Would you buy a horse with feather mites?

[Tapir]

Just been to view a nice cob who has feather mites. She would be coming to live with my other hairy cob who does not. I haven't deal with mites before but know they can be a real problem. Would it put you off buying?

 

[Lintel]

As long as it is controlled its fine, wouldn't put me off- would perhaps encourage me to make a slightly lower offer! Would definely keep in iso though until you have it under control but there is definitely alot to be said for pig oil and sulphur

 

[shortstuff99]

Yes and she was one of the best horses I have ever owned feather mites can be easily controlled.

 

[Tobiano]

Prior to buying my perfect horse I'd have said no, but he had them (unknown to me!) and I am SO glad that did not put me off. Couple of dectomax injections and clipping feathers will be required - I'd discuss this with the seller and get the cost knocked off his price. It is not cheap! And IME it is relatively likely to recur, but a small price to pay if the horse is going to be anything like my paragon!

 

[Spreebok]

I'd have a proper good dig around in the feathers and see if what you're dealing with. My mare came with feathermites, and whilst a course of dectomax got rid of the mites, the skin was so scabby and sore underneath from her itching, it remained itchy and bloody, and I ended up having to shave them off in order to get mite/steroid cream on them and get them to heal.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

As I said on another thread today, when I bought my Westphalian Kaltblut (Draft) mare she had just had a Dectomax injection for FM. She appeared to have several recurrences over the 4 yrs that I have had her and various treatments have improved her itching but not been a cure.

Now that I have realised that the pastern dermatitis, which she has obviously suffered from for years, looking at her scarring, is actually caused by her diet (which I though was very simple and straightforward), she is absolutely fine.

So yes, I would buy another one with itchy legs but I would immediately strip the diet back to absolute basics - grass/hay only and go from there.

 

[Kacey88]

My mare had feather mites when I bought her, quite bad too. I treated them once and they haven't come back in four years. Although she's not particularly hairy. If the horse ticks all your boxes I'd say go for it, no such thing as a perfect horse.

 

[Arzada]

Just been to view a nice cob who has feather mites. She would be coming to live with my other hairy cob who does not. I haven't deal with mites before but know they can be a real problem. Would it put you off buying?

I would take a very close look at the pasterns to see the extent of damage to the skin and flesh. We looked after a horse where the damage was so bad that there were several long deep sore crevices in every pastern that we never got it sorted. The horse sadly died very suddenly - maybe we'd have succeeded but it really was an uphill struggle and I don't know if we'd have got it sorted after several previous years of neglect. The horse was very sensitive to any handling around the lower legs so it took hours to trim the feathers and treat not to mention being hazardous due t the horse's understandable sensitivity - it must have been so sore.

 

[Tapir]

Thanks everyone. The cob seems good in all other ways but I didn't really get chance to have a good look as she was not happy for me to touch her leg s at all. Apparently her owner had been picking at the scabs whilst she was waiting for me.


Her legs are clipped and the vet has seen them. I don't want to miss out on a great horse but am wary of buying trouble.


Eta she's only on grass/hay atm, no hard feed at all

 

[FFAQ]

It depends on how bad they are! I had 2 elderly horses that had suffered for years before I had them, and the scaring was so bad we never really got on top of it. The old mare absolutely hated having her legs touched - we had to sedate her to clip the hair off so we could see what we were doing (veterinary sedation, not just a tube of sedalin), and then followed that up with 6 months of antibiotics and steroids, which meant careful laminitis monitoring. The drugs didn't appear to help and eventually to say that I'd tried everything, I tried Applied Zoopharmacognosy (kind of like aromatherapy). That really helped us to get it under some kind of control, and importantly got her trusting me to touch her legs again, but it was a heart-breaking, expensive battle.

If you do buy her, I learnt that you shouldn't use straw for bedding as mites can live in the straw, get a good pair of clippers, pig oil and sulphur is great, avon skin so soft also has a good reputation, use hibbiscrub as an absolute last resort as it can be very drying.

Good luck!

 

[FFAQ]

PS, ought to add that it didn't put me off feathered horses - I have to hairy boys now who thankfully don't seem to suffer at all!

 

[Arzada]

Thanks everyone. The cob seems good in all other ways but I didn't really get chance to have a good look as she was not happy for me to touch her leg s at all. Apparently her owner had been picking at the scabs whilst she was waiting for me.

Are you going to see her again? You need to take a good look and/or feel of the pasterns. If you buy her you will find kinder ways than picking off the scabs! We like Hilton Herbs Phytobalm but didn't use it on the horse I mentioned earlier because his long deep sores were open and weeping. Good luck and let us know how you get on.