Would you buy a horse with sweet itch?

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mudmonkey17

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Have seen a lovely 4yr old welsh sec d that sounds lovely but unfortunately has sweet itch. Is currently kept in an area with a lot of midges.

The yard I am at doesnt have many midges and turnout is on top of a hill with few trees etc. Have a pony already on yard with sweet itch but does really well with just a fly rug on in worst times of day.

Wonder I would be silly to consider taking something like this on?
 
No, definitely not. It wouldnt be suitable for me.

Sounds like your yard might be a better environment for a SW animal though.
 
Probably depends on how fantastic the horse is. If it's completely perfect for you and priced correctly for the sweet itch, then it might be worth it,

Paula
 
Sweet itch can be very difficult to manage effectively. I've always thought it's an inoffensive name for a nasty condition. There's a horse at my yard with it and he rubs himself absolutely raw in his desperate need to stop the endless itching. He has to have a new Boett rug every year and often a cheaper one in between because he wrecks them with his scratching. On top of this he has had to be hogged and he wrecks his stable almost as often as he wrecks his Boetts because of trying to scratch back, bum and belly -and that's despite good quality rugs. If you want a horse to show, you'll live to regret deliberately choosing a sweet itch horse. And you'll be horrified to learn how much sweet itch rugs (as opposed to ordinary, so called fly rugs) cost, how difficult they are to put on and take off, and how much you could be spending on supplements (that don't work), vet bills and over the counter creams.
 
If your prepared to manage the sweet itch and the horse is brilliant then go for it. my little man has had it since we got him 24 years ago and we managed to keep him comfortable and happy- and show at hoys with a full mane. This was before the invention of boet rugs, so probably easier now! He still has a lovely mane, we are just very careful about him being in before sunset!
 
I bought Motor 21 years ago and the Vet said he was a Sweet Itch sufferer, even though I bought him in May and therefore the 'season' had not started.

The seller denied he had Sweet Itch, but quite happily reduced the price, due to this diagnosis.

This was long before the Sweet Itch Hoodie was invented and I had to control it by using Benzyl Benzoate for the first 17 years. If I missed slapping it on then he would rub his tail off very quickly.

Since using the Hoodie I have not used BB, but he suffers badly on his belly, legs and sheath and I now use Sudacream to soothe it, as I hate BB.

Although I would still buy Motor again if he was 10 again, I would really think twice about knowingly buying another Sweet Itch sufferer.

But if you are prepared to manage it, then I wish you well ... but it can be very upsetting and distressing for the Horse and owner.

Good luck :)
 
If the horse is the right horse for you then yes , buy it. as long as you are prepared to ensure his/her needs are catered to. Get a set of rompers ( Boett look-a-like) and put it on Feb ish and then by Nov ish they can go out without . But you do have to ensure the rug goes on at the first sign of midges , if left too late then yes , mine would rub mane,tail etc off in an afternoon and run round the fields to get away from them. You dont need loads of lotions and potions, the rug is the main thing , if you stop the midge biting then they dont itch. The horse that rubs has already been bitten and its too late to then put a rug on!!! Good Luck
 
Yep i would.

My current lad has it. When i bought him he was a scabby mess on steroids. Because the previous owners where too lazy to treat the issue.

Now his mane an tail is kept clean, wash every week with a tea tree shampoo. And he wears a fly rug. And bingo, no sweetitch anymore! Hes got a full mane and tail and is much happier.
 
Eaglestone said:
I would really think twice about knowingly buying another Sweet Itch sufferer.

But if you are prepared to manage it, then I wish you well ... but it can be very upsetting and distressing for the Horse and owner.

Good luck :)
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Yes, would second this basically. My boy's got SI and I bought him knowing he'd got it as he suited me and I liked him, but I knew that because I've got my own yard at home, plus am self employed - I was going to be able to be around to keep an eye on him. We are reasonably high up here so again I figured that it wouldn't be as bad as it could be.

Bear in mind that the yard you describe sounds ideal, BUT you might not spend your entire life with this horse at this yard!!! You might want to sell him at some future point - and might well encounter problems. You'd certainly have to drop the price considerably.

And as someone else has said, you'll have to fiddle and faff with rugs, lotions & potions for the lifetime of that horse.

IF you are determined to go ahead; then I'd insist on a vetting where bloods are taken and you can then have a rough idea of what level of SI you're dealing with. Mine's mild to moderate; you could have a horse with "severe" and that's no joke. Mine has to have his hoody rug on all the time while he's out, from mid-February to end of October. This last year I was out on Xmas day faffing around with his SI rug coz the midges were around as it was so mild then. So bear in mind that its not just within the SI season but you can get midges other times too, and you'll have to either protect him manually (with a rug) and/or lotions like Killitch, which ARE effective, but aren't getting any cheaper.

You also might have to stable yours during the spring/summer/autumn months during the dusk to dawn period which is when the midges are most active - again adding to the cost of keeping him.

Having said all this!!! - SI is manageable; and after you've been through one summer and come out the other end, you'll get into the hang of it and it won't appear quite so daunting. Supplements mine has are brewers yeast & linseed, occasionally Clivers & Seaweed, plus Cider Vinegar sometimes too. I don't buy proprietory gunk as waste of money IME.

Also bear in mind that some yards won't accept a horse with SI; they're afraid of horses wrecking their fencing and stables. As a YO myself; I'd be iffy TBH - some owners of SI horses just chuck them out in the field and hope for the best, and you need to be a bit vigilant of whether the horse is OK or getting itchy, and if so bung on some Killitch and/or stable at night for a few days or whatever.

So in your situation, especially with a youngster, I'd think more than twice TBH; there are other horses around which haven't got SI. If I was taking it on, I'd expect a good'ish reduction in price (helluva lot in fact).

PS sorry meant to say that whilst mine has got SI; he's got a lovely full mane and tail and you wouldn't ever guess he was a SI - yes he is a bit more high-maintenance than other horses maybe but I love him to bits so he's worth it to me. He's also a traddie/piebald with lots of white bits: so I've got to put suncream on his nose as well!!! Plus because of his feathers he gets mites in them - another thing to have to faff around with!!! So a very high-maintenance horse basically! But the mare I've got also has to wear a fly rug coz she gets eaten to death else, so its not just SI horses you have to go buying rugs for.
 
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Provided it was absolutly and perfectly the horse I wanted in all other respectes I would then, yes buy a horse with Sweet Itch....... but would expect it to be cheap or even free depending on its other attributes. I would not buy an unbroken youngster with SI though just incase it turned out to be worthless altogether, thus proving a liability.
 
Nope, not for me, SI is driving my little lad nuts this year, worse than any before and though its being dealt with, its a pain in the toosh!

But I am on the very picky side of life, I'd also not buy:

A windsucker
A weaver
Anything with a history of lami (unless I'd known it for years)
Anything with sarcoids
Anything with a previous leg/tendon injury
Anything that over reaches
etc, etc, etc, etc

Can you tell I'm going to have a difficult time looking for my next horse???
 
It would depend very much on the severity of the sweet itch. My mare has mild sweet itch and is easy to manage, she has a boett style rug on (you can get one for around £100) and mine has lasted 2 years so far with a few repairs, and I use an ointment that keeps flies off as well as reduces the itching and fly spray for riding in.
Bathing regularly helps and some of them need stabled depending on the level of midges.
A severe sweet itch can just be heart breaking because nothing you do will help in some cases so it really depends on the horse. If the horse is everything you want otherwise, the price reflects the sweet itch and it's not too severe then I would go for it.
 
I have done before & I would again! My lad had it very badly when I bought him, but once I'd found a collection of things that worked for him I found it a doddle to control and you would never have guessed he had it in his last years - and we're unfortunately in a ridiculously midgey environment. I used a cheap but very effective sweetitch lotion (£4.50 and lasted ages), a boett rug (expensive but lasted him years and years!) and the global herbs skratch supplement and it completely changed him, he grew a full mane and tail and his coat was gorgeous - he didn't scratch at all with that combo.

As your yard is less midgey than where the horse is now then the sweetitch may be a lot easier to control where you'd keep him, but obviously it depends on the severity of it and whether you'd be happy to rug him / buy him the lotions & potions he may require as chances are it's something that he'll always have, to some extent, wherever he is. But obviously the less midgey the better! x
 
Yes. Especially if it wasn't too severe. Our last two ponies suffered with it, but it was easily controlled with sweet itch hoodies and a bit of cream here and there. We live at the bottom of a hill with marshy ground too - your yard sounds perfect for it.

This year will give you a great indication of how bad it will get - everywhere is so wet that the midges have been rife this season...

I sold both of our ponies for the same amount as I would have if they hadn't had sweet itch. They both sold pretty quickly. They both went with full tack and rugs, so had sweet itch hoodies with them ready, and any loitions and potions they needed.
 
Not where I am at the moment as the midges are terrible here. However there are other yards nearby that are more suitable.

It would however have to be a VERY good horse at a price much lower than it's otherwise worth.
 
We have 5 horses with SI on our yard and as long as they are all correctly rugged we have no problems controlling the SI.

IME fly rugs do naff all to help, boett or snuggy rugs are way forward.

I would buy a SI horse for myself, it really isnt that hard to manage.
 
starryeyed said:
I have done before & I would again! My lad had it very badly when I bought him, but once I'd found a collection of things that worked for him I found it a doddle to control and you would never have guessed he had it in his last years - and we're unfortunately in a ridiculously midgey environment. I used a cheap but very effective sweetitch lotion (£4.50 and lasted ages), a boett rug (expensive but lasted him years and years!) and the global herbs skratch supplement and it completely changed him, he grew a full mane and tail and his coat was gorgeous - he didn't scratch at all with that combo.

Could you please tell us what you bought for £4.50?
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I wouldn't buy anything with a known problem. Not sure how long you intend to keep the horse, but from a selling point of vue it's not great either.

Good luck with whatever you decide, Welsh D's are awesome!
 
It can be managed. I bought a horse with sweet itch once, I bought a Rambo sweet itch hoody for her and it was very effective. We are high here which may have helped, but she definitely would still have been a sufferer without the hoody.
 
Thanks for all those. Decided against it as my older lad ended up on box rest so didn't want to take on anything else with a known issue if could help it.
Have ended up with getting a lovely youngster on trial so all worked out ok in the end.
 
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