Thanks JB. 
I really, REALLY appreciate the feedback. I think I’ll try the DD again. 
Itchy tail after all of this?
After doing Powerpack & then double dosing for adult onchocera, the old guy is now rubbing his tail. It seems to be the entire tail. I found little scabs all the way down to dock of tail, though scabs sorta correlate to exact heights fencing wire is strung at.
A week before this I noticed another horse had a hunk of hair missing out of his tail. Desperately convinced myself a pasture mate bit him.
Don’t want to admit to still possibly having any kind of worms after all of this. BUT, could they still be wormy? 
:mad:
Yes they have been on a regular rotation for years. Perhaps under dewormed from what has come to light in this thread. But come on, Powerpack & 2x DD for AO, what is left to dose them for now?
This Too: When did you last double dose? If you’ve only done the first round, wait the 14 days and then DD again. While the thread is long, poster after poster reported that it got worse after the first DD round, but better after the 2nd and/or 3rd DD (when necessary).
Cinny: When you see evidence of the critters, hit 'em with a DD of Ivermectin in between your rotation. It won’t hurt and you’ll stay on top of the buggers.
Choco -
1 DD or the DD two weeks apart?
Cinny
Just one should do it. My mares and a friend’s gelding came up with the itchies mid-way through my regular rotation, so we just did one DD of Ivermectin and it cleared.
Also apologize for not having time to search the entire thread for this…but,
Has anyone addressed the fact/theory that Onchoceriasis should NOT be seasonal? I have read that normally you distinguish sweet itch from Oncho by noting whether or not it’s seasonal and whether or not the condition initially worsens after worming with ivermectin. There seem to be an unusually large number of cases here of a parasite that I thought was considered rare in horses that have been routinely wormed with ivermectin throughout their lives.
It’s quite possible the conventional wisdom is wrong or a whole new theory is out there since I’ve done any reading on it.
[QUOTE=ChocoMare;4134787]
This Too: When did you last double dose? If you’ve only done the first round, wait the 14 days and then DD again. While the thread is long, poster after poster reported that it got worse after the first DD round, but better after the 2nd and/or 3rd DD (when necessary).
Twice I have double dosed for AO. Exactly 14 days apart. I have extra Ivermectin, so I can DD a third time. 
Scratching his itch tonight, it was lower third of tail causing funniest faces made.
Hmmm, “lower third of tail” seems unusual to me for NTWs. However, if you have seen improvement, go ahead give the third DD then and watch. Feel free to bathe him with Nolvasan to soothe the skin surface and make him more comfortable.
If there is still no improvement, though, then I’d definitely have the vet out for a scraping to check for mites, etc.
At the bottom of the tail I’d be more inclined to think ticks:mad:
I’ll add my story. I’m not sure if it’s fixed, but it’s looking good. I bought a pregnant mare early last spring and she foaled May1. I power packed her after foaling. I fed her a ton of grain and added alfalfa, the pasture was good, she was getting the bug check to help with the flies. She seemed to have a bad reaction to the flies, but I couldn’t’ do a fly sheet because of the foal. She’d have all these little spots sort of like fly bite reactions, but the hair came off of them and her skin seemed dry with a lot of dandruff. She was getting Horseshine and had access to a stall with a ceiling fan so, i felt, was pretty spoiled.
I read this thread sometime in the summer and gave a bunch of them double ivermectins and ordered the Equimax. I DD her maybe 3 times or else did a single dose weekly for awhile, not sure. She never rubbed a mane or tail, but did have the sweet itch spots on her belly. Finally come late fall she put some good weight on and i was able to cut her grain back. She was bred back for a May foal again. in this time I also tried Immunall not knowing for sure what the deal was and kept her up on that once a week through the rest of her gestation, as i wanted to try foal heat breeding.
So early this spring she’s looking pretty good, but develops this terrible dandruff on most of her body, especially her legs. The whole leg, not just lower leg and her chest and then in her mane. She got a couple scrubbing shampoos to try and get it off, but didn’t clear it up. Still no itching, though. I double dosed her with EQ about 6 weeks from foaling. Within a week she got an odd spot low down on her butt that could have been some sort of emergence… or my wishful thinking. I just didn’t want to DD her again before foaling so I did it about 2 days after. Which would have been 3 weeks ago. I would have liked to DD her at 2 weeks, but we bred her on foal heat and ya know sometimes you don’t want to mess with them too much.
So the vet was there breeding her one night and it would have been about a week since the latest DD and under her tail on one cheek has been a spot that sort of looked like a sarcoid to me, but I don’t have any experience with that and had pretty much ignored it up to now. She came with it and it would look a little red once in awhile, but hadn’t gotten bigger or smaller in the 14 months she’s been here.
The vet was cleaning her off and ended up picking at this “thing” and said she was getting puss out of it like maybe a splinter had been in there. I guess that’s possible, but she’s not rubbed her tail since she’s been here and I’m thinking some little buggers might be coming out!.. or wishful thinking again. Anyway that spot as gone down and the horrible dandruff has all but resolved. It’s June, so into fly season, and the hair has not started falling off her face yet, but maybe it’s a bit early for that. But I’m hopeful that she’s getting fixed up.
New to this thread- fascinating! Have a question that may have already been answered… While it might seem too literal- do NTWs cause horses’ necks to be stiff? Reads that infestation in the joints/tendons/ligaments. could cause swelling. Does it couse stiffness also?
Welllll… I’ll tell this story and then run away :lol:
A few years ago when we started this a friend had a school horse who had a HUGE crest and was extremely stiff in the neck/poll. They had assumed he had arthritis in his neck and the crest was from having been a stallion for a while or whatever. Horse had no other adipose fat pads, was not IR, was not fat…
so incidentally she DD’s w/Equimax and then followed up in two weeks w/a DD ivermectin.
Crest all but disappears within a few days. Within a few weeks, the horse
can turn his head easily.
When he left her farm 2 years later he had never regressed.
YMMV :winkgrin:
Well add me to the list of “test subjects.”
My 6yr old Dutch/TB cross has suffered from this every year, to the point that I dont ride him, gets daily baths, etc during the summer. We assumed summer itch and just did what we could. If it got bad enough, Id IV some Dex and just be sad for him all summer.
So I posted on FB two days ago about how he was so bad and another CoTHer sent me this link. I read some of it off my cell phone and picked up a dose of Equimax on the way home last night and will give him another today too.
I mis read on my tiny phone on double dose, I thought it was one and then one the next day.
My regular worming schedule is every 8-10 weeks here at the farm, its not like he goes without his wormings. Grrrr!
Would putting them on a daily wormer help? Strongid 2x or does the darn worms not even react to Strongid products.
Im so glad I was told about this thread. He is miserable and I dread summers here in TX for him. I almost gave him away at one time to get him out of the TX heats.
I hope this works!!!
Will report my “test subject”, reactions and outcome as we go.
LaNet
No, daily dewormer does nothing because…NTWs do not live in the gut. They take up residence in soft tissue and joints.
The protocol is Double Dose Equimax by weight. 14 days later, double dose by weight again.
Most horses get worse before they better because of the mass exodus of the microfilia through the skin.
I know this thread is big, but do take the time to read through the links posted about the studies that have been done.
Im going thought it was much as I can, but 57 pages!! Ughgh!
Im willing to try anything that can work. I love my boy and I hate seeing him like this.
A good number of people sent me their personal “case studies” in a shorter format. If you’d like, I’d be glad to e-mail them to you, just as a way of you seeing that plenty of folks followed the protocol and saw positive results & healing.
I’m also going to post another “case study” from a horse that came to our barn a month ago.
HORSE: 5 y/o QH/TWH Mare
CONDITION: Very poor. About a 3 on the Heinecke Scale in body weight. “Rain rot” covered her entire hindquarters. Scabby on belly. Itchy tail.
TREATMENT: Since she was in poor condition overall, did single dose Ivermectin on Day 1. Day 7 did single dose Ivermectin again. Saw clearing of the skin. On Day 14, did double dose Equimax.
OUTCOME AT DAY 30: Total clearing of the skin. No rain rot present. No scabs. All new hair growth…soft and shiney.
Well I gave Merlot one dose of Equimax last night and one more dose this am.
I have not been able to read a ton, but… the places where the welts were on the neck, now have a small white spot on them??? They are not swollen as they were but little dots on them?!
WTF?
I gave my Dutch/TB cross a dose last night and one this am. His welts are down from yesterday and he is not standing at the dutch doors of his stall scratching his mane and chest as he has been for weeks. His skin looks much less inflamed and he seems more comfortable.
So, yes, Im seeing a total different reaction to my horse in less than 12 hrs from dosing.
Another thing is the welts from yesterday have a small dot in the middle of them now, not sure what that is, but whatever, he is much more content than he was yesterday. I will double dose again in two weeks.
STF, if you scratch them with your fingernail, does a tiny very light tan sliver come out? This is what happens with my horse. I have rubber curry and he loves me to curry them out. He is gradually improving. I double dosed earlier this spring, but am nervous about doing it again here in Central Texas because I read an A&M study about a problem with Ivermectin and nightshade. My horses have plenty of good grass, but there are nightshade sprouts in the pasture despite all my weed pulling.
