I have a horse who has rubbed, scratched, and gnawed himself raw every summer for the majority of his 17-year life. He’s thankfully good about leaving his fly mask on (he’s an Appy and I’m also very protective of his eyes, which run and tear and sometimes swell). However, his face is one of the areas that does get itchy and eventually hairless and has some scabby areas.
One thing I’ve found is that he loves to have his face sprayed off with the hose. He lets me spray it really well, and I think that probably helps rid him of whatever might be causing him to itch.
I also use Equiderma Neem Shampoo on him. I don’t always do his full body, but at least weekly during the summer his legs, belly, and face get scrubbed with Equiderma and rinsed well. Not only does this seem to quell any itchiness almost immediately, I swear he seems less “attractive” to the bugs once washed in Equiderma.
Speaking of that, I have been using OutSmart fly repellent this year as well, and so far so good. I read somewhere that midges and “no-see-ums” which are the main culprits in stuff like sweet itch actually avoid the sprays with herbal and mint type oils in them. So far, so good. And the stuff is gentle enough you can use it on yourself. So I spray it around the ears, on the jaws, under the face, and a tiny spritz between the eyes.
Equiderma also makes a lotion that is good for skin conditions and is supposed to soothe itchiness on contact, so that could be an option. Maybe that mixed with some Swat could do the double duty of soothing the itch and repelling the flies.
Finally, and this one is a longer term possibility…Spirulina. I never fed it before until this spring and it’s been over a month now and I swear it’s helping my horse. He was already so itchy back in early April that he was rubbing himself raw while shedding. Usually he doesn’t do that, but we’d had some record-breaking hot days and he just couldn’t deal with it. My barn mate let me borrow some left over spirulina she had from a previous horse and all I know is he’s no longer rubbing himself on everything, his skin and coat look amazing, and his chronic respiratory issues are improved.
I’d suggest giving spirulina a try to anyone with a horse that suffers from sensitive skin and/or upper respiratory stuff. It’s never going to hurt them, and just might help them more than you could imagine. It’s a bit of an acquired taste for some. I introduced it slowly and mine only gave it the side-eye once. Now he acts like he enjoys it.
Those are my recommendations. I also feed heaps of copper, zinc, and vitamin E, but that has always been the case. The spirulina is new and so I tend to think it gets a lot of the credit for the improvements so far. It remains to be seen if it can continue helping once we hit about late June and early July when the real heat (triple digits with awful humidity) starts. Fingers crossed.
