Is there any way to treat a whole herd of horses that have lice without washing or hosing them?

Question

A friend of mine has a whole herd of horses out on a farm where there is no access to running water and no way to move the horses, and they look like they have lice (not sure how as they are well fed, always drenched and have never had it before). As the owner is an elderly lady, she is unsure how she can help them. I have read about some pour-on lousicides but some of these horses have never been handled so they would have to be treated in a crush, so this would be too hard - let alone work out expensive for a lady on the pension. Is there an injection that a vet might be able to give them?

Answer 1

There are different sprays and powders available, but if the horses aren't used to being handled, this could be difficult.  Treating with ivermectin is recommended on top of whatever treatment you do as it seems to help prevent infestations.

Answer 2

buy the powder at the feed store for lice on horses, or on line www.kvvet.com i knew a woman that had them on her herd she powdered them as good as she could once a week for about a month, it worked, and also ivermectin wormer would help ,orally. the powder and the wormer dont cost much, i mix wormer and garlic in the horses feed and they are alot easier to worm that way, they love garlic, and its good for them also. good luck!

Answer 3

A mite infection is called mange and a lice infection is called pediculosis. They are definitely two different things.  I have heard of people successfully using Ivermectin to rid their horses of lice, but you need to do it every couple of weeks until they quite reproducing.  Do you know what kind of lice it is?  You can pick some off, put them in alcohol and take them to the vet and have them identified...it makes a difference how you treat them.  Yikes, my skin is already crawling!  I've heard that dusting your animal with Diatomaceous Earth, the flour fine grind works for this...at least it wouldn't hurt anything, you or your animals.

Answer 4

...how do they drink?

There are gel capsules, i guess you would say, you can apply to horses.

There are also medications for bits.

The women, should rehome them to be honest.

Im glad your trying to help.This would be very expensive. :(

Answer 5

They also call it "sarcoptic mange", "Spanish Itch", "sweet itch", lice etc.

Well if you're willing to try anything, here's a decades old remedy for it... Motor oil (New or used). Simply paint your horse/pony with it and it will kill the fungus/bugs. Leave it on at least a month and within 2 weeks of painting it on, you'll see new hair growing in hairless spots. What happens is, that it coats their little bug bodies and because bugs breathe through their skin, suffocates them...

I should state that you SHOULD either WASH your horse/pony with dawn or something else that will take the oil off IF you HAVE to ride before you put any tack on it.  IF you don't you WILL stain your tack and boots (I actually heard somebody did ride with it on their horse and it stained all their tack and their black boots turned brown)...  Thought that would be a no brainer.

Answer 6

any horse fly spray with insecticide works great I  have also herd that if you have horse that cant be handled to put spray on. putting garlic in some sweet feed and feeding it to the horse but it takes a 1/4 clove chopped up per horse per day for about a week until the horses start to sweat the garlic also good to keep flies off the horse