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Post by Help on Jul 12, 2007 19:38:30 GMT
Hi has anyone has the experience of a 'body itchy' pony. Not the mane and tail as in normal sweet itch, he only ever itches his body by biting or by rubbing and never his mane or tail. It appears to be worsening as the weather is getting warmer. He is terrible for ripping and pulling rugs off so keeping him covered is not an option at the moment. He is under veterinary care and is going for allergy tests. But I thought I would ask the horse gossip folk as any help would be appreciated. thanks He is itching his neck, tummy, and saddle area.
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Post by Dee Jay on Jul 12, 2007 20:10:55 GMT
We have a pony which was showing the same symptoms. Had him allergy tested and found he was highly allergic to barley and wheat. Spoke to the very helpful person at Spillers help line and she reccomended Spillers High Fibre cubes. We now feed him on these with sugar beet and he has never itched or come up in lumps since. Well worth having the test done. Our vet thought it was likely to be sugar beet as this is quite a common allergy. He is now much calmer in his temperament, the itching must have been driving him mad poor thing. You could just switch him to High Fibre cubes while you are waiting for the results which we found took quite a while to come back (they were sent from Spain). Hope this helps and things improve soon.
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Post by Oats on Jul 12, 2007 21:11:14 GMT
I and I know of other people who have had horses with the same symptoms you described when feed oats. What was strange was that it didnt start the minute they were feed them, but about 2 days after they stoped being fed the itching stoped! ?
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Post by lighteningmcqueen on Jul 12, 2007 21:12:31 GMT
My Section D mare has had two episodes of body itching this year so far - I only got her in January. As soon as we had the warm spell in March, she itched two patches just where the saddle flaps go completely bald and was frantically itchy. We gave her steroid pills which cleared it up at the time. She then had another episode about two months ago when I took her rug off and left her for about one hour, she rubbed another patch down her flank bald. We used a cream from the vets to stop the itching, and put her on anti-histamine tablets. Seem to be keeping it at bay at the mo, but she is very itchy most of the time. Trying to not get her hot, always wash her down after riding, bath her twice a week and use Alvaitch Lotion all over her body every other day. Also was recommended when I bought her to use Avon Skin So Soft Bath and Body Oil (green topped bottle) which, on investigation, is mentioned on the Sweet Itch website. It smells fab and contains benzyl benzoate which is traditionally used for itching. Hope this helps!
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Post by help on Jul 13, 2007 7:36:21 GMT
Hi thanks for your advice so far, I will try these things and see if it helps at all.
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