Does your horse have itchy skin? August is Itchy Pet month and I happen to have one of these horses!
My sweet sweet Nahe came to me with a known issue called sweet itch. For those who have had the displeasure of treating it, sweet itch is anything but sweet. The affliction is a seasonal allergy triggered by the saliva of biting insects like gnats.
As many as 10% of horses are affected by Sweet Itch and for the severe cases it makes their owners crazy. Nahe has been described to me by a previous vet as one of the worst cases she had seen. At its worst he has rubbed out his mane and the top of his tail, had bloody scabby skin along his belly, chest, and even his face.
Over the years I have tried MANY options for prevention and treatment of Nahe’s itchy body. To name a few:
- Feed Through Fly Control
- Brewers Yeast
- Avon Skin So Soft Lotion
- SWAT
- Anti-Itch Creams of different types
- Fly Spray
- Repellent sprayed on the walls on his run-in shed
- Fly Boots
- Fly Sheet
- Fly Mask
- Fly Collar
- Fans in his run-in shed
- Curtains in his run-in shed
- Annual liver cleanse with Milk Thistle
- Anti-histamines
- Extra flaxseed
- Spirulina
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Prednisone
- Dexamethasone
I’m not going to tell you any tried and true method. I still haven’t figured it out, and every horse is quite different. But what I WILL tell you is that, like many other issues with humans, horses, and animals, a MULTI-faceted approach is the most effective way to address Sweet Itch…and prevention is KEY.
Prevention.
For those of us with true winter season we have a beautiful moment between winter and summer where the bugs are gone. The ground might be muddy but there are no bugs.
But you know they are coming so you can be prepared.
FLY GEAR
During spring I do my absolute best to closely monitor Nahe and the environment. I love to let him go naked but once sweet itch begins it’s difficult to keep in check. The day I begin to notice gnats or other bugs Nahe gets outfitted with a fly sheet, fly boots, and a fly mask. I have tried the sweet itch sheets and found that they don’t make any difference. I do happen to LOVE the Smartpak Ultimate Fly Sheet (The Sunday Review: Smartmesh Ultimate Fly Sheet). I didn’t love the Smartpak masks (The Sunday Review: Smartpak Deluxe Fly Mask) so I use Cashel masks. For fly boots I have always loves the ShooFly boots (The Sunday Review: Shoofly Leggins) but just began using the new Smartpak fly boots with good success.
FLY REPELLANT
Fly spray doesn’t last, so I don’t rely on it. I will spray them at mealtimes but I don’t count on it to work. During the times where gnat populations are booming I begin to use SWAT ointment liberally. Nahe gets a palmful on his chest, groin, and along his throatlatch where the mask and sheet both meet. The Swat provides a physical barrier along the most popular areas that don’t get much protection and the smell also deters the little pests. I also have begun to use ALZOO herbal bug collars to help deter the bugs
DIET
I have tried many things over the years to help optimize Nahe’s diet to prevent his reactions. I try them one at a time to determine each thing’s efficacy. Nothing is tried and true. First, I make sure his diet is balanced. He gets fed a diet of timothy pellets, a vitamin supplement, Vitamin E, flaxseed, probiotics, and beet pulp. After having a rough winter he now also gets a supplementary scoop (1 pound) of Triple Crown Senior.
I do, however, give Nahe a 1 month liver cleanse at the end of each winter. I use milk thistle for at least four weeks as the spring grass comes in.
A few years ago Sweet Itch was presented to me in a different light. Yes, it’s an allergic reaction to the gnat saliva, but it stems from an immune system in trouble.
ENVIRONMENT
At home I don’t have an option to stall Nahe inside and away from the gnats while they are most active. We did, however, install electricity in our shed and that allows me to run a high-powered closed motor fan (Air King). I also usually hang shade curtains around the perimeter of the shed to reduce sunlight, heat, and bugs inside. The horses come and go as they please…and they often spend their days in the shed with their fan.
This year I didn’t get the curtains hung up but the fan is still used regularly.
When All Else Fails
I have yet to make it to the end of a summer season without needing to bring out the big guns. I hate using medication, but when all my prevention methods begin to fail and Nahe gets itchy (it can be in as little as a day) I will resort to Dexamethasone. Longterm use of steroids can be harmful, but so is a very itchy, scabby, uncomfortable horse. I typically end up reaching for dex around July and use it on and off for the rest of the season…to September or October.
Our year so far:
I might be superstitious and I don’t want to jynx myself when I say this…but this is the longest I’ve gone in the past 7 years of owning Nahe that I haven’t had to reach for the Dex.
I truly believe some of our success lies in the annual liver cleanse. His diet has remained minimally changed. I’m always quick to give him his fly gear. My fly spray and swat routine is unchanged. Every year since beginning the milk thistle in springtime he has improved.
Does your horse suffer from the sweet itch? Does he rub his tail? Mane? Belly? Does he rub so hard he loses his mane and tail?
–Also have you cleaned his sheath and removed any beans (mares get beans too!) to rule that out?–
I have also recently heard that horses who get itchier in the more sweat prone areas (neck, chest, flanks) have a version more tied to the kidneys. This is new information to me that I need to follow up more with in the future (but if you know more please reach out!!).
What types of things have you done to relieve your itchy horses and what worked best for you?
The Green Horseman 
Leave a comment