Would you buy a horse with SWEET ITCH?

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JULESMGARNER

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A friend is going to look at a horse who ticks all the boxes except he has sweet itch. The seller says it is well managed with a rug and not a problem. Neither of us have any experience of sweet itch - is it easily managed or a pain in the butt?
 
yes providing it was clearly managebale with rug and you could see no signs of bad itching. I have had several with the dreaded itch and all have been fine living out all year with their rugs on.
 
It depends on where your friend is planning to keep the horse. If it is somewhere where there are likely to be midges (near a river/standing water/in a forest etc), then she needs to think very carefully. I have one with sweetitch - he wears a rug 24/7 from end of March onwards. He has got more sensitive as he has got older, given the choice I wouldn't buy another one with sweetich.
 
Personally no, there are many more horses out there for sale that will 'tick all the boxes' that don't have sweet itch. It's an ailment that takes quite alot of managing & I would rather find another horse.
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no.but i wouldn`t swap my girly (who developed it since i have had her.)
leccy fence everything and a pagony rug.
before i bought the pagony i could not stable her cos of it but is ok now.
 
I bought a pony with sweetitch because it was what was required for child at the time and really is/was a good well known pony. Sweet itch is managed with a rug, and I'm still happy.

Would I buy another? For me, probably not. Huge amount of horses on the market now compared to then, for horses I normally buy mares with an eye to their future breeding potential (and only consider good candidates for this) so SI would rule them out for me.
 
I have just taken on a lad with sweetitch that hadn't been treated for months & after a couple of weeks of treatment he is showing improvement already.

So I would say go have a look & chat with the owner
 
Yes probably! But I am the type of owner that likes a challenge and having a problem to manage! My current horse was lame with athritis when I had him but with regular work, the right supplements and treatments is now competing in both dressage and jumping.

You friend would having to be willing to spend more time and money on her horse. It will need special rugs, supplements etc and may need to be kept in at dawn and dusk when the midges are at their worse. If it really is her perfect horse though this extra outlay will be more than worth it.
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No, I owned one once and it was horrible. You feel really useless. TBF back then SI rugs and supplements hadn't been invented. I used to cover him in garden fruit netting - I should have patened it.
 
Personally, no I wouldnt.
I live in a very midgy area, so it would be very unpleasant for the horse and probably impossible for me to manage it successfully.

If the horse is truly fantastic in every other way, it may be worth considering, but be prepared for lots of extra hard work and expense to manage the condition.
 
Wouldn't knowingly buy a horse with problems - if it develops it thats a different matter but why buy a problem?
 
I can't see why anyone would discount their perfect horse just because it has sweet itch.....if the horse has a rug and isn't in a bad way at the moment then it is obviously manageable.

I had a pony with sweetitch for 16 years, he was hogged when we got him as the old owners didn't know how to manage it.

Funnily enough, he grew out of it in later life.
 
yep, i did. its fine if you manage it. mines not rugged but stabled overnight, not a serious case, the midges bite around dawn and dusk. she's good to handle, clip, shoe, bath, etc etc and as someone more knowledgable than me said - better a horse with SI that you can manage than one that has not got it and has other problesms.

lets face it, there are some many personaility traits/vices (copd/weaving/not good travelling/seperation anxiety etc etc) now with horses, its got to be whats right for you.

You've just got to be prepared to manage the condition.

do some research and see if anyone in your area has a horse with SI you can go and see how they manage it.
 
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yep, i did. its fine if you manage it. mines not rugged but stabled overnight, not a serious case, the midges bite around dawn and dusk. she's good to handle, clip, shoe, bath, etc etc and as someone more knowledgable than me said - better a horse with SI that you can manage than one that has not got it and has other problesms.

lets face it, there are some many personaility traits/vices (copd/weaving/not good travelling/seperation anxiety etc etc) now with horses, its got to be whats right for you.

You've just got to be prepared to manage the condition.

do some research and see if anyone in your area has a horse with SI you can go and see how they manage it.

[/ QUOTE ] totally agree with you
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I would providing i had the facilities, i.e. nice big windy field with no water (except the tough of course) I've looked after a percheron and shetland with it, ok its a pain but the looks you get from them when you give them a bath or a scratch is so sweet. Guess i'm a bit of a sucker!
 
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Personally no, there are many more horses out there for sale that will 'tick all the boxes' that don't have sweet itch. It's an ailment that takes quite alot of managing & I would rather find another horse.
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Word for word what I would have said.
 
I wouldn't but it's a personal choice. I wouldn't want to buy a horse with a problem. If your friend has the time, money and patience and it is the perfect horse then buy it, but for me the answer would be no.
 
I have had one and would have one again, but then again I live in midge heaven at the moment, so that would have to be a no because I'd never be able to take the rug off it
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She's just got to be prepared to spend on a new SI rug every couple of years (and maybe invest in 2 in the first year to have a spare so when one's being washed ned isn't without a rug) and on decent fly repellants for when she's riding.
 
Thank you all for your opinions/advice. So are there degrees of sweet itch, ie ranging from mild sweet itch which might not be a problem, to severe sweet itch which could be heavy going? Anyway from what you've all said, I think it's going to be a no-no as she is at the same yard as me and a river runs through/alongside the field so lots of midges !
 
Yes there can be mild to very severe sweet itch. You can usually tell by how much mane/tail/fur bare patches/regrowth ans scurf there is. It also depends heavily on the environment, and sweet itch sufferers have been known to clear up completely when moved yards.

Running water isn't so much of a problem, its stagnant water, sheltered areas and rotting vegetation (e.g. an unmaintained ditch) that make good areas for midges.
 
No I wouldn't (not unless they get this vaccine sorted). My boy is perfect in every other way but I hate hate hate the sweet itch. I hate that he never goes out without a rug on (by the time it's warm enough to leave off the NZ he's in his Boett). I hate that I have to be thinking midge all the time. I hate that I can't get him to keep a decent mane. I hate the distress it causes him.

And that's with a pony that is very well managed
 
goggles has sweet itch on his tail and bought some kill itch? from carr day and martin and i have to say its absolutly fantastic - after a few weeks the hair had grown back and you can hardly notice it now - he has the stuff on am and pm and also has a fly rug due to being very sensative to fly bites.
 
Yes I did back in January this year and we haven't regretted it for a minute. It turns out the Boett rug and a bit of Avon Skin so soft when the rugs in the wash is sufficient to manage her. We bath her regularly for shows anyway which I think helps keep any midge bites down a little. We do have a fair few midges around where we are.

She was bought as a confidence giver for my daughter and their progress has been a joy to watch.

I know of another pony who changed yards (but in the same area) and the sweet itch has gone completely
 
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bit of Avon Skin so soft when the rugs in the wash is sufficient to manage her. We bath her regularly for shows

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Can I ask what you bathe her with?

With regard to the Avon Skin So Soft - do you rub it into her tail and mane or what? I was given a tub of Camrosa with our pony and have been using that and it seems great.
 
Ive got a pony with severe sweet itch, he shows and wins in M&M classes so if your friend can manage it then I'd have no propblem buying a sweetitch pony.

With a rug, an a few fly sprays/soothing sprays my lad is perfectly manageable. I tried the vaccine and had an improvement every year i was on the trials.
 
If the horse was the right horse for me, I would.

I really hate the condition, but it can be managed, it is hard work but it can be.
 
Not buying Henry wasn't an option for me, I had already fallen for him!
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Oh and when we had him vetted the vet told us don't be so silly to turn him away just because of it. They had their own SI pony I think.

I'm trying to rack my brains for the organisation's name to tell the OP to browse their stuff and maybe contact them... is it the national sweet itch helpline?
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Very good.
 
[ QUOTE ]
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bit of Avon Skin so soft when the rugs in the wash is sufficient to manage her. We bath her regularly for shows

[/ QUOTE ]

Can I ask what you bathe her with?

With regard to the Avon Skin So Soft - do you rub it into her tail and mane or what? I was given a tub of Camrosa with our pony and have been using that and it seems great.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3077263/an/0/page/0#3077263
 
Yes, I would, but only if it meant I was buying a horse I otherwise couldn't afford.

Like others said, it would also depend on whether you have the facilities to keep a SI horse (windswept, no barbwire etc)

SI is usually progressive, getting worse with age. Buying a 4yr old horse who's already itching themselves raw is a Bad Idea.
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