We have a 5 year old TWH gelding that is scratching his butt on everything in sight. He has been dewormed regularly and even got an extra dose two weeks ago. There is no visible fungus or rash. He has ruined his once beautiful, ground-length tail. It now looks like some child took the scissors to it! He has destroyed numerous fence boards, buckets and gate hooks.
HELP!! Is this just a boredom habit or am I overlooking some physical ailment that is causing this?? Any ideas?
I am going to wash him with medicated soap tomorrow and see if that helps any.
Posted 2008-08-02 9:08 PM (#88861 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Expert
Posts: 2828 Location: Southern New Mexico
How long has he been doing this? Maybe he was bitten by something or he got sunburnt and it is itching as it heals. My mare will do this when the flys get after her. She will rub all the hair off her chest.
Posted 2008-08-02 9:43 PM (#88867 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Veteran
Posts: 294 Location: Fort Worth, Tx
It's probably sweet itch. Try washing daily with a medicated soap like Eqyss and it should help. Put him on flax seed or something similar if you haven't got him on it already.
Posted 2008-08-02 9:43 PM (#88868 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Veteran
Posts: 192 Location: Hutto, TX
I've heard to use Listerine on tails like this.
Also, I had a horse that was itchy and it turned out that he was allergic to knats. A steroid shot every August and he was good. Talk to your vet about that.
Posted 2008-08-03 9:36 AM (#88879 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Veteran
Posts: 270 Location: Roanoke IL
Mare or gelding? If it's a mare check her udder area, if its a gelding have his sheath cleaned. The listerine thing works, and shapeley's MTG is also a good product. Try wrapping his tail in vetwrap to save what's left.
Posted 2008-08-03 10:48 AM (#88885 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Elite Veteran
Posts: 781 Location: La Cygne, KS
My friends horse was wormed regularly on ivermectin. But had a bad case of pin worms. Even though you wormed him a second time the pin worms can still be hatching and continue discomfort. Take a poop sample to see if he has pin worms or other parsites.
My friend had to worm every two weeks with Anthelicide for 6 weeks. He scratched his rump so bad that sores and open wounds developed.
My mare will scratch her tail when sweat builds up between her legs and udder. So I frequently hose this area off especially right now with this high heat and humidity.
Check for ticks in the tail too. There are so many itch ailments that it takes some time to figure it out. Good luck.
Posted 2008-08-03 4:20 PM (#88912 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Elite Veteran
Posts: 824 Location: Kansas
I had good luck with listerine but I also mixed mine in baby oil to keep it on the tail longer. My guy rubbed his tail out every summer for years before I tried this. Plus it's cheap and you always have other uses for both items if you don't like the results so there is no waste.
Posted 2008-08-04 5:28 AM (#88955 - in reply to #88859) Subject: RE: Tail scratching
Elite Veteran
Posts: 610 Location: Northern CA
I feel your pain with the tail rubbing! I have found that there are fox-tails up in my guys tail, right up high by the tailbone. When I remove these, he quits rubbing his tail out. These things are horrible! You don't even see them unless u look really closely. Also, I have been washing my guy back there with an anti-fungal shampoo every once in a while. Clean his sheath real good too as this could be the issue. The little black nats are what is driving my guy crazy as well. They eat open sores on his sheath and his belly underneath (midline )Something else has been biting him lately though, he has these big welts(circular ) almost like hives on his rear end. I noticed the other day one actually started to change color!! a lighter brown ( the welt)noticed it when rinsing him down from a ride. What kind of bug would cause this to happen??
Tail scratching
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