Arghhh!!! Sweet Itch!!

[horsefreak]

Hiya!

My new horse Jack has got sweet itch! I don't think it's that bad, but he's rubbing his bum and neck quite a lot. I spray him every day with fly spray, and have just made a new recipe up (the other bottled stuff does not work), but what can I do to control it? Do I need to shampoo the mane, or apply something?? Jacks my first horse, but I have never known a horse or pony to have sweet itch personally, so I'm a bit stuck!!

Help!!

Ax ~ Jx

[janet hakeney]

I use either a boett blanket or a snuggyhoods sweetitch rug. This covers them and protects them from being bitten by the midges which causes it. When they are being ridden with the rug off just plaster them in fly spray.

snuggyhoods (http://www.snuggyhoods.co.uk/about.html)

boett blankets and National Sweetitch Helpline (http://www.sweetitch.com/)

[Miriam]

I use a fly rug with neck cover and belly flap. I have had her four years now and I find these very useful exceptthis year the flys seem to be worse and her face and ears are suffering :( Dousing her with Fly gel, fly spray, Dodsell and Horell Itch Free and garlic.

Funnily enough I was at a show yesterday and was reading a bottle of Sweet itch stuff and it recommends that Sweet Itch sufferers are bathed once a week.

[HairyCob]

If it isn't too severe try spraying or sponging the affected areas with avon skin so soft bath oil in woodland fresh fragrance diluted half and half with water, three or four times a week. Sounds odd I know, but honestly, it works for us! I also give a token feed with dodson and horrell itch free (2X100ml scoops) three times a week from the end of april right through the season. This keeps H.C. ( who had no mane or tail at all when I got him due to sweetitch) happy and itch-free in the main, if i notice him beginning to scratch I just up the number of times he gets sprayed and fed!

It's worth a try, as it works out much cheaper in the long run than some of the lotions and potions on the 'equine' market. (and none of them worked for H.C. anyway!!)

Good luck!

H.C.'s Mum!

[chapsi]

It's very frustrating to find your horse with sweet itch. I thought that wasn't such a condition here in the country, but I was wrong.
My horse had sweet itch, located at the base of his tail and mane. He was being washed with an anti-fungide lotion, but not much improvement. Then the vet prescribed him another treatment; daily washing with anti-septic soap, followed by Betadine lotion and then a zinc based cream on the affected areas. Presto! in 5-6 weeks the horse was fine, his hair is growing.
However, in order to help (?), I added D-Itch supplement to his feed, and now I am giving him Garlic, as well as Naf's Hoof and Hide (his skin became dull and his mane weak after this sweet itch scare) .

Janet, are you still in the UK? I thought you would be in Portugal by now. Mind you, yesterday it was 45ºC!!!!!

[Sable]

My friend has a horse with sweetitch and has found a product which has been very successful on several horses/ponies including my own.
Dilly had really bad mud fever and rain scald, after one month the results were amazing as you can see in the picture. The product (MOOR VITAL) is entirely natural and is added to feed. It can be obtained through M&D Enterprises on 01202 751467

[DebO]

My friends horse suffered badly with sweetitch would rub his tail to nothing. She has just bought a boett rug and the problem is solved,

I also used to have a pony who would suffer from sweet itch when he was put in a field next to woods. The midges live in bushes and trees! Don't necessarily have to be next to water either. Once he was moved to a more open field away from the trees the problem went.

[Tina J]

Boet rugs are brilliant, but if your horse is rugged it does need checking regularly. My horse's companion used to have to wear one, but his owner gave up after finding that he had got it half off and over his head! she now uses several lotions, the main one is NAF midge off.

Whatever potions or lotions you use (I have heard other people say that the Avon stuff works well for humans in Scotland - land of the midges!) don't forget to apply generously along the belly, between the hind legs high up, and er, around the crucial bits if you have a gelding. You don't have to spray, you can put stuff on a cloth to apply, and be firm, don't tickle, around the delicate bits! Although most horses scratch their manes and tails, the worst midge bites are found under the belly, where horses can't scratch all that easily. The mane and tail scratching is an allergic reaction to midge bites that are not neccessarily where they are scratching.

If the midges do cause actual raw patches under the belly, I found a product in my local saddlers called sooth itch, that has tea tree oil and lavender in, that seems to calm and heal the raw bits very quickly.

Good luck. Sweet itch is a real pain. Serious problem in France as well as the UK.

[Miriam]

Much cheaper than the boett and works just as well is the blanket they use for the Icelandics. Unfortuately I cannot find the webiste they are on so if any of you icelandic owners out there know of them please give me the URL

[chapsi]

My horse is yet again starting to scratch his tail, which means that 3 months of vet treatment have not worked. I am truely desappointed.
I rang Sweet Itch helpline, as I had read that Edinburgh University was conducting trials to produce a vaccine. They told me that it will take at least 3 years for the stuff to be on sale, that I should use a boet blanket all the time. I cannot bare the thought, having to keep my horse rugged, in particular considering that he is stabled, even when I ride him. That feels strange.

[Miriam]

I have been given the URL for the icelandic rugs :

http://www.ihsgb.freeserve.co.uk/ihsshop.htm

[Showjumper]

Benzyl Benzoate is also very good.

[HAYLEY GITTOES]

Ive had my horse 7 years this year, and she has never normally been affected by switch itch, until this year, - were have all the flys come from?!

What i have done is keep her covered up and covered her with lods of fly spray, and she has coped with it, but ive found that they were only going round her face!

Did anybody else find this?

[Big Ears]

Our donkey #Aimee has sweet itch and wears a boet rug all the time, doesn't seem to bother her.

However they do tear easily and do get very tatty after a while.

[Miriam]

Originally posted by HAYLEY GITTOES


What i have done is keep her covered up and covered her with lods of fly spray, and she has coped with it, but ive found that they were only going round her face!

Did anybody else find this?

Covering Rhi in fly spray never helped. She still came in scrubbed to bits. She would come in with lumps of coat off. Best thing I had was from a girl on another group (which is not there anymore) It was hebal and like a clay which you rubbed ontothe affected parts. It was brill. Her fly cover is the best thing I have invested in for her although she seems to be able to slip out of this one when it's raining (and it's smaller than last years yet she never got out of that one). Only one snag and that is I seem to be investing in one every year :(