I’m not following how feeding location = pinworms?
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I went out and bought some unscented, natural baby wipes that I now keep in my grooming kit for this very reason! I’ve found my mare actually doesn’t mind me wiping around her lady parts as much as when I tried to bathe her in the wash stall or use moistened paper towels in that area.
Not my idea, came from COTH naturally 
Has anyone ever tried an oil treatment on a tail?
Hear me out on my reasoning: I read that sometimes tail rubbing becomes a self fulfilling prophecy in that the more you itch dry skin the more irritated, swollen, and sensitive the skin becomes and therefore the more itchy it becomes. I do an oil treatment on my own hair whenever it gets dry, which is just dousing it in olive oil. I think this would be safe on a horse’s skin too?
My horse is a chronic tail rubber so I feel your pain! He also has mild allergies so I think he’s quite sensitive to environmental factors. After the fact I use Nature’s Aid to help sooth the skin underneath the tail (it also helps detangle without pulling out even more hair). Nature’s Aid base ingredient is Aloe gel, and then it has witch hazel and tea tree oil which both help sooth irritated skin.
So now I’m trying to get at the root cause, I think I’ve going to test and treat for pinworms. I’m also committing to sheath cleaning once a month/keeping his manly bits clean. Although I have noticed that it seems to be a generally irritated tail, more so on the hairy side of the tail than the underside. So I’m looking for shampoo or conditioner type products that are oil based and will work with the skin’s oil instead of stripping it. Many products contain sulfate (salt), alcohol, or parabens which will strip the oils, including human products as I’ve been on this journey with my personal hair as well…
Let us know what you try and what works and doesn’t!
That was something I was taught decades ago. I can’t remember the specifics.
Horses are infected by pinworms by eating them.
Yes, but to eat the infective larval stage, they have to lick where the eggs have been deposited. This means where horses are rubbing their egg-infested butts.
If that’s on the edge of a feed bucket then sure, they can become (re)infected that way.
But it also means every edge of something that gets rubbed on, and mouthed - edges of stalls, door ledges, etc.
It may also have something to do with them liking short grass maybe. I throw the hay on to longer grass so it is always in a different place. The ground feeders are also moved.
That is not so easy if the horse is in a stable or yard.
