Fly rugs at the ready for sweet itch awareness month

Through personally having a horse with sweet itch, I can understand the frustration and need for more awareness of the condition. It’s frustrating, painful and if not managed can be unbearable. Most summers I see a common trend of owners unaware of the condition, lumps of hair missing from the mane and tail and leaving it out in fields itching all day against a fence. Hopefully, the awareness month will get owners thinking about the problem and realising that the condition can be managed.

Throughout April, equine charities and a drug company are pulling together to launch a sweet-itch awareness month to highlight the condition. The charities include British Horse Society, Redwings Horse Sanctuary and Horse World Welfare which will be working on highlighting preventive measures and managing the condition.

With sweet-itch effecting 3-5% of horses in the UK from the start of spring and peaking in the summer months, the awareness month comes at the perfect time.

Management techniques range from horse supplements, to fly sprays and fly rugs. Ideally, when all these different techniques are put together it allows you to manage and give some relief to your horse or pony!

Here are some tips for the summer ahead:

Firstly, midges thrive around standing water and boggy land; they are at their peak at dusk and dawn so stabling or moving them to a different ground would be beneficial during these hours.

Secondly, use fly rugs or a specially designed sweet itch rug to cover the areas which are mostly bitten.

Thirdly, use supplements and plenty of fly spray. NAFF has made targeting products such as D-itch ointment which soothes the broken skin and a D-itch horse feed supplement to fight the skin irritation.