To Rug or not to rug + Skratch plus update

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oldie48

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Lots of threads about rugging in this difficult weather! yesterday was showery, warm and windy, so what to do?fly rugs (horrible if rained on), lightweights (horses tend to get warm if the sun comes out) or au natural? Following discussion on "do flies fly in the wind" as one horse is quite reactive to fly bites, we decided, no. Lovely to see horses grooming each other etc. however, this morning elderly cushinoid TB is covered in lumps and has a huge patch of sore skin on his HQs.
PS, horse has been on Skratch plus for several months, I',m not going to buy anymore but will try Brewers Yeast and Tumeric unless anyone has any better ideas!
 
Its difficult personally with my sweet itch pony we always rug with fly rug no matter if its going to rain, he does however have one of those fly rug with waterproof top, i think these are brilliant for when its going to rain but still be warm.
Also some fly rugs now ie premier equine actually seem to be water repellent, so although have holes horses stay dry.
 
Our sweet itch horse has her Rambo sweet itch hoody on all the time as you never know when the midges might come out! I do have a waterproof liner for it but use that when it's colder. She has been ok with her rug on in the rain.
 
As per my vet baby as fly sheet on from feb through till after we have had a few hard hard frosts rain or shine to prevent that first bite that will start the sweet itch. Flies are always arounnd grrrrr
 
It's tricky isn't it! Although my mare doesn't suffer from sweetitch, she does react very badly to bites and unfortunately we're in a very midgey area - so I've been putting her Premier Equine superlite fly rug on - the one with the waterproof top, and it's been fab. It's very, very lightweight (as the name suggests ;) ) so she doesn't get hot in the random spots of warmer weather we have, but when it chucks it down, it dries off almost instantly. As the top section is waterproof, the top of her neck/back escapes the worst of the rain. The others don't seem to react to the midges as much as she does, so they go out naked or in a fly sheet - which isn't pleasant when it's wet but they do have field shelters they could use! x
 
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