Bug Bite Remedies for Horses

Your Horse and Insect Bites

Yellow Jackets are very territorial and have a reputation for being aggressive. They will protect their nest and can be quite nasty about it. Often, and unfortunately they invite themselves into the hay loft or rafters of your horse's stall to build a nest. Next thing you know they attack your horse.

Yellow Jacket, Wasp, and Bee Stings

Unlike bees, yellow jackets and wasps can sting repeatedly and this will be quite painful to the horse. The site will swell up almost immediately and will be warm and sensitive to touch. An ice pack or cool water compress is a good first aid remedy to help relieve the swelling and pain without the need of medicated treatments; however, you can expect your horse to flinch and not want the injury site to be touched.

 
Yellow jacket sting swelling on horse's neck

Your Horse has a Tick Bite

Imagine, one day you have a wonderful time riding the trails and the next morning you notice a very large swollen lump on your horse's body with a small oozing spot in the middle.

The first thing that should enter your mind is tick bite! Some tick attacks can come and go virtually unnoticed, others can cause an extremely itchy, swollen reaction. Check the spot closely, you might see a tiny tick embedded in the middle.

The horse will likely rub the spot on a pole or post which will remove hair around the site.  If you are concerned call the veterinarian.

Removing the Tick and Preventing Lyme Disease

When your horse rubs the site of the tick bite on a post or pole it will expose the tick bite lesion creating a raw, oozing, highly visible wet spot, however, the tick itself very likely remains firmly embedded right in the center. Chances are it will have to be carefully removed with fine tipped medical tweezers or a toothed forceps with clamp to get a firm grip on the tiny body. Usually, with an acute inflammatory, allergic reaction the tick is probably already dead (perhaps your fly and tick spray DID the trick, but not before the tick firmly attached itself to your horse). 

It may be advisable to call the vet. While it may be too early to draw blood for a reliable Lyme disease titer, it is never too soon to treat your horse prophylactically with an oral antibiotic for a few days. The sooner treatment begins the better are the chances Lyme disease can be completely prevented. It is much easier to prevent Lyme disease in a horse than to treat it. Otherwise we are talking about weeks and weeks of counting handfuls of doxycyline pills, grinding and administering them twice daily and needless to say: many hundreds of dollars later your horse will hopefully be fine.

Ichthammol for Insect Bites (Horse)

Ichthammol, also called black drawing salve, or black ointment, is a remedy we often use liberally, including on tick bites, yellow jacket, wasp and bee stings. It is an ointment made from sulfonated shale oil and combined with other ingredients, like lanolin or petroleum, to treat skin problems. It comes in different strength concentrations and is well-known for its anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, and anti-inflammatory properties. It also relieves swelling. Apply a big blob of 20-percent ichthammol ointment directly to the insect bite, or skin irritation once, or twice daily.

The swelling around the sting should go down significantly within hours. If it is NOT accompanied by fever or body aches, it is probably a local allergic reaction. The site of the sting tends to remain sensitive to the touch for several days. It will gradually harden to eventually form a central "pimple" and lead to a hard bump remaining at the site for several weeks before it resolves completely.

After a Sting Follow these steps:

• remove the tick or remaining bee stinger
• use a pair of slant tip tweezers if needed
• cleanse the wound with warm soapy water
• pat dry
• shave/clip hair around the area, if needed
• apply salve

The following remedies are recommended for application on stings:

• Baking soda and vinegar: mix equal parts baking soda and vinegar
• Aloe vera gel: apply gel liberally to wound as needed
• Comfrey leaf ointment
• Tea tree ointment
• Ledum homeopathic ointment
• Drawing Salve/Black ointment (ichthammol)

Shaving/clipping the area before a salve intended for insect bites is applied liberally may be a good idea. If the sting is on the neck below the mane we suggest to braid the hair and roll the braids up into short little nubs to keep it away from the "mess", especially when using ichthammol ointment.