Poor Toffee Pony :(

[anastasia55555]

Well my first thoughts were infact right, she has lice, not just a few, bloody hundreds of them

When ive looked before ive not seen them, but ive obviously not been looking hard enough, or they have come out more with a warm rug with neck on.

It's revolting, and i feel so ashamed i have no idea where they have come from, i think they must have appeared in the last 2 weeks, or maybe a bit longer if its taken them a while to breed.

So Toffee had a hair trim today, unfortunatly i couldnt get her to somewhere that didnt have other horses or animals to plug clippers in, so it was a scissors job, and have poured on some of the stuff people mentioned in other posts, that field owner gave me. Got to ring the vets tomorrow for some more for the other 3. Gave her a severe hair cut as hopefully will have cut some of them out and their eggs, and also any treatment will actually get to the skin.

Anything washable is being washed, brushes being done in dermoline shampoo for crawlies, rugs, well im not sure what to do. Seeing if i can find some new ones for less that £22 as thats how much it is to have them washed and reproofed. If i can il bin them, if i cant il have to get them cleaned. Her HW which she now has back on il have to get done too, didnt see much point in buying a new one to put on now if she is infested. Gave it a good brush and covered inside with louse powder, although i doubt it does a great deal, something is better than nothing.

What would people recommend about rugs? I dont know what to do for the best

The others dont wear them, so any fleeces and other rugs that get used on occasions, il get them cleaned or binned.

Now the field, well its just a field with an outdoor dirt floor shelter, im not going to be able to disinfect that, the field is swimming with water as it is. And thats about the only vaguely dry place. Any suggestion? Spray with jeyes or something like that?

And my final ponder, where the hell have they come from??

I want to go and wash her all over in crawlies shampoo but its too cold to do that, its going to be a constant battle to keep the buggers at bay now. I just puzzled, Bobby and Apollo dont 'seem' to be suffering, but they will be treated too, Tiny and Toffee seem to the only ones, Toffee more so, is that because she is old? Big fluffy coat and a thick rug? Toffee and Tiny groom each other alot, so im guessing they were passed between them quite well.

[anastasia55555]

Plus, i think the HW was making her too hot too, along with all her fluff, now she is fairly fluffless i think she will need it!

[happysnail]

Poor toffee. Don't blame yourself of feel bad about it. You've spotted it and are taking action really quickly. It is tricky, especially with such a cold winter when they're so fluffy.

[june]

Hopefully the vet will give you some Frontline. That way you'll be able to kill them off without having to wash the horse. They can pick them up from all sorts of places such as rabbits and deer, as well as other horses. Just bad luck.

[treacletart]

I found a thin rug under outdoor rug a godsend. It was replaced every day with a clean one, managed a 3 rug cycle. The outer rug was powdered every day.

If you think you are on top of the lice at any time, dont let your guard down. If you check in the dark with a headtorch, by laying you hand under the mane, then at the same time, switch the torch on and flick the mane over. You will see rogue lice run like heck for the deep hair close to the skin and in the base of the mane.

Check out the life cycle of the louse once you have determined which one it is (i cant remember it off hand, but i thinks its a fair few weeks (7?) ). Work with the life cycle to ensure you get them all as they hatch etc.

They do seem to find nice places to live, not just on weak equines the healthy ones too. It is quite common so dont feel bad about it.

Regarding the field shelter, not sure what advice to offer except rake the loose stuff off the floor each day and burn it. Maybe sprinkle the powder about, in crevices etc.

Going off to get a book...back in a mo...

[highlanderpony2002]

Pick them up from the shelter too they can be dormant in the wood for years

[anastasia55555]

How did u go about cleaning the rug under neath tho everyday? My mum is going spare us using the washing machine for anything horsey! she isnt helping the situation!

The stuff i put on toffee today was a clear liquid, that you pour from tail to ears along the skin, however, that proved quite difficult in itself, she stood to be trimmed like an angel, pouring on liquid, turned into a complete div!trying to pour and aim without getting kicked, bum swinged and trampled on was hard! The stuff is from the vets, normally used on cattle and sheep, YO had it as she was concerned her new foals from market had them, I dont know how mine could have caught them of the newbies tho, as they arent kept anywhere near each other, so im guessing must be from a different source.

The crawlies themselves, some seemed to be white, others maybe older ones, seemed to be white with a brown stripes going across the body. I just have to do what i can till the weather is better and i can stop using rugs. That will be one less thing to contend with. Going to use very few brushes on them, only plastic and rubber ones so they can be soaked in crawlie killer everytime

[anastasia55555]

So i guess its just going to be one of those things, like Apollos leg mites, always present just a matter of keeping them to a minimum

[treacletart]

hope this helps...

Larger louse is blood sucking, have pointed heads,most common in the long hair, mane tail feathers but can be found anywhere. 3-5mm long, yellow brown colour but bluey colour when full of blood.
The smaller one is biting/chewing louse, slightly smaller,more difficult to see, 2mm long,light yellowy brown in colour, feed on scurf and surface skin cells, mainly found along the back and flanks but also anywhere on horse.
Eggs attached to individual hairs,adults emerge in about 10 days,develop into adults in about 3 weeks.
Transmitted by direct contact but if warm and damp, can survive hours to a few days on tack, stables etc.

I think my guess of 7weeks was a bit out as the owner of a horse needing treatment wasnt commited enough to following the cycle. A long learning curve. The cycle does need to be broken.

[anastasia55555]

by the sounds of it then its the biting chewing ones. I was freaking out as i was concerned she was anaemic and then worrying that maybe she has had them for years and thats why she has lost alot of weight and all sorts (she is fuller of figure now ) i know like with peoples head lice, they multiply by the minute, what was one, can be 100's of eggs layed before you blink!

Going to get some nit combs tomorrow to brush them all from head to toe, to try and get rid of what we can, i think il have to try and burn the fur we cut off, and going to have a bucket of crawlie killer to dunk the nit combs with.

[Mellymoo]

Poor pony, hope you get rid soon! Two of ours had lice - no idea where they came from, but soon got them cleared off.

[jen1]

they live under the chin, the biting ones do, so under the chin shoulders and inbetween the back legs , dog flea poweder and shampoo are good for getting rid of whats there, its not a one off treat ment but every week and a half is the life cycle of the lice, she maybe suseptable for the next few winters, worm her with ivermecectin every 10 days too its what our vet recemomended to us, can you imagine 14 horses and all there belongings to do, you have to get your eye in on these lice there so hard to spot, when you wash her you should notice a grey scummy stuff coming out of her coat, lush its the lice and eggs

[barbararob]

The pour on stuff should do a good job and then a dose in a couple of weeks and just keep monitoring, they can pick them up from hedgerow/wild animals, you cannot create a sterile environment so don' t get to wound up about it. You will become an expert in dealing with them and be able to offer your wisdom to others. Our dealings with them have seen injection and powder being little use but the cattle pour on dealing with them well. If worming is due a ivermectin one will help.
As for rugs, I'm not sure how long they can live off the host, turning rug inside out exposed to frost and away from other horses?

[treacletart]

Jen1, you sound like a voice of experience, trouble is, once bitten twice shy, lol. Your posts bring back memories, of helping others de louse their horses. Gotta be thorough, right?

Are you speaking of the ivermectin wormer every 10 days? or is it something else which can be poured on the spine area?

[jen1]

bathing gets the eggs out of there coats too, we fannied about for 3 cycles with just spot on ,wasnt until we rolled out sleeves up and bathed all 14 every 1 cyclex3 and had clean rugs and did spot on and worming did we clear all 14 horses of them for good, we do use powder but under chins now, most folks do dorsal lines which is usless with lice as they dont live there,we use it as a deterrant, dyertamasous earth is good at keeping them at bay