Help please!!! Viewing tomorrow - sweet itch question...

L

LisaJane

New Member
Feb 6, 2008
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Hi all,

I'm after some advice from all you knowledgeable people....I am viewing a horse tomorrow with a view to buy (first time buyer :eek:). anyway, the horse sounds like what I'm looking for but suffers from 'a mild case of sweet itch' which is 'preventable with fly sprays and rugs'. Is this a major cause for concern? I am happy to deal with minor issues but as it is my first horse don't really want to deal with major problems. What should I be looking out for as major issues? Any pertinent questions I should be asking..?

Any opinions, & advice very gratefully received! :)

Many thanks,

L xxx
 
My personal experience with sweet itch is it can gradually get worse each year However we did have an old shire mare who just rubbed her mane and tail a little. I personally wouldn't get a horse with sweet itch, (I already have one) but I'm sure there are people on here who don't find it a problem.
 
as you are from south you are not really in a midgy area, unlike where we are in scotland where the midges come with menace.

one of our donkeys has sweetitch and a boet rug basically sorts it for her.

a rug is easier than creams and sprays, you stick it on, and that's it. if they get it bad on the legs you can put leggins on

but you have to be prepared to stable for comfort if it is still bad.

not something you would choose to have, is manageable depending on the horse, and affects value.
 
Sweetitch can be very distressing for horse and owner. There is a sufferer in the field next to my boys, he suffers really badly, his sweetitch has got worse over the years.
I would think very carefully.
 
It can also depend on the environment where he is to be kept. It can be milder if grazed on open, windy areas. Hedges, water, boggy places attract midges. We have a very severe sufferer, it's time consuming and she wears a sweet itch rug most of the time but still gets bitten badly around her udder unless she is smothered constantly in a barrier cream and benzyl benzoate on her legs. She now hates me and to treat her, I have to have a barrier of bales of straw/hay between us. One of my donkeys also gets sweetitch if he doesn't wear his rug, but he seems to be improving. He managed with just Benzyl benzoate last year and is ok so far.
 
Ask to see photos of the horse in summer coat.

If I wanted to sell a horse with sweet itch now is the time as the midge reaction doesn't happen over winter so the horse should be at it's best.
TBH sweet itch is not something I would want the hassle of and the horse would have to be very cheap.
 
well....i bought my mare in the winter, turned out in the summer that she had pretty bad sweetitch. That first year was a steep learning curve. BUT now i have experienced it, her sweetitch has got better over the years and actually easier to manage!

I have Boett type rugs which she wears all year from March until Oct. She gets brewers yeast in her feed, and she is in a pretty open field with electric fencing. Last year she barely rubbed herself (even when un-rugged in the stable).

Sooooo....even after i was stung with buying a horse that i didnt know had sweetitch, i wouldnt be put off buying the perfect horse if it did have sweetitch as (in my experience) it really is easily manageable. Mind you of course it would be easier to have one that doesnt have sweetitch! lol!

Also i do find that my mare is very susceptibe to flies generally, so when riding i also need to ride in a ride-on fly rug otherwise she gets annoyed.

Also Pauline W - my mare suffers in the udder area badly too, this year im going to be trying a Snuggy Hoods Sweetitch Rug with the Udder cover attached...am hoping it might help
 
I would try and avoid horse with sweet itch iv been there and its not fun but also depends how bad it is. What do you want to do with your horse? If your into showing or anything horse with rubbed way tail isnt going to be good. I feel so bad for horses with sweet itch and the owners it is stressful at times (again on how bad it is)

xx
 
Silver suffers badly with it. It does upset me when she is beside herself itching, but it wouldnt put me off getting another one with sweet itch. This year ive also bought a snuggy hood which is working brilliantly. You just have to try different things. Ive almost given up with supllements and creams etc, its easier to just have her covered up, so she now wears brushing boots as she itches insides of back legs badly ad they have stopped it.

Ask what rugs they use. Also what treatments they have tried eg. Cavalesse from vets, vaccines, feed supplements, creams and potions etc... Wil Give you an indication of severity of it. Also like others have said bear in mind where you will keep neddy. Barbed wire is not clever with sweet itchugs, do-able just not very clever!

There is plenty of knowledge and support on here anyway :) the asking price should be reduced by a fair bit. Ad bear in mind sweet itch rugs start at about £80~100 a rug, with boetts and snuggys etc being more like 200+. And you need two, so one can be washed, or a cheap inbetween for a couple of hours rug.
 
Really depends how bad it is - but often gets worse each year.

Many years ago we bought our son a lovely dartmoor pony at this time of year - no sweet itch was declared and she had no signs of it. We kept our ponies in a forrest area with lots of water. It became obviousshe had it badly - so much so that when our son was riding she got down to roll.

We had to sell her eventually for her own sake to somebody in a very different area - with less trees & water. We sold her for a very nominal amount as a companion as I was worried she may try to roll with another child. They were able to manage her sweet itch & it was less severe than where we were keeping her - but they still only ride her in the winter months.

So, yes it depends very much on where you would be keeping your horse.
 
Would be very wary TBh - this is the time of year that sweet itchers are usually put up for sale as it isnt so obviouas how bad it may be? Agree with the others that it can be manageable but you have no way of knowing if this is so with this horse until you have actually experienced a summer with her?

If you really fall for the horse in every way how about asking them for a trial period for a few months to see just how bad the problem is?

But as its your first horse why do you want to spend your hard earned money on a horse with declared SI when there are plenty of others out there without health issues for you to buy?:)
 
To be honest, I think I would walk away. Its a big committment and not really something for a first time owner to have to deal with.

Unless its cheap as chips I would definately walk away.

Unfortunately, this is the time of year when all the sweet itch sufferers get sold. Their coats have had a chance to grow back all winter but they havent quite got round to rubbing it all back out.:(
 
Echo Skippys mum. I have one with sweet itch that needs constant care and at certain times can neither be turned out or even ridden outside. She was bought in late winter as a'slight' sufferer

I would unless there are really fantastic other reasons to have this one be looking for a 'problem free' horse as your first. As an old vet once said to me 'all horses have problems just don't buy known ones'
 
Hi all,

Many, many thanks for all your advice. I viewed him this afternoon and he was an absolute dream, fantastic to ride and I really liked him. Which makes it all that little bit harder really!!!! In a way I was hoping that I could find fault with him so that I could simply discount him, but he really was good and (aside from obvious problem) extremely good value.

I questioned the severity of the sweet itch and was told fly spray and rugs did the trick - no need for feed supplements or medication. I have also requested photos as suggested.

The last thing I want is to take on problems as a new owner though, so need to have a good hard think about it.

Once again, many thanks.

L xxxx
 
eml said:
If you think of going ahead make sure that the price is cheap enough to allow you to buy several rugs, ours killed 3 boetts in a season even with weekly repairs..they don't come cheaply!
Click to expand...

The seller has offered two rugs (full hood-type) in price. I would say he is about £500-700 cheaper than I was expecting to pay for a horse of his temperament. Thanks for the advice - I know those rugs are not cheap!!! :eek:
 
I would ask what brand of rug and model they are as that will tell you more also, for example i couldnt leave silver out in a simple fine mesh fly rug, she was beside herself about three weeks ago, so depending on how long you were there, if he was itchy and if he was rugged or not would give an indication of severity. Also whether he is already rugged or not, madam has now been rugged for about a month but many dont need rugging til later in spring
 
I'd be wary of anyone who said they control sweet-itch with fly spray - it is not caused by flies but by midges, and they are totally different creatures! My Roxy has sweet-itch, but I have never used a rug on her in the summer. I am trying out Global Herbs for the second year but starting earlier, and going straight on to the Skratch. She did start scratching early in March but has not done so since being on GH, touch wood.

I have heard that the typical site for sweet-itch is partly marshy, with hawthorn nearby. My field is very much like that. What kind of turn-out do you have, LisaJane?
 
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