Very Itchy Hind Legs and kicking out

[TheHorseComesFirst]

Hi all !

I have a 30yr old QH that has very itchy rear legs, to the point that if you even touch them he quivers and shakes with his neck stretched out and lip quivering as well.

He started kicking his stall sometime in the spring of this year and I feel like that had a lot to do with it, but he also seemed to kick when grain was coming, which he had NEVER done…
he also hated being shut in his stall and kicked a 6x6 post as he had to be shut in as he was sideswiping ( Not directly kicking but brushing the wall) the exterior wall of the barn ( he could walk in/out of his stall at will.

I tried washing them with fungus shampoo,chlorohexidine wash, iodine and nothing seemed to help.

We even tried Hydroxzyzine as in the summer he had whole body itchiness . ( he does have sweet itch , but it was NOT in the usual places sweet itch is know. He was itchy on his sides and lower legs)

He also has a VERY itchy sheath.

fast forward he now has a proximal suspensory injury to his hindleg. VERY SWOLLEN. I am not sure if it is becuse he kicked the 6x6 post, or because of his turnout area there was a new horse that paced the fence and made huge /deep ruts in the mud which then froze over and/or dried out and he did it as he walked over them.

what I noticed was: the hindleg with the Acute suspensory injury is still EXTREMELY ITCHY! the other leg is not.

the vet said that the suspensory injury was ACUTE and is not Bi-lateral. so he is not thinking DSLD.

This horse in becoming an enigma in older age .

Has anyone dealt with something like this before?

[mroades]

Have you allergy tested him? I had one that I started giving a flax supplement to, and he started itching his hips on trees to the point where he bruised and broke the skin!
Did the testing and his allergy to flax as a very high number, stopped giving him the supplement, and he stopped brutalizing himself!

[Xanthoria]

I’d put him on an antihistamine right away - ask the vet about that but I use cetirizine at a dose of 0.2-0.4 mg/kg bodyweight every 12 hours. You can buy it online and the pills are small and tasteless.

[Bluey]

What color is he?
We had a very old part that was very itchy, especially under his belly and his sheath.
After some months, we could see a squamous cell carcinoma starting to grow from the end of his sheath and in two weeks it was the size of a tennis ball.
Our vet did surgery and got it out.

Has your vet checked his sheath and cleaned it well, is maybe something similar going on there?

[HoofHeartSoul]

A vet has not checked his sheath but I haved all seems normal. The “shaft” of his penis is not itchy and neither is the upper part more like the top part of the sheath that adjoins the abdominal wall and that feels normal.

I am going to try and treat for yeast in his sheath, but that doesn’t explain his legs.

I still have some some Hydroxyzine, it took the edge off but he was still itchy.

I am wondering if he is allergic to the bedding…

[HoofHeartSoul]

I thought of this before as he does have Neck Arthritis! My dad has Cervical Stenosis and he will get pins and needles in his legs, or his feet will feel puffy/ feel weird, etc

I am not sure this is what is happening to my horse but it has crossed my mind.

[Hayburner]

My mare has seasonal itching. It always started with her legs.
We did a quick allergy blood draw test and found there were several weeds in her pasture that she is highly allergic to, so I sprayed the weeds.

It helped and she got itchy later in the season that normal. But, she still got itchy on her body, but not her legs as much. Since she rolls, I’m thinking there could be something in the soil, as she rolls in the same spot everyday.

This year I am go8 g to have further testing, and probably do allergy shots. But all in all, she was not as bad as prior years.

[Jump314]

@Hayburner

I’m thinking there could be something in the soil, as she rolls in the same spot everyday.

Could you dump a load of sand in that spot to test your theory?

[beowulf]

You mentioned CA which made me think; I watched a very interesting webinar about ECVM this morning on YouTube. It might be worth watching it and seeing if any symptoms overlap. Your mentioning of cervical arthritis plus kicking out/itchy hind reminded me of something that was said in the webinar. Here’s the link: https://youtu.be/Szk4oSp_Rd4

[hut-ho78]

You may want to check for onchocerca. I’ve run into it before. It was more challenging to treat as the horse aged. One of my horses went off to the university for research on it back in the 1970s. Lots of fly spray and ivermectin helped the most. Good luck with finding what it is and treating it. https://equimed.com/diseases-and-conditions/reference/onchocerciasis

[Hayburner]

Good idea, but since I board I don’t think I can do that.

I think we need to do additional allergy testing. since it started later and continued thru December, it could even be something airborne. Lots of open fields and farming in this area.

[Alibhai_s_Alibar]

Have you done any bloodwork to check for PPID/Cushing’s? One of the first symptoms my PPID horse showed was being more itchy than in previous years. He became more sensitized to bug bites, too. PPID horses can also be more susceptible to suspensory injuries/problems/degeneration. Best of luck- hope you can figure it out!