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Me again!

My horse when she comes in from the field is prone to feeling itchy. This is a new development over the past five days. She rubs her backside up against her haynet and will sometimes kick the door with her front hoof to get someone's attention to scratch her withers and will attempt to point at where she would like to be scratched with her head.

Some things to note:

  • She does have remnance of rain scald on her back (just a few scabs left to remove.)
  • I've recently purchased a new rug for my mare (third one in three months :') ) with a slightly heavier weight (200g)

So far I have two theories:

The rug is too heavy and is causing her to sweat or be hotter than usual and this is causing the rainscald areas to get itchy.

There's nothing wrong but she just wants attention and has found that by kicking the door people will give her that attention whether it be negative (telling her to stop) or positive (petting/scratching etc.)

I will be removing the rug again tonight just to be sure the lining on the inside hasn't been damaged. Previously I have found that the outside material is rip-stop but the inside is not; causing there to be holes on the underneath.

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  • Could you please add an actual question to your question? ;) Sorry if it seems nitpicky, but your post contains only explanative text. Without a focused question, it's hard to write a focused answer and someone might invest time and efford for an answer that doesn't really help you with your actual problem.
    – Elmy ♦
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 19:59
  • @Elmy - Apologies! It was a question to begin with but the site complained it was too short. In making it longer I removed the question 😂
    – SimplyRedAppaloosa
    Commented Mar 3, 2020 at 20:15
  • I'll answer this. It's not for attention - she is itchy. Can be worms and a number of other things. Can you please put in a pic of her back end where she's rubbing?
    – user6796
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 2:31
  • bump - can you post a pic?
    – user6796
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 14:04
  • @YvetteColomb - Added some pictures of her rear. It seems there was a rather large hole just above her tail and so that part was wet when I removed the rug so it could be that. The amount of hair that I brushed out was unreal so it could well be a combination. I doubt worms as I check "exit areas" and her poo regularly as well as worming her just before Christmas BUT you never know! She's specifically rubbing either side of her tail (at the base)
    – SimplyRedAppaloosa
    Commented Mar 4, 2020 at 18:38

1 Answer 1

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This is a case where you might want to seek a veteriarian's advice if you feel like your horse is tormented by the itching.

Your horse might have parasites (e.g. mites), fungus, an allergy or metabolic defect.

It might also come from strain or molt.

Many horses feel itchy on molt, so if your horse has a soft, shiny, nice coat with smooth skin beneath you might not need to worry to much (all other reasons oftimes lead to skin and coat aberations of which some cannot be seen in pictures).

And yes, it might be the rug and in this case, replace it or even better, don't use one if your horse doesn't necessarily need one. How much degrees (Celsius please) have you recently at your location at day and night?

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    I like this answer. It's great to have another horse lover active on the site. We have quite a few now!
    – user6796
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 2:13
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    I usually am on stackoverflow since I changed from horses to computer science, but I am glad if I can help some guys with the knowledge I acquired so far. And stackexchange has a great concept for qualitative answers ;)
    – kaiya
    Commented Mar 8, 2020 at 9:57

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