This was taken in the last week of February after I had just recorded my second E Riders Novice Dressage Test. At this point Pippa is not itchy, she is not rubbing, her eyes are clear and bright and she has been on her Sweet Itch cocktail of rugs, meds and lotions for THREE WEEKS.
This is an honest account of the journey I have had to go on with her over six years, the mistakes I have made ( and, in some cases, my guilt at making them) and the battle that I wage each year to try and keep her comfortable.
For those people who have never had a horse with Sweet Itch I cannot stress enough that it is the SINGLE MOST horrible thing I have ever had to see- and I have had a horses who had laminitus, arthritis, mud fever, blindness and cushings.
Sweet Itch is the trump card in my opinion. It is horrific - because there is nothing you can do to fix it, you can only make them comfortable and, with rising temperatures, it is now a 10 month of the year battle.
BEFORE I LAUNCH INTO THIS I MUST STRESS THAT EVERY HORSE WITH SWEET ITCH IS DIFFERENT - YOU HAVE TO FIND WHAT WORKS FOR YOU- WHICH, IN MY EXPERIENCE, HAS RESULTED IN SOME MONUMENTAL COCK UPS FOR ME OVER THE YEARS. i AM GOING TO BE HONEST ABOUT THEM HERE! IF HIS POST HELPS ONE PERSON IN SOME SMALL WAY I'LL BE DELIGHTED.
Start of the journey
I bought Pippa in May 2015 and when I bought her I knew she had sweet itch. I had sold a Connemara pony the year before who also had sweet itch- but his was controlled with rugs and NAF D-itch with a bit of fly spray on before turn out. Or so I had thought at the time, but hindsight tells me that I didn't do right by him and should have been more attentive to his needs ( luckily his new owners who still have him and do a marvelous job are more clued up than I was) even so, his sweet itch was mild compared to Pippa's . His was about a 4/10, Pippa is an 11/10 as I have discovered.
The picture above was taken in August 2015- half a mane, most of her face rubbed raw, she has sores (open and weeping) on her shoulders and ( though you can't see it) the top of her tail is rubbed. The most obvious element of her suffering here is her eyes- they are always "dopey" looking when she is suffering, and they are often weepy. I am STILL trying to solve this six years down the line! I don't have any pictures of her at her worst - no one would want to take photos of a pony who was suffering like that- but this is a good indication of her starting point.
Mistake Numbers One through Three:
I thought that all horses with sweet itch could be treated the same. So I kept her rugged ( yes- this was not a fail- in fact this is the only thing I got completely right from day one) , turned her out 24/7 ( FAIL) and fed her Garlic ( double fail) and NAF D -Itch ( which cost me a fortune, worked for my previous horse, and did NOTHING for Pippa- yet I fed it for three years 😑😑).
Mistake Number Four- and this is a BIG one ( hence the big font):
I fenced her off with electric fencing so she couldn't itch at all.
Just imagine, if you will, you have an itch. You have been bitten and you HAVE to itch it. It is burning, your skin is on fire, you are being driven mad. But someone has tied your hands and feet and now you have no physical way of itching. This is what I did to her.
It makes me cry every time I think about it. I was trying to help her but she must have been in such pain. I feel so guilty still for doing it- but I genuinely did it out of love.
24 hours a day, 7 days a week in a field - being itchy- and every night the midges come.
Above- Pippa in her sudocream with Pippin ( my old pony) and Adam.
I did however use Sudocream on her sore bits- which would have helped soothe the itch and should be in everyone's first aid kit. Sudocream is however oil based so you have to be careful using it in the summer because it can heat up. This, thankfully, I knew.
This picture was taken in 2016. Note how bad her face is, how swollen her eyes are. At this moment she is lying in the dirt, itching her stomach ( which was red raw and covered in sores from bites) and refusing to get up. This was the moment I realised things needed to change drastically.
The Change Begins
First off - I called a vet.
The first thing that vet did was to try and break what is known as the " itch/ scratch" cycle. You will know what that feels like if you have ever been bitten by a mosquito. The more you itch the more the bite weeps, therefore you keep itching. Now imagine your body has a hundred weepy mosquito bites. That was how she felt.
We went in BIG- she was getting four weekly steroid injections to stop the itching- this works amazingly but it is not sustainable for two reasons:
1) It costs £60 a time
2) It can cause laminitus.
Then every two weeks she was getting an insect repellent injection. Again this was very expensive £60 a time.
On top of this I also had to use a steroid cream twice a day- EVERY DAY.
£ 50 a tube - a tube lasts 2 weeks.
This is not a road I wish to have to go down AT ALL. But IF your pony gets itself in the state Pippa was in this is how you fix it.
Pippa- two months into her steroid intervention - her sores are healing 😁
😢😢What state was she in?
1) you couldn't ride her - her sores were too numerous and the saddle and bridle would have made them worse.
2) The minute you got her out of the field she would throw herself on the floor and itch in the car park on the stones. You couldn't get her up.
3) You couldn't leave her in a stable or tied up unattended- if you did she would have a new sore after two minutes.
4) She was miserable. Those of you who know Pippa -she has a reputation for being a sassy cheeky little miss with a diva attitude. Not when she is like this- she hangs her head and is just completely void of personality or joy at anything.
It was horrible and I never want her to have to go through it again. It broke my heart. 💔
This treatment cycle went on for three months and cost me close to £1000- but it made her better and since then we have only had to resort to steroid injections twice when it just got too much for her again- but I am happy to say she hasn't been that bad since I changed everything.
Pippa's Sweet Itch Routine
( This runs from Feb 1st to Dec 1st every year and is the result of lots of trial, error, reading, veterinary advice and reading)
RUGS
Pippa owns FIVE sweet itch rugs and one ride on fly rug. Over the years I have tried and tested several different types of rug and the ones below are the ones that work for me. Pippa is NEVER turned out naked. EVER. If she has a turnout rug on after Feb 1st she always has one of her Equionsies on underneath it and the hood in place, she also wears the hood in the stable on midgey days to try and stop mane loss but we try and let her have naked time in the stable where possible so her skin can "breathe".
Here are her rugs:
This is a SHIRES TEMPEST HIGHLANDER- this picture was taken in Oct 2020 when she had been out in the rug all year- and this rug has lasted me 3 years so far with some minor repairs. She has two of these ( always one spare!) . They are durable ( she is a rug destroyer and this one is still standing), economical ( £50 on average which, for a rug of this standard is amazing) They have a deep tail flap, a belly flap and the neck stays in place. They are excellent for chunky chested types as they are nice and wide. They never rub her and she is happy in them- they dry quickly so I am happy for her to be out in them in a shower. This is her main sweet itch rug.
Also note in this picture she is sporting some SHIRES ARMA FLY SOCKS - They look very worn in this but she had been out in them every day since March and I bought her a size too big! They stayed on every day and stopped her itching and biting the fly bites on her legs which was ace!
In this she is also wearing a fly fringe, this is because full face fly masks tend to make her sweat and that makes her eyes sore and weepy so she itches them- so when it gets warm this is what she wears instead. her face is the only thing I can't seem to get right - but we are still trying new things this year to see if we can improve it.
These are Pippa's custom made EQUIONSIES ( the white one earned her the nickname "Casper the Furious Ghost😁) she has two of these. The white one no longer has the face part due to a field incident where it went over her eyes and caused her to panic. So now she only has the hoods up to her ears. They are AMAZING they come in three parts - Hood, Neck and Belly- they are easy to wash, quick drying and fairly durable ( but easy to sew up at home and SUPER economical at £35.99 each plus delivery).. They are brilliant for warm weather turnout, under rugs and the hoods are great all year round. I swear by these things!
This is Pippa's ZEBRA rug- no idea what make it is as I got it second hand off FB marketplace. This is for when there is serious RAIN - it has a waterproof panel to stop her getting rubbed by wet rugs - she also wears her equionsies in the rain but this one is a favorite too. It is three years old and has a few repairs but still going strong!
And finally this is Pippa in her AMIGO FLY RIDER ( this is only the bum bit it also has a detachable neck!). This is another item I swear by- she hacks out in it all the time on summer evenings and super midgey days- sometimes just the bum, sometimes if it is UBER midgey I go for the neck as well. It keeps all types of nasties away- not just midges but horse flies too- which drive her up the wall. I wear it warming in at shows as well - and she has done several fun rides in it. It does make her warmer which is unavoidable but it is preferable to her getting bitten and being in pain. It cost me £60 but has lasted three years and is still going strong- I wash it in my washing machine- it still looks new!
She also has several fly masks. At the moment she is sporting a SHIRES FLY MESH MASK in the field- but depending on the weather she will wear a fringe or a lycra full face mesh mask- we are still working on this!
Supplements and Feed
Things not to feed:
👎Garlic- can repel flies but attract midges
👎ANYTHING with molasses - it makes their sweat more appealing to midges.
👎ANYTHING to sweet- as above.
What I feed:
Brewers Yeast- good for their coat and skin- the better the coat and skin are the less able midges are to bite into it and- if they do- the better your horse can cope. From Feb 1st- one scoop once a day. Costs about £12 every eight weeks.
Flax Oil / Linseed Oil- same with the brewers yeast really - it's all about coat condition! A little glug in her feeds morning and evening £20 every four weeks.
Antihistimine Tablets- I use these on VETS advice - Pippa has 4 in her morning feed and 4 in her evening feed from Feb 1st- if she starts itching i move it to six and six. Cheap as chips- £8.99 from Amazon lasts me about 2 months.
Her feed itself is only there to get her supplements in during the summer as she is a good doer!! I give her pony nuts and cool mix year round and in the winter she gets BLUE CHIP NATIVE BALANCER one cup in each feed plus on cold days and after work I give her DODSON AND HORRELL HEALTHY TUMMY MASH and post competition year round I give her SARACEN RE-COVERY MASH. In the summer i do feed her TOP SPEC TURBO FLAKES as well but that is to pep her up a little as she can be a bit sleepy sometimes!
In addition to this and one of my 💜SWEET ITCH TOP TIPS💜 is that she has a treat ball in her stable for her every time she comes in- this has in it BAILEYS HIGH FIBRE NUGGETS in it - they cost £11.50 a bag and last about two months. The reason she has this is mainly it DISTRACTS her. One of her key itch times is when she is brought in from the field before she has her SWEET RELIEF lotions and sprays put on ( more on this later) her first instinct is to go to her itching places ( more on this too) and go bananas scratching herself. If she has a ball it keeps her busy for long enough for me to get her in, sort her out and get her relief lotions on and let them sink in before she can rub them off!
LOTIONS AND POTIONS
The first image was taken in February last year and the second was taken a week later after applying Biteback products religiously for seven days.
Biteback products have been a complete game changer for me and how I manage Pippa. I started using them at the end of February last year after Pippa started to look like the image above and left. At the time she was on her restricted turn out and the only thing that wasn't covered was her face- hence this. I saw these products recommended on a sweet itch group on Facebook and I thought I would give them a go- now i wouldn't be without them and in fact I always have one on the go and a new bottle in the drawer so that I never run out.
If you go down this road the best people to speak to are the company themselves - they are so easy to get hold of and will talk you through exactly what you need to buy and how to apply it. I sent them pictures and they gave me amazing advice- their customer service is fantastic.
Here is what I do to manage her using Biteback:
Weekly: I give her a bath in their shampoo- this soothes her skin and also helps to remove product build up, dead skin and hair which can all make her itchy on top of the sweet itch!
Daily:
Before Turnout: she gets a whole body spray with BITEBACK NEEM SUPREME FLY SPRAY and in the summer I do a second spray with BITEBACK SUMMER NIGHTS FLY SPRAY which deals with summer insects. She also gets BITEBACK NEEM REPEL GEL under her eyes, on her ears, her nose and her udders. I then put her rug and mask on and spray over the top. I also spray her before ridden work and I take a little bottle out with me on hacks if we are planning on being out for a while!
After Turnout: she gets sprayed and massaged/ brushed in with BITEBACK SWEET RELIEF SPRAY which calms down her skin and soothes any reactions as well as providing a barrier against midges.
IF SHE IS ITCHY: I use SWEET RELIEF LOTION which is slightly thicker than the spray and massage it in to any lumpy, bumpy or itchy bits.
IF HER SKIN IS BROKEN AND SORE: I wash the area using BITEBACK WINTER WASH to cleanse and sooth, then I use the FLOWERS AND ZINC talcolm power to fully dry the area before applying SILVER LOTION and massaging in. A week of this and her sores tend to start to regrow hair.
This year I also have a QUICK SILVER spray to spray on which should help barrier her against sores becoming painful .
I also use GOODBYE FLIES shampoo and conditioner as this repels midges- or BITEBACK SWISH AND FLICK mane and tail conditioner.
💜SWEET ITCH TOP TIP💜- Don't use any regular conditioners or baby oil- they can attract midges and also irritate sensitive skin. I learnt that the hard way too!
On the whole I spend around £50 a month on average on these products - which is still cheaper than the steroids!
TURNOUT
Taken last summer in her EQUIONSIE, ARMA FLY SOCKS and probably 3 litres of BITEBACK fly spray!
I just want to preface this with the fact that I am a huge believer in all year, all weather HERD turnout. It's how I have always kept my horses and it is how I try to keep Pippa... but the reality of Sweet Itch is that with all the lotions, potions and rugs in the world, 24/7 turnout is not what is best for her- so I do my best.
In WINTER: she is out all day from 8;30am-3pm in a herd with other mares - this is the system at my yard but it also suits Pippa perfectly. She isn't a lover of being wet and quite likes her stable- but she does love to hang out with her buddies and be a horse - so at the moment she gets to do that in the same way as every other horse.
In SPRING AND AUTUMN: the midges are at their most aggressive in March-May and Sept- first frost ( Dec 1st last year) this is prime season for Sweet Itch. There is no perfect way of dealing with it but this is my preferred method:
💜TURN OUT AFTER DAWN and BRING IN BEFORE DUSK. SWEET ITCH TIP OF THE MILLENNIUM. 💜
That is when midges are most active- they hate rain, love warm and damp, they love moisture so fields should be away from stagnant water, they love shade so stay away from lines of trees. They hate bright sun so daytime turnout is best.
Pippa never gets 24/7 turnout. It sucks but it is also what is best for her. This year I am going to start trying to bring her in early ( before sunrise) and then the yard will turn her out at 10 ish- bring her in again at 4 ish and then I will turn her out again after the sun has gone down. Long ass days for me but it is by far and away the best system for her.
TO SUM UP
Sweet Itch sucks.
😖It is expensive and time consuming.
😞It dictates your life.
😔It requires constant thought on the behalf of the owner about how to manage their horse on any given day.
👍PREVENTION IS THE KEY Start early - Feb 1st at the latest- this gives your horse the best chance.
👍Try EVERYTHING
👍DON'T BE AFRAID TO ASK for help!!! The forums on Facebook have been amazing- my vet has also been amazing.
💗I am also VERY lucky to have been on two yards in the last three years where she is on full livery and the staff at both have been meticulous about her lotions, potions rugs and feeds as well as being on top of the "what rug today?" game and running out to bring her in if the weather turns. I am so so grateful for this as there is no way I could do this on my own with a full time job! 💗
👍GIVE YOUR HORSE SOMEWHERE SAFE TO ITCH - I am using dandy brushes to stick to areas in her stable so she can itch on them- I also give her a bloody good groom with rubber curry combs and magic brushes every time I ride.
Her field is fenced but her herd mates groom her and she can itch on the hedge ( yes it means repairing rugs but that is better than open sores!).
👍GET YOUR VET'S ADVICE.
It's a lot - trust me I know. But she is worth all of it. She gives me everything- so I do my best by her. It means I have second hand EVERYTHING ( numnahs, boots, tack, bits etc) My own clothes are falling to bits, I don't have expensive riding tights - I wear cheap yoga leggings. I can't afford fancy holidays. I can't afford to get my hair, nails etc done by professionals. I rarely spend any money on myself ever. My riding boots are 30 years old, no longer waterproof and have a broken zip that I have to do up with a paperclip... I could go on....but...
SHE IS WORTH EVERY SINGLE SACRIFICE AND EVERY SINGLE PENNY.
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