I'm taking care of a neighbors horses (I watch everyone's animals while they're away). One of the horses has bad allergies to the flies around here and gets big welts. She gets sprayed in the morning and at night, takes antihistamines, wears a fly mask and fly sheet, and gets rubbed with this special cream. But still she keeps scratching! She broke her stall door by scratching her chest against it. Now she is rubbing her rear end against the wall to scratch and is rubbing off the top of her tail. Those of you with horses know it takes a very long time for a tail to grow back. What can I do? By the way, she in not confined to a stall, she has the run of the field, but has the stall open to her. Help!

-- Elizabeth (Lividia66@aol.com), August 06, 2001

Answers

If you have the time and she is OK with it, get the hose, bucket and some medicated shampoo like Viodine and wash her tail. Really wash, especially at the top, rinse, rinse and when you think you're done, rinse some more. Be careful about spraying with pressure under her tail, you don't need "backwash" going in the "wrong" places. Let it dry, if you have some Show Sheen a few spritzes on her damp tail will make it easier (MUCH) to brush out. Brush her tail out to get any debris out and see if that helps. If she goes back to scratching, put some Listerine mouthwash in a spray bottle and spray her tail. This helps to kill any itches. I don't usually do that first because if the tail is dirty and they always are, it doesn't seem to help. Hope this helps!

-- Tracey Burnash (burnash@gisco.net), August 06, 2001.

I second the washing the tail head really well. Also, most antiitch human remedies work well also. The tail itching may also be a fungas. Is it humid? Athelete's foot powder may help too.

If your sure its flies causing the welts you may want to stall her days and turn her out nights. I had to do this with one of my horses who had trouble after we moved.

-- Stacia in OK (OneClassyCowgirl@aol.com), August 06, 2001.

The hydrocortisone creams do help (forgot about that). The Viodine shampoo helps with fungal and bacterial problems. They are a very common secondary problem with tail itching from bug bites or other causes. The creams can get expensive but the tail washing can be time consuming because it needs to be done every day or so for awhile. Night turnout is also a concern for bugs like mosquitoes which transmit several different horse dieseases. We have coyotes around which cause further concern. The poor animals, sometimes it seems like there is no good answer. I finally gave in and tried Warpaint on two of our horses. The one mare seems to have bad reactions to some kind of insect bite. The weather here has been really hot and humid. The horses don't go out during the hottest part of the day. So far, the Warpaint seems to be doing just what it says, I hope it doesn't do things that aren't listed on the label!

-- Tracey Burnash (burnash@gisco.net), August 06, 2001.

Washing is a good start. My choice of treatment is calendula cream with a few drops of lavender essential oil mixed in, if the skin isn't broken. It is amazing how much of the 'zip' the lavender takes out of insect bites and stings.

You can also try using a fleece leg wrap (the kind with the velcro at the end) and wrapping the tail with that around the dock area. Do not wrap too tightly so that you cut off circulation as this can be disasterous, but it is hard to get it too tight using the polar fleece wraps. This will stop the horse from being able to scrub the tail out, but you also have to remove the wrap daily, groom the tail out and reapply it. We had one gelding that would rub his tail constantly and had to wear a tail wrap every night in his stall or it would be bald. We took it off during the day when he was working so that helped his circulation.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 06, 2001.

Elizabeth - I have found that sometimes mares will rub their tails if their udders need cleaned. So when you're washing her tail, wash her udder too and also put cream on the soft tender place just in front of her udder on her belly. And be sure to clean around her anus, dry manure can cause itches. Baby oil there and also on the underside of the tail does a good job. Bugs also like to bite them between their hind legs, way up high in that real soft tender skin.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), August 06, 2001.

I have a gelding that has a very itchy tail also, I mix up in a gallon milk jug a pint of aloe vera gel, a pint of witch hazel, and four ounces of tea tree oil, and shake well; pour into a quart spray bottle to use, spray this solution liberally around the entire underside of the tail as well as the top. What is itching the most seems to be the underside, but they can only rub the top. This helps wonderfully for fly irritations and skin irritations in all animals too, and people!

-- Annie Miller in SE OH (annie@1st.net), August 07, 2001.

What Dianne said got me to thinking. It is also possible that your gelding (or your neighbor's) needs his sheathe cleaned out. My gelding rarely needs this done, but ones that other people own have to be cleaned out frequently due to the buildup of dirt, sweat, and smegma. Excalibur sheath cleaner is still the best for this. This proceedure is a bit delicate, and if you haven't attempted it before, you might just want to leave it up to the owner to do it (Some horses could not care less, some don't want you handling them at all and will kick at you). Also check for a 'bean' in the blind pouch at the head of the penis. There are actually two little pouches there, side by side, and matter builds up there as well and can be quite uncomfortable for geldings, and this needs to be removed. It may help stop the rubbing.

-- julie f. (rumplefrogskin@excite.com), August 07, 2001.

What Julie said is correct. My 2 geldings get quite a bit of gunk in their sheaths, especially when it is like this, very hot and sticky. And if I don't keep it clean, they rub the heck out of their tails.

-- Dianne (willow@config.com), August 07, 2001.

When my gelding needed his sheath cleaned I always used a mild soap and warm water ans a sponge, the warm water usually relaxes them and then they'll "let down". After it was all clean, the inside and out I'd put baby oil on everything. Usually this needs to be done a couple times a year. As for the tail rubbing it may be all of the above but our vet always said it was a sign of worms. It's only a suggestion and I'm not sure that it's true, several of the above mention make a lot of sense. Good luck.

-- Kelle in MT. (kvent1729@aol.com), August 08, 2001.

Another good product we use is a Betadine surgical scrub. I buy it in the gallon size and first wash the tail head with regular warm water and a good liquid shampoo, then rinse. Then apply the betadine and allow to set for a few minutes, then rinse out. The surgical scrub will be reddish and kinda soapy, but it seems to work really well for the itchies. It is cheaper in the gallon container and you do not need to buy the brand name, you can use the off brand, it is still the same stuff.

-- Cindy (colawson@mindspring.com), August 12, 2001.

If your horse keeps rubbing his tail all the time,it sounds like he has pin worms.They inhabit the rectum.The horse will eventually rub his dock raw. Make sure the horse is current on his worming schedule.

-- Edie (lucricausa@highland.net), January 25, 2002.