close up of a horse eating grass

How microbes can help relieve sweet itch and summer hives

If your horse spends the season rubbing their mane, breaking out in lumps, or scratching frantically against the fence posts, you are likely dealing with sweet itch or summer hives.

Horses tail with bald patches as it is suffering with sweet itch

Their skin is a mirror of what is happening on the inside...

Over 70% of your horse’s immune system is located in their digestive tract, primarily in the hindgut.

When the hindgut is disrupted by stress, high-sugar diets, or chemical inputs, the immune system loses its balance.

When a seasonal trigger hits, an unbalanced immune system can hyper-react, leading to severe allergic responses:

Sweet Itch symptoms: an intense hypersensitivity to midge saliva, causing frantic rubbing, hair loss, and raw, inflamed skin along the mane, tail, and belly.

Hive (urticaria) symptoms: a sudden, systemic allergic reaction to environmental allergens, feed changes, or insect bites, causing raised, flat welts to erupt across the neck and torso.

Bono the horse standing in a lush green field

How microbes helped Bono (aged 21)

Bono has been taking microbz horse nutrition for the last three months after struggling with itchy back legs.

His owner, rachel, tried looking up natural remedies for sweet itch in horses, but nothing seemed to do the trick.

Instead, she decided to apply our microbes topically to his skin as well as adding them to his feed.

Within a week, bono had almost stopped scratching completely!

Read our full case study from an experienced dressage rider who used microbes as a sweet itch treatment to get bono's skin back to its gorgeous, shiny, and radiant self in time for their british dressage competition.

Read case study

FAQs for horses with skin issues

If you need any further support, or if you're unsure how to get started with your horse, you can reach out to us via email at any time.

Drop us a line at info@microbz.co.uk; our team is always here and happy to help you and your horse!

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