So I have a mare I just rescued and am feeding back to a healthy condition. When I got her she was wild so it took a few days to get close enough to touch her. When I eventually started brushing her I noticed she had tons of big flaky skin and was super itchy. After more investigation I realized she had lice. I have never had a horse with lice but have been doing a ton of research. I instantly de-loused her with lice powder and gave her Ivermectin wormer (vet recommended). It has been a few days now and I noticed that the living adult lice are no longer around but there are a million little eggs all over her throat latch area etc. I am just curious if any one has had any experience with equine lice and if they had any suggestions on how to get rid of it. Willing to try anything at this point. Thanks in advance
You’ve done everything right. The eggs will hatch, and you will need to powder and/or ivermectin again, and that should solve the issue for you. Lice tend to be opportunistic, they invade when a host is in a weakened state. But watch your other horses anyway, and worming them with ivermectin, and a course of powder for everyone is never a bad idea. Treat your brushes, or throw them out. It’s not a rare situation to have lice show up in a horse, some people just powder any new horse that comes into their care, just in case. Chickens or birds may be the source of the lice. But healthy horses rarely get them.
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