Since Starbuck has been trying on some new tack lately I took some photos to show it all off - we have a new halter, leadrope, fringed headband for the bridle and of course my new and improved saddle with less filling and D-rings on the back!
The fringed headband is ostensibly to keep flies out of her eyes but is also terribly Spanish-y, don't you think?
She's been an absolute martyr to flies lately, I think she must be allergic to the bites because she gets huge bumps where they bite her, then scratches herself against her stall until she has big bald spots all up and down her neck and chest. She also rubs her face on anything with an edge and has a couple of sores where she's rubbed herself raw... it's superfrustrating because I'm already showering her more often, spraying her with flyspray twice a day and being really concientious about getting all the poop out of her paddock every day, but the two paddocks on either side of hers don't get cleaned out regularly and the flies seem to go straight to her. And to make matters worse, everyone who sees her looks at me like I'm somehow abusing her and doesn't seem to believe me when I say it's the flies. My next step is to nuke her entire paddock with industrial strength flyspray to see if that helps and if the bald spots haven't gone away by a week from now I'm going to call the vet.
Anyhow at least she's gotten used to the flyspray, at first it was really really scary and she's still not totally cool with it, but she at least mostly stays still while I'm spraying her.
2 comments:
If the itching and sores are that bad it could be sweet itch - an allergy to midge/fly saliva that you need to take specialist care of. Your vet will advise but perhaps don't leave it too long to get an opinion because rubbing the sores can be pretty damaging if you don't treat it quickly.
Thanks for the tip! I'll give my vet a call today to see what she thinks :) I've also brought some skin-so-soft from home to see if that helps any...
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