Sweet itch/skin allergies

[ayovich]

My daughter's 22 year old pony has a terrible skin problem that is generally referred to as sweet itch. It has gotten worse since we moved here from Western Kentucky about 2 years ago. I thought we were doing better this year, but I was gone to IL for 2 weeks and when I came back he was covered in sores.

The allergy is caused by the larvae of a fly that migrate from the tummy where they are hatches and then crawl up to his topline. He rubs himself raw itching. there are blankets that can be purchased that cocoon the entire body. They are rather expensive and I'm not convinced it will work.
the vet tells me to give him a monthly dose of Ivemectrin wormer, wash him in iodine shampoo, or something soothing, and to give him occasional steroid shots to relieve the acute itching.

I'm looking for a better solution since none of these have worked so far, and I've been avoiding buying that blanket. Suggestions?

[Dirt Doctor]

If it were my horse I would try cornmeal juice bath and the horse formula of the Miissing Link. No promises.

[ayovich]

How do make cornmeal juice?

I use flax seed on him currently, which is the key component in missing link, only much less expensive.

[horseranch]

For most of our worming, we use a product with DE and herbs, which works great. We get it from Advanced Biological Concepts (website is www.a-b-c-plus.com). I'd use double their normal dosing until you get the problem under control. It's not cheap, but it is cheaper than ivermectin (as well as being non-toxic). Besides that ... perhaps making a mix of essential oils in a base of olive oil (or some other cheap oil), and spreading it on his topline after a bath, to both sooth the skin and repel insects. There's been discussion of tea tree oil in other forums -- I don't know if it repels insects, but it would probably help heal the sores.

Judith

[ayovich]

I have been spraying a mixture of melaleuca oil and other things on him since this started and it seems to help some, but hasn't completely solved the problem. Of course, I probably need to do it every day, and I don't get to the barn every single day. I can't always make it out. I'm a member of Melaleuca, so I have been using several of their products together.

thanks for the reference on ABC. I was using some of their products when I lived in Iowa and I had lost track of them. I'm glad to have found them again.

[GWBartek]

There is a product for horses called Horse Magic. It is an aloe juice that you put in their feed or water. It tastes like spring water, so they can't tell the difference. It is supposed to help with many horse problems. They have a website at www.warrenlabsaloe.com

[ayovich]

Thanks for your reply. I will check this out. At figure it can't hurt at this point.