Disappearing mane

[Pleasedontdothat]

At the start of the summer our semi-retired grey boy had the most wonderful unicorn mane. He’s been living out 24/7 since February and it was fine when he was rugged in winter and fine in spring/early summer. However in late June he developed a couple of itchy spots on his neck and started rubbing his mane out - it’s now a horrible scraggly mess and although he’s still very handsome he’s not looking his best … The itchy bits healed after a few days and I can’t see anything obviously bothering him so I’m wondering if he’s developed a new habit?

We’re going to hog him this weekend as frankly it can’t look any worse but any ideas to stop him from rubbing it out again when it starts growing? He’s 12 so really should know better!!

Our new mare did exactly the same thing. What works for us is vaseline mixed with neem oil rubbed into the base of the mane and a good fly rugs with a neck.
Ours still loves a good scratch,but hasn't rubbed any more mane out since we started this regime.

Thanks - he gets quite hot and is not a big fan of fly rugs so was hoping to avoid using one. Vaseline and neem oil is definitely worth a try. We’ve hogged him for now so he’s not looking his beautiful best but fingers crossed it will grow back soon

Worth getting your vet to do a skin scrape to check for mites or a fungal infection.

@Sarahlou63 good idea - I’ll ask, thanks