I had a pony with severe sweet itch for many years. Feeding garlic definitely made a difference, some people also feed cider vinegar but it didn't help in our case. I used to apply Benzyl Benzoate to all vulnerable areas daily (twice daily during the worst of the sweet itch season) and that worked brilliantly. She had (almost) a full mane and tail and people couldn't believe she did have sweet itch. It was a few years ago now but I got Benzyl Benzoate in 500ml bottles from the chemist, it was a GREAT deal cheaper than the sweet itch lotions you buy from equestrian suppliers and if you look at the ingredients on those lotions, almost all contain Benzyl Benzoate. Didn't use a rug as she destroyed them. Did also put fly spray on her but only in addition to the other measures.
I have a Welsh Cob mare who also suffers with it (badly). I use a concoction of things; Nettex Itch stop summer freedom cream on her mane, tail and face as she has now started rubbing that too, last year I used Benzyl Benzoate but that is not available from any chemist in hfd & worcs at the moment, so am using Carr Day & Martin's Killitch (which the main ingredient is Benzyl Benzoate) and sadly costs 3x more than the stuff I used to get from chemists!! I also give her 12 Brewers Yeast 500mg extra strength tablets (from holland & Barrett) every day, AND my saving grace is a snuggy hoods sweet itch rug (similar to boett), it covers her from nose to tail and really has made the world of difference. She is also bathed at least once weekly. I am currently investigating with my vet about developing a sweet itch vaccine which is developed from taking their own serum and seeing exactly which bugs they are allergic to but isnt widely used at all yet.
On a good note yesterday she won an in hand M&M class out of 9, pretty good considering in 2009 I did consider euthanasia! Good Luck!!
Jo - well done for yesterday that's a great acheivement, bet ur glad u made the right decision. It's such a horrible seasonal issue, when we should be enjoying the weather all we can think about are the flies and how it effects our horses. Lets hope you can find a cure or at least a reasonable anidote!!
I used to have a pony and a horse who suffered with sweet itch, i found sudocream with some essentail oils citronella mixed in worked well, Putting electirc tape around the fencing to stop damage to herself and the fence i had alot of rugs ripped and fence posts snapped before i did this! But the BEST thing i did was buy a snuggy hoods sweet itch body it was fab!! saves £££s on creams etc and relieved her so much! A good wash with a soothin shampoo once a week or so as they can get a little bit sweaty under the bodys when its very hot, i found head and shoulders menthel worked well with my old pony as he would get lots of flacky skin in the mane and top of tail and it cleared it up well and left his skin looking refreshed not so dry :)
