>>> so many say to stall a horse at the worst gnat hours, but if you stall a >>> horse, he has plenty to rub on! So once they are in rub mode, thats >>> like throwing brer rabbit in the briar patch... But i see now Teev was >>> attracting double gnats, which made his problem so much worse...
Part of my initial strategy for managing Teev's SE is that he's in a pasture with NOTHING he can rub on, except for the water tub. It's all electrobraid rope with toppers on the t-posts. So, far, he's not rubbing on the tub. He's also in a six-acre pasture of our special blend of very sparse and weedy grass (Bermuda grass, crabgrass, a little fescue and ryegras and a tiny bit of orchard grass, plus a little clover - all native), so he can graze all day and keep his mind off the scratching. This pasture is also at the top of a little hill, so if there's any breeze in the area, he'll get it there. Of course, the first thing he did when I let Landi and Isak in with him was walk purposefully over to Isak and start shoulder-grooming him. I keep going out to check to make sure the little dudes don't groom Uncle Teev too strongly, and so far, so good. All, I've done so far is put a heavy application of Swat along his ventral line, some herbal healing cream on the sores, and a good dose of flyspray twice a day. I've left the flysheet off him since that first night. Of course, this is VERY preliminary, so we'll have to see how it works. I'm armed with Swat, Equi-spot, Poridon, Flygone, plus some new miracle flyspray I just bought. I'll play around until I find what works best, and pull the flysheets out if I need to. One other thing: Janice was feeding him garlic, and she thought it was helping. I have some on order, but I'll see how he does without it. An interesting note is that our area has tons of wild garlic - you can't find a pasture in the area that's free of "wild onions." It's not uncommon at all for our horses to have garlic breath. If I decide to give him the garlic supplement, I'll only give half a dose at most and see how that goes. I know we don't have the same kind of gnats that we find at the coastal areas of NC and SC. I'm hoping (and praying) that our gnats won't cause the same reaction as the other type does. The kind we have don't bite as much as the coastal variety does. I sure miss Trausti, but it's good to have my Teev back. Karen Thomas, NC
