keep our dermatologically challenged youngster in a rug, neck to tail, 24/7 all year round and that has stopped all rubbing and itchiness. BUT you could try a crossgates farm bio test, you send a hair sample which they analyse and then make up a homeopathic remedy for what is shown up on the analysis (tailor made). I intend having one of these done for Breeze but at the moment I simply cannot find the money to do it (£100), I hate the thought of him having to wear a rug his whole life. This would show you exactly what was going on metabolically with her and what is causing the problem. Good luck with her, she must be totally fed up.
 
Hi did you have any success with the travelling issues?

I have just joined this forum as I have been researching travelling issues and found your post on a general search and had to know if you have got anywhere.

My horse has a similar iproblem in my ifor williams trailor, no matter what side he travels on he cannot tolerate the trailor turning in the opposite direction and ends up leaning heavily on the outside wall and with all four feet unter the central partition.

I'm desperate now as its gone on for some time and I fear he'll injure himself. I just don't give up with this sort of thing though and I have to find a solution.

Like you, travelling for us is a big part of our leisure activities and he has never been given a bad ride (did refuse to load for a few weeks but he's over that now) the only thing I can link it in with is when I upgraded my trailor in 2005. Same make, same model but ali floor.

All the money I have is invested in trailor/car combo and he has the best that is available so upgrade to a wagon is not an option.

Have also been warned against travelling without the partition but tbh I'm ready to give it a shot as it seems highly hazardous to carry on as we are doing any way.

Hope you can help
 
Thank you so much for responding. I think I will have to try without the partition. She doesn't have sweet itch: No mane or tail problems; These flies that bit her originally, bred in the flooded part of my field. Funnily they only bit her on the black parts (she is piebals) but the vet has now confirmed folliculitis caused by infectionof the orioginal trauma.
 
As someone else said, I would be asking the vet about any medication she is on. It could be causing a loss of balance. Also if she is feeling weak or out of sorts from the itching then that could cause the loss of balance.

Tea and sympathy on their way...
 
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