How should i treat a 17 year old mare with sweet itch?

Hello. i have a 17 year old irish draft mare with bad sweet itch worsening an spreading by the summer. i have been using a boet rug the last two summers but it often gets ripped very easily and is expensive to replace. its all over her rump, top of tail withers main an top of head! And although the rug covers all these parts she still scratches sumwhat an thats how it rips. her personality totally changes also from april to october, and every year her winter break gets shorter. she's a brilliant horse otherwise and still has life left in her. she gets so irritated an frustrated every summer. what is there out there left to do? Really havent found anything decent yet! Any new inventions? tryed the sterroid injection which also hd no effect, and summer freedom.

How should i treat a 17 year old mare with sweet itch?
Tell me about it, my gelding would scatch himself to death if i let him, its such an awful allergy, no wonder why they get grumpy in the ummer months, it just makes them so irritable. nearly all of the treatments i use have been listed, but before the season starts i Put the boett rug on before the flys come back, but as soon as hes been bitten or shows signs of scratching i put benzol benoate (can't spell) on his whithers, top of the tail, face, flanks and anywhere he can easily scratch, this soothes the skin of the itch, this helps prevent rubbing. If he does manage to rub skin off and open wounds i put sudacrem on the wounds and the put hair regrowth and itch stop cream (pink cream) on where he's rubbed his coat off, this helps it grow back quick and soothes raw and irritated skin. On top of all this i put a 24hr fly spray on him twice a day as he lives out all year, no luxury of a stable, but at dusk when the flys are at their worst i put him in the indoor arean for a bit of protection, he either stays in their for an hour or so or i put a hay bail in and he'll stay their for the night depending on how bad he is! Also he gets some sweet itch suppliment that he is fed everyday (all year) with mollychop, i'm not sure whats its called as its just in a white tub and my farrier gave it to me, i think it contains garlic and vitamins E, B, D. Also i read a year ago in a magazine that marmite given to a sweet itch sufferer everyday will repel the flys, so i thought anything would be worth a try if it helped, so he gets an apple covered in marmite everyday and to my surprise it worked, he was getting bitten less, it was something to do with the vitamins in it, it might sound stupid, but it works!





btw i've tried the steriod injection and the anti-inflamitry, the steroid made him irritable, but had no effect on the sweet itch, so it was worthless really. But the anti-inflamitry works, but it was expensive, it soothed the skin and cleared it up for a while, but it didn't last very long until he'd start to rub again and break skin. It horrible to have a horse with sweet itch, its not the care thats the problem it having to watch them scratch and scratch because they're constanly itchy, but all we can do is try and prevent and sooth until a cure comes along. good luck!
Reply:wow this sweet itch isnt helping any one. I think that theys fly blankets and a little bit of medicashion does the trick. you just half to pay alot more atenchen to your hore. Report It

Reply:Cure her Sweet Itch first. If she keeps ripping a rug, get the best quality one you can find, which will be expensive, but will last.
Reply:I hear you - we have that problem with one of ours.


Obviously stabling overnight is a great help and pasture drainage if possible.


We tried a sheet but that didn't work either.


The only way we have found of managing it involves Dermoline Sweet Itch lotion ( that's the one that works best for him - we tried many different ones) Unfortunately this means that he goes through half the year looking like he's has an oil bath - it's just impossible to keep him looking nice. Cider vinegar did nothing but garlic in his feed does help.


last year he actually managed to keep most of his mane which is better than usual.


The lotion is around £17 a bottle and you need to start applying it before the midges arrive.
Reply:hi i had the same problem with my mare i used a supplement in her feed every day and also garlic supplements helped a treat.Also i used benzly on my horses tail to soothe it and then i used a nasty smelling cream which you can get at any local tack shop to keep fly off .


p.s wash your horses tail onece a week with a fly rinse use plenty off fly spray when out in the padock.


louise x good luck
Reply:you should just treat the horse with a little tlc(tender loving care) or check and see if the ointment you are using is harmfull to the horse( allergic that kind of stuff)
Reply:There are three separate approaches here. Firstly, and most importantly, you need to decrease your horse’s exposure to the Culicoides flies. Secondly, we need to kill the flies that do attack your horse, and thirdly we need to stop the horse itching.





Fly control:





* Best begun before the start of the fly season.





*Insect-proof stables using fine-mesh screens.





*Use ceiling or wall mounted fans in stables to create a breeze – flies will find it harder to land on the horse.





*Stable horses one hour each side of sunrise and sunset, as this is when flies are most active.





*Stabling at night may also help.





*Try using commercially available sheets and hoods to rug the horse with when he is turned out.





*Culicoides flies breed around ponds and marshes, but do not fly more than a few hundred metres from their breeding areas. Moving horses farther than half a mile from such areas should dramatically reduce fly exposure.





*Improve pasture drainage to prevent fly breeding.





*Similarly, clean the water trough regularly to prevent flies breeding here.








Insecticides:





*Insecticides containing pyrethrins or pyrethroids are best. Treatment may have to be applied weekly or fortnightly in worst affected cases.





*We recommend (and supply) the pour-on preparation ‘Switch’.





*Insect repellents, such as benzyl benzoate, will keep flies away, but need to be constantly reapplied.








Anti-allergy treatment:





Corticosteroids remain the most useful product for treating the skin allergy. As steroids do have side-effects in horses, they must only be prescribed by a vet. They are very potent anti-inflammatories which will stop the itching and allow the skin to heal.





Anti-histamines are not as useful in the horse as they are in man. They tend to be very expensive, and often not particularly effective.

soap opera