Can anyone advise on a horse itchy allergy?

[florayg]

In the summer for the last 3 years my 18 year old horse has had bouts of intense itching on her back which cause her to rub herself raw and bleeding over spine and ribs unless I keep her in an electric pen. The bouts come and go with no pattern. It makes no difference whether or not I ride her, although sometimes she is so itchy I can't. It's NOT sweet itch as she already has this and it is well controlled with a Boett rug, but the rug has no effect on the back itching. Has anyone else any experience of anything like this? Any helpful ideas? My vet has none. She has this sometimes in winter also, but less often.

[Emmarose]

I would not be happy at my vet fobbing me off. You should insist on having a skin sample analysed to get to the bottom of your horses problem. Good luck

[superchipbigal]

Try using flea and tick powder.This cured my mare of virtually identical symptoms last year.Please don't dismiss this advice because it is cheap and simple.It really could be most effective.

[Exquisite One]

My mare has sweet itch and will not stay in a fly sheet. So, I give her 2 gms of dexametasone a day to control the itch from the end of April until mid October. I also try to keep her in her stall during the dawn/dusk and night hours with a fan on and a lot of bug spray.Dexametasone is a steroid and needs to be used judiciously. Prednisone can be used -and is cheaper - but caused horrific temperament changes in my mare- who is 6 yr. old Trakehner, by the way. I also use a topical cortisone cream on my horse if she gets a bad bite. She will get hives and scratch herself bloody and raw. On the Dex, she seems a little calmer and holds her weight better. (She is a hard keeper/high energy/high spirited horse.) I have been having to do this since her 2 yr. old year. If I wait too late in the spring to start giving it to her, I have to give her like 8 grams a day for a week and slip back. This is a fairly low dose for a 17hh 1378 pound horse. I hate that the cortisteroids can affect the immune system - but this is already an immune system problem. So.......which is better - a miserable - immune compromised horse -or a comfortable immune - compromised horse? I have opted for the comfortable horse. I suspect your horse, like my horse, is thin skinned and has to be groomed gently. I wash her twice weekly with Eqyss shampoo and use Eqyss conditioner and a tea tree oil for itchy spots. She is very sensitive to shampoos, conditioners, etc. So, I use the most natural products that are supposed to help with the itch.Since this is coming on her back and withers, if you are using a wool fleece pad - it is possible she is allergic to the lanolin in the wool. Or even the material your saddle pad is made of - or what you are washing it with. Or, perhaps the saddle cleaner you use. ????I wash my horse stuff in baby DREFT soap and let it air dry. Try buying just a cotton pad and keeping it very clean.It might also be possible that the boett is no longer working, as they can still get bitten under the jaw area and nose. Try covering that area in Crisco vegetable grease or a grease based fly repellant.An allergy is just an immune reaction to something you've been exposed to. It can take one time exposure or multiple/years of exposure to develop an allergy. My Mom and 1 of my brothers are allergic to bee stings now - but neither were when they were younger - my Mom was about 60 when her allergy developed and my brother was about 30. Both had been stung previously more than once. So, it could be a pollen or bug or feed additive or whatever - and now it's a problem. Most likely, you can't prevent exposure to the allergen, only treat the symptoms of the allergy. I hate it, too! But maybe some day we will have a better treatment.P.S. I take Dexametasone in the winter myself for eczema. It doesn't cause me any emotional or physical distress - and I had to take prednisone once and thought my head was going to explode. I hope that makes you feel better.There are lots of allergy treatments and shots, but my equine vet said that they don't work, and are very expensive.

[ann113599]

There is a wash you can get from the vet we have to use it on one of our horses as he does the same as your itches until he bleeds, he has a fly rug mask etc but we have to wash him in this shampoo once a week and i must say this year he is not only looking better but he does not seem to be itching so much either.

[SUZANNE R]

It sounds like an allergy to something-check her pasture as it could also be overheating of the blood due to rich grass-doesnt sound like bites as you say she doesnt get them in a pen.!!xx

[qtonsonnydundee]

i would start by testing her for allergies, because i know of a horse that had a very similar case and it turned out that he was allergic to hay, dust, pollen, etc. and once they got his allergies under controll he stopped itching

[jamla]

i had similar prob with mine. after lots of tests by my vet's they where unable to come up with what it was. it normally happened in end Aug / sep. like yours but yellow puss coming out of pin pick holes . we thought it was a acid attack by some one.vet did no end of tests blanked. i found that as soon as i saw a very small area missing / going bald , i would wash it well / scrub with normal sort of anti -bacterial shampoo , dry it well the apply the human "sudocream" stays on in wet weather and it stopped it getting any worse. but you may have to wash every 1-2 days. this worked for me but must catch it while the sore is small. good luck p.s a friends horses was allergic to grass and got these sore's all other her body if tuned out, cound'nt have hay either ! you have to try out diff things to rule out things

[Kellllyyyy]

She might be allergic to noseums which are very small insects.

[cowgirl3175]

silly answer, but maybe, is your horse light colored? maybe sunburn? just a suggestion.

[Single4Good]

Assuming your term "sweet itch" means allergy to no-see-ums (Culicoides) well I have them bad at my place and some of the allergic horses will scratch their backs also.You mention it seems to be seasonal but did not say what state you live in - do you get extended bouts of cold or are you warm thru the winter? In FL those darned gnats can be active thru much of the winter though much less than summertime.If the problem is only in the saddle area I'd say there is a problem with either the pad material or sweating under the pad. Make sure you thoroughly rinse her back off after riding. Also scraping the area when it is bad and having a culture done may help.

[Zeb G]

Find a Kanisiologist. I don't know where you live but you may be able to get on line and do a search. This alterative threapy is the most amazing thing to see. My own horse is being treated for sarcoids at the moment and they are going. He has had them for 5 years. (He is 8) He also had (please note the HAD) stable allergies. She sorted those out to.

[txpainthorse]

My horse has allergies and they took a skin sample and sent it off the Texas A & M to find out specifically what the problem was.

[Madeleine K]

it could be something like hives, fleas , or ticks!!!!!!!!

[david_manger2000]

hi ,try chalk or,(talcomb powder) and put on a light fly sheet