the doom of sweetitch is soon to return

After trying allsorts I have foundc what works best for my 2 sweetitch horses.
1. Rug up early beging in March or even late February if its mild. I use Rambo hoodies.
2. Keep rugged until it gets hot eg end of June. I can remove rugs then but I need to apply BENZYL BENZOATE to mane and tail , I usually do this daily.
Then thats it til October when IO stop using the BB and just leave them to it.
Overall there is next to no itching/scratching. Just like normal horses.
I think if they get bitten early on and keep on getting bitten then the problem sort of builds up and they scratch for England come Aug sept oct. By rugging early it prevents this and I find they dont need to wear their Rambo hoodies all summer after the initial 3 or 4 months of midgies is over.
 
I feed brewers yeast from Feedmark at double the reccomended dose.

I also believe it is worth making diet as sugar free as possible and watching grass intake for the same reasons - my boy was definintely itchier, the lusher the grass.

I did find using Avon-skin so soft in my fly repellent last year was very effective at stopping the itching too :)
 
Another one for Boett rug (sadly it seems to be getting earlier and earlier each year) adn I also feed brewer's yeast. I get this from Feedmark - they are really quick at sending it out after ordering (and if you can see them at Burghley and other shows they do normally sell much cheaper than online).

I have tried Avon skin so soft in my fly spray but I dont know how much it helps though....

I did try to give him marmite when I first got him but he is definitely in the Hate It group!!! refused to eat it! :)
 
The reason for not feeding garlic has nothing to do with anaemia. It is because garlic can be a gut irritant in animals with over-active immune systems and thus confounds the situation. Sweet itch begins in the gut and is manifested in any epithelium, of which the skin is a type.

I manage mine as a laminitic, for the reasons I've already stated. High sugar diets can cause inflammation of the gut epithelium, so she's on restricted grazing for most of the year - by far the most effective action. I feed her Yea-sacc, now, as the BY source was variable, but both do the same thing - lower PRO-inflammatory cytokines and raise ANTI-inflammatory cytokines in the gut. One of the ways they act is by binding to bacteria, preventing the bacteria from then binding to the epithelium - the first stage of infection.

Topically I use Neem Oil and a 10% solution of Benxyl Benzoate, applied every two-three days, plus a sweet itch hoody, depending on time of year (late winter she sheds lots of fluff, so the hoody makes her more itchy). I use a lightweight rug throughout the season if it's raining, to prevent the wet/dry cycle on the skin. That seems to help and also acts as armour when she does have a scratch!
 
Can I ask what you all feed your horses? My mare is a mild sweet itch sufferer and intolerant to alfalfa so gets safe and sound and Allen and page quiet cubes.just curious as to what others feed.she also gets brewers yeast and linseed but my try equidermis by feedmark this year
 
littleladylou said:
what have you found effective in the past? I got my pony during the summer when he was already suffering so I couldn't do much more than soothe him with aloe Vera and baths in sweetitch shampoo. I would like to combat it early this year, his coat/mane/tail and face hair has grown back and he looks lovely it would be nice to keep him handsome and without discomfort. He always wears his sweetitch rug but I wondered what oils/homeopathic remedies you guys have tried?
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I wont be rugging or adding garlic I will be doing what I did last year which is Using a good fly spray!!!
Last year I used Farnam tri tec, result little or no rubbing and mane and tail intact ...
 
thatsmygirl said:
Pigpony you to right, my lad had a very bad reaction to killitch I can't use it.
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Another very horrific reaction here, resulted in one very unhappy pony and one large vet bill :(

Even if you've used it one year, please, please patch test the next I didn't, if I had my poor lad wouldn't have needed the vet.

Dreading the return of the itch, little lads tail is looking really healthy just now, hoping I can keep it that way this year.
 
My girl has mild sweetitch and is very intolerant to flies in general too. She spends summer in a Mark Todd fly rug with belly cover 24/7. I find adding any fly spray makes no difference whatsoever other than to my bank balance so I have stopped doing that. She lived out with the Mark Todd rug on last summer and she did pretty ok, provided the rug wasn't taken off for long periods. I did make the mistake of not using Killitch though which I have done every other summer, and she, for the first time, lost a patch of hair off her dock. If I use killitch I can just about stop it thinning to the point of being noticeable to other people. Will be using Killitch again this summer.
 
PandorasJar said:
I tried garlic once and within days found her worse. Then did some research and won't ever feed the stuff again!
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I suppose there is always a first time but I have used it with all the horses I've had in my care for over 40 years and have never had a bad reaction. What is the source of your research? (Wikipaedia has a lot to answer for).

In any case, there is no point in giving it when the sweet itch has started. It's too late then. It needs to be introduced gradually over several months before the sweet itch "season" starts.

And for the benefit of the contributor who said that sweet itch begins in the gut, it's actually caused by an allergic reaction to localised bites of midges in the culicoides family.
 
Cadburys_addict said:
Another one for Boett rug (sadly it seems to be getting earlier and earlier each year) adn I also feed brewer's yeast. I get this from Feedmark - they are really quick at sending it out after ordering (and if you can see them at Burghley and other shows they do normally sell much cheaper than online).

I have tried Avon skin so soft in my fly spray but I dont know how much it helps though....

I did try to give him marmite when I first got him but he is definitely in the Hate It group!!! refused to eat it! :)
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I'm a midge magnet and have a bad reaction to their bites but Skin So Soft certainly works on me as a deterrent. Can't speak for horses as I've never needed external fly repellent products.
 
Does anyone have any suggestions as to which shampoo to use? My mare is so sensitive to everything I worry about what to wash her in but she is so dirty after a winter playing in the field I need to wash her before putting her clean rug on ??
 
I feed my shettie a marmite sandwich every day and during the main sweet itch season I apply NEttex stop itch once or twice a week......fab stuff! He's much more comfortable than from when he first came to me 18 months ago!
 
Ellen. Research is just that. Research papers and talking to professionals. Having studied nutrition for small animals and exotics I have a lot of friends in the field. I found a lot of evidence against using garlic and won't again.
Global herbs fly free is the only product that I've used and seen a very positive result.

Mine moved last year and SI horse has shown no reaction to these midges so far so I'm just going to monitor unless she shows any signs.*global herbs worked within a couple of days so am happy to introduce that again if necessary.
 
I find garlic works to repel flies but not midges, so no good for sweet itch. Nettex Itch Stop cream contains benzyl benzoate. DEET cream and spray are good. D&H Itch Free is useful to feed.
 
Gloi said:
Besides always having rugs on we have used the Bioeos capsules from http://www.sweet-itch.co.uk/ for the past two years and they really seem to be helping. The first year I wasn't totally convinced they were doing much but this last year both ponies are reacting a lot less and have stopped mutilating the parts of their bodies not covered by the rugs. I like Nettex itch-stop too.
One has brewers yeast in his food as well but the other won't eat it.
Boosting the immune system isn't a good thing because it is the immune system's overreaction causing it in the first place so we don't feed garlic.
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I too am feeding a weekly Bioeos capsule (took part in orginal trials). This will be my second year so pleased to see this post as not totally convinced they are working but will continue! Also use Nettex and rugs - Snuggy and Boett. Tried everything as have had horse 15 years and she is a little cracker.
 
For the benefit of Ellen, the reason horses react to midges is because of the hyper-reactive immune system. This is what starts in the gut. Hence many horses react much less severely on a reduced sugar diet. Very few horses have a true allergy to midges. If they did there would be a lot of giant epipens about. ;)
 
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