Tail rubbing!

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dpony has been rubbing his tail on the gate. He's always done it a bit but this week he has been doing it almost constantly.

I have fenced off the gate (sorry dpony!) as I am worried he will damage it.

Is there anything I can do to minimise it? He seems quite itchy generally (flies). I washed his tail and dock this morning and put sudocrem on it in case it was feeling all itchy and horrid.

He was wormed about 5 days ago.

Hope it is not the start of sweetitch!

Hmm it could be I suppose. What triggers it do you know? He's a loan pony and they never mentioned sweet itch when we got him, I am sure they would have.

How long have you had him?

I know there were millions of those little white flies around yesterday evening which were driving our lot mad when they were in the yard (thank goodness there was a breeze up the field).

There is a specail stuff for washing sweetitch - benzale something (google is your friend) - and I would ring the owners and find out if he suffers. Best caught quickly.

I have texted her.

I am about to go shopping and will ask the fab and knowledgeable lady in the equestrian shop what she recommends.

I have a horse which has been diagnosed with sweet itch this year she rubs tail mane out ompletely and patches on her rump. If its sweet tech likely to get worse Canberra triggered by any thing pollen, trees flys. The vet amongst other things has suggested a really strong fly spray that you only use once a week ie deosect it's expensive but totally worth it also a Rolland cream that repairs is cavelese (sp) both available on my vet meds this year after sing both f these we still have a part mane and tail first time in 3 years. Bt most important is taking away the opportunity to rub. Good luck and hope its not sweet itch

Benzyl benzoate was always used to treat sweet itch, but I think it is banned now. Can you get a fly sheet? When the rain stops the little biting flies are a nightmare this year.

Shows how old I am Callisto. Is it really banned? I know gloves had to be worn when applying it.

You could still get benzyl benzoate a couple of years ago we would use it in the winter months to condition manes.

Ive just used a liquid called Switch on DDs youngster. Its meant for sweet itch, but we used it for lice. Its Permethrine based, and is applied like a spot on. If it works as well for sweet itch as it does for lice, then its definitely worth a try. And if it isnt sweet itch, it will still work as a fly repellent. I got it from the vet, but I think you can find it online.

Maybe it's been un-banned then? It's what we used to use when I was much younger, then I heard it had been banned by the EU, but that was years ago.

I use Killicth from Carr day martin. It is brill

Killitch even!