Mane and tail growth; mane styles

[ladyiceblink]

Hello everyone,
I'm not new by any means, but I don't believe I've ever posted anything besides comments yet, so here goes!
I have a 13-year-old QH/Arabian named Tuffy who seems to dislike having a mane and does what he can to destroy it.

Here is pony in question:

Comments

[gemmabowles]

mmm i wouldnt say the horse is deliberately doing it. he looks lovely, by the way!

I would say it does sound like sweet itch or a related bug problem- first pershaps give the mane a de-louse, just in case he somehow has localised lice. Then i would treat for sweet itch- washing it in special sweet itch lotions would be a start, then working on coat condition from the inside out next, like with cod liver oil.

I dont think roaching/hogging would look bad, but given he rubs his neck already, he will most likely rub sores onto his neck if there is no mane at all to protect it.

What you might want to try is borrowing/buying him an anti midge sheet, or a cheap version (though very liable to get ripped!) an anti rub vest/lycra hood that extends up the neck. sweet itch is more about prevention than cure, and he certainly sounds like he has it- so begin the prevention with maybe a hood, and a sweet itch lotion, and see what happens from there!

Also, what helps to prevent the mane falling in the short term is applying lots of coat shine on it (be careful not to get it on reins/in the saddle area if possible!), as this makes the hair slippy and more difficult for midges to grab a hold of- also if he rubs, there is more chance of the hair staying in as its slippy and wont catch so easily!

hope that helps, good luck!

[thelitas]

This is a very good comment; I've tried both of these things to help grow manes and they do help.

Have you ruled out dandruff as well? That was my first pony's problem. She had such terrible dandruff in her mane that she would itch and rub it out. Dandruff shampoo helped it immensely.

As for roaching, while he would look far more lovely with a full mane, if he continues to rub it out then he may look far better with it roached. However, I'd try everything else first before going to that extreme.

And the best thing to remember, that just like your own hair, manes will grow back! If you hate how it looks roached then just wait a few months and you'll have it long again. :)

[ladyiceblink]

He hardly has any dandruff since he has oily Arab skin, lol. Dandruff shampoo has other good stuff in it like anti-bacterials, so maybe that would help anyway!

Heck, If he rubs it off as bad as last year, maybe I'll just shave him like a polo pony and hope it grows back thicker :p

[ladyiceblink]

Thank you :)
I've inspected the roots of his mane very closely and there are no bugs that I can see, unless they are too small to be visible? I've washed his mane off as well with antibacterial shampoo and tea tree.

See, that's the odd thing - he stops rubbing as soon as the mane is gone. There are never any rub marks on the other side of his neck, or his shoulders.

I thought a lycra sleazy hood would be a good idea, too - I bet I could get one pretty cheap secondhand that I don't care about getting torn. What is in a sweet itch lotion? I don't know that they sell that kind of thing around here, so I may have to improvise.

I put coat shine on him today for a thing at the county fair, so we'll see if it helps :)

Thanks so much for the tips!

[gemmabowles]

Ok :) no worries. the main ingredient in a sweet itch lotion is benzyl benzoate, which you can usually pick up as a cream at the chemist- you can use this cream on horses safely (well, here you can anyways!) and its pretty cheap too! You wouldnt see the bugs, even looking closely- lice you would though!