Lice Infested Pony

[joey_olop]

Ive just taken a new horse on, but she is absolutely infested with lice.

Its all in her mane & down her face & neck.

Where do I start??

I have tried louse powder-its not working.
Im worming her this weekend but she had the worming jab about 2 months ago

Is there some kind of shampoo I could use??

Also could I start to comb the eggs out with a nit comb??
Ive never seen anything like it, she is really sore around her head so its proving difficult to treat them.

Poor girl

 

[KAB]

Oh that is awful....poor thing. When i bought my horse, his mane had been logged and i was informed that it was because he`d had lice - i presume it helped them manage it better and could see what they were working with. I dont know personally what horsey stuff you could use and sure someone on NR will be able to advise you, but i wonder whether tea tree head lice for children would be of any use - i mean it works well on them and it perhaps may be cheaper to buy too. Good luck!

 

[*Lizzie*]

I'm pretty sure you can get a jab from the vet to kill all lice and prevent them. I was told it costed about £50 but thats cheaper than buying tub after tub of lice powder!!
What powder have you used? Maybe you oculd try another, I once used a good one which was in a white tub with green writing, not sure what it was called but fairly powerful as was for use on livestock too.
You can also get shampoos, never tried them though but might be worth a go
Places like Scats and bartletts have a good range of lice products you could try!
Good luck

 

[Mehitabel]

vet is your best option - there is a liquid you can get that you put all down their spine, mane etc, but i am having a blank on the name. you might not need a visit - perhaps phone and see if you can go and pick some up. ryposect? something like that.

get enough to treat any others you have, as well, as they are likely to spread before you get shot of them all, and remember you'll have to do a few treatments to break the breeding cycle.

 

[Jessey]

The powders are not strong enough to deal with that extent of problem, ask your vet for Deosect or you can by that or Spot-On from a good agricultural merchants. Both of these you just apply down the mane and mid line back and the little blighters die very rapidly - you just have to re-treat after about 6 weeks to ensure you get all of them depending on where they are int he life cycle.
Then just use the powder to douse all rugs and brushes etc or else he will just be re-infested when you use those items again.

 

[becs]

The only stuff that worked for us was Deosect (cypermethrin) bought OTC from vets. You can sponge it down their backs (or spray it on, but ours hate that).

One tin is quite pricey (£25??) but our vets sell you a small amount to dilute, if you prefer.

A bonus is it keeps flies off for up to a month.

 

[capalldubh]

Yes, I've used the Spot-On - bought the dog ones that come in little vials. Apply somewhere they can't lick it off and where other horses don't groom them (challenging, this - under forelock is a good bet, inside hocks OK too. Use your imagination Then, as mentioned above, reapply within 4/6 weeks to make sure you've got both live adults and new hatched ones. Spot-On is also cypermethrin (or is it permethrin?). Apparently Frontline spray works too, and Deosect is same stuff as spot-on (though maybe in different concentration?). I don't know if any of them are licensed for horses, so definitely try a small patch test if you can.

And it does keep flies off superbly too

 

[showjumper-zoe]

Wash with dermoline anti lice shampoo stuff then use louse powder.

 

[Rips]

I have just got Liceban (its also cypermethrin) to treat a mare thats sharing field with mine - Its like spot-on, you put it up at the withers, I used it two days ago and I've found dead lice already. The recommended a lower dosage then whats on the bottle though as its meant for cows! He said its ok for this pregnant mare though so it can't be too bad.

I went in looking for powder and he said they've stopped stocking it, nobody wants it, its no good.

The injection works well aswell but if you've got lots of eggs in her mane, they are really hard to get out and the injection sometimes doesn't kill them. They recommend lice shampoo after that, but they are still impossible to get out if its really bad.

 

[becs]

re injections, there is a limit to their effectiveness - we were told there are essentially 2 common types of pony lice, one sucks blood (so an injection would get rid of, eg ivermectin), the other type eat dead skin cells / scurf etc (so has to be treated topically - on skin).

Deosect is intended for horses. Dermoline lice stuff & many other products are varieties of permethrin. The name comes from when it was originally derived from the chysanthemum (??sp.) plant. Now it's a manmade version.