Ticks?

[Dreckly]

My friends horse has been found to have a tick 2 days in a row, both of whom have been removed.

We are a little mystified as to how he is getting them. He is stabled at the moment as our grazing is closed. He is not being hacked out as his owner has damaged her back. His daily routine consists of exercise either on the walker, lunged or ridden in the school.

How is he getting the ticks? He is stabled on straw and I thought they jumped off a live host, and then moved on to horses within a relatively short time frame so we are a little flumoxed on this one.

Any ideas?

 

[Peregrine Falcon]

Pass! But my ponies and I are very vunerable!

This link maybe of interest to you and others. When I first moved to the area my mum was forever sending me articles on lymes disease.

http://newforest.gov.uk/media/adobe/ACFDD1D.pdf

 

[sarahann1]

Have you got cats on the yard? Or rats? Any long grasses, ferns etc on the way to the walker, they are good jumpers?

 

[Skipadeedooda]

Any dogs on yard? It could be something is hanging around in the grass near/round school like rabbits, badgers or deer passing through etc which might be carrying them.

 

[Tarte Au Citron]

My girl had this happen whilst on box rest, she ended up with about 5 on her in the space of a few days. We ended up getting a vet on christmas eve as she had a nasty reaction to them. I believe they can be found in straw, and we got some stuff (sorry i cant remember what it was) prescribed which we had to bath her in and disinfect the stable with on christmas day no less!

But anyway basically ticks will jump off vegetation onto a live host, and so could be in your straw, and they may also lay eggs in your stable (hence why we disinfected the stable to).

 

[putasocinit]

Lyme disease will occur if it is going to after 10 days of being bitten, but antiobiotics will treat the disease. Possibly a nest of ticks in the straw, check the walls for ticks on the walls then you know its from in the stable. Only way to get rid is remove all bedding and replace with frsh from a different bale. Again put an insecticide not poisonous to the horse on the horse to stop any future ticks biting, a bit like dipping a dog. But you need to find the source

 

[Dreckly]

Thanks guys. Yes, we do have cats and dogs on the yard, but no long grass at all. They have only been found on this one horse out of 18 who all share large bales of straw for stables. We will give the box a good going over as eggs could be the case.