How to stop butt scratching?

[Carly Rae]

Hi.

My mare Snickas has a bad habit for scratching her butt on our fences. Then she breaks them. We have both wire fencing and wooden fencing. The wire fencing isn't too bad because she just breaks the wire holding it to the picket, not the actual panel, but she breaks them so often that I am always out fixing them, it gets very frustrating and broken fences are a hazard for us because if there's a gap in the fence they will test to see if they can get out and they end up hurting themselves..

She only scratches her butt on the fences in the small pen that has no grass. It makes my dad so angry especially when she snaps the wooden fences, they aren't cheap to repair. She has actually fallen through a fence before by scratching, then she let all the others out in to our house yard. And the small pen is the one that needs to look most presentable, because when friends or family come to meet the minis, we like to have a nice tidy place, not some scrappy yard with broken and bent fences every where.

We treat her with "Quit-itch" every time she has a bath. They are due for worming though. But even wormed she will rub her butt. I give her scratches all the time as well and keep her brushed. But it doesn't stop her.

So does any one have a solution to this? She has so many other things she can scratch on, but chooses the fence..

My dad wants to line the fences with electric tape for a few days to teach her to respect the fences, but will that work?

Caught on camera haha. She looks so silly. You can see in one of the first 2 that the fence is broken in the corner.

Today

Thanks!

 

[chandab]

Like geldings/stallions itching their butts cause their sheath is dirty, some mares will itch their butt when their udder is dirty; mares will get a build up of gunk (dead skin cells, dirt, etc) between the halves of their udder, it can be cleaned the same way as you'd clean a sheath or baby wipes work pretty good too.

Is she all upto date on deworming, I think it's pin worms that makes the butt itchy? Make sure there are no lice in the tail.

some just like to scratch, so the electric fence would likely help, but it'll take more than a couple days, it might even need to be a permanent addition to the inside of the corral where the itching occurs the most.

 

[AngC]

I recognize that expression/facial contortion... the lips extended over the "bucky-beaver-tooth look"! If you're sure you don't have internal parasites (?) I'd say have at it with the electric to prevent fence damage. A good jolt delivered on the inside of the fence would end that habit?

That said.... our Baby had the most beautiful paddle of a tail. Then her fecal worm count went up a bit (would have to check the numbers) but not by all that much--a few hundred. She scrubbed her tail down to nibs. It took nearly two years for it to grow out, and it's still rather skimpy. The thing that's helped the most from my observation is getting the horse poop out of the horse area. I don't know; you're mileage could differ.

 

[MiniNHF]

http://www.horsehealthusa.com/details/Itchin-Post-Grooming-Pads/480-1.html

this might be an idea as well, you put these on posts or other locations so the horses can scratch without damaging anything.

 

[Silver City Heritage Farmstead]

Hi Carly Rae! It's great to see a youngster willing to ask question like you do in your threads.

Anyway, this is a quick comment as I'm taking a break from moving/unpacking/downsizing. For the more experienced who are offering advice....this mare MAY be in foal. Isn't that correct Carly Rae? I'd forgotten until I saw your thread on the Marestare forum. Perhaps this will produce some different ideas for you, as pregnant mares often butt rub while repositioning foals.

Good luck at any rate!

Julie in North Carolina

 

[secuono]

Once health reasons are ruled out and she's just picked up the habit, get some hotwire.

 

[Carly Rae]

Thank you all so much for your great answers!

Ill get in and give those udders a clean. She is due for worming very soon. But she has literally scratched her butt ever since we have got her. Maybe she just likes the feel of it?

I just watched the video for the "Itchin' Post" MiniNHF, I love the idea! Ahh! So many things I want haha!

Ill check for lice. If she does have lice do I just go buy her a special spray, cream or wash for it? Any recommendations on brands?

Thank you Julie

I love to learn. Yes that is correct, I forgot to mention that she could be in foal. Sorry everyone! I will take that into consideration as well.

For now i'll worm her, check her for lice-treat if i have to, and clean her udders. Then i'll see what happens.

Oh! Today I went out and applied for jobs, hopefully I will get accepted by one! I only got 4 resumes in today, but I have more to hand out haha. I need a job so bad, there is so many things I want to get. One thing just leads to another. Like I want Kevin to be gelded, then I want to buy new rugs, then I want to get a mini instructor, then I want to have riding lessons, then I want to buy a riding horse.. Gah! So much money to do all that! Haha thanks again for all your help!

 

[paintponylvr]

Do you have Dollar Stores, Thrift stores or Restore/Rehab stores there?

Using in-expensive push brooms, you could set up a "station" that will allow you horses to itch/scratch/butt rub all they want using by attaching the bristly broom portion to a post or wall at shoulder/butt height. I haven't tried doing this myself yet, but have seen pics of it and it's on one of my "to-do" lists... If they learn to rub/scratch at the station, then they'd leave your fencing alone (especially if you also use hot wire to keep them off of you fencing).

I couldn't figure out what I saw in someone's horse pasture the other day. Wish we'd stopped and gotten pictures, but I wasn't driving, it was getting late and we needed to get home. It was my friend who figured it out. The Owner of the pastures had put out the rollers from a car wash in different locations (we went past several pastures) - standing vertical/upright. The horses or cattle could go itch/rub on those. In another pasture he had one like a hitching rail - obviously for the cattle in that pasture - they could walk under it and stop to scratch the tops of their backs.

 

[MiniNHF]

Our TB mares use to scratch their butts all the time and loved to use the feed buckets and I had the kind that was plastic but would flex, so when I would go to feed I had a flat bucket. It sucked because they were a PITA to flex back out. I wish I had a "scratching" solution back then.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

If you have any parking lot maintenance companies around they often have round sweeper brooms from their equipment (here they use skid steer tractors) that have worn down and they will just be throwing out. They are round with a coarse bristle, they slide over a fence post and the horses self groom on them quit a bit. We have a collection of them that we share with neighbours and friends for their horses and cattle. Some of the newer ones have small stiff nylon bristles rather than the more brush like ones and some people really like those. I prefer the brush type as it seems do my horses. It sure saves work in the spring when they can 'brush' themselves between my unhappy attempts to clean them up to remove some of the winter wool they are shedding.

 

[paintponylvr]

If you have any parking lot maintenance companies around they often have round sweeper brooms from their equipment (here they use skid steer tractors) that have worn down and they will just be throwing out. They are round with a coarse bristle, they slide over a fence post and the horses self groom on them quit a bit. We have a collection of them that we share with neighbours and friends for their horses and cattle. Some of the newer ones have small stiff nylon bristles rather than the more brush like ones and some people really like those. I prefer the brush type as it seems do my horses. It sure saves work in the spring when they can 'brush' themselves between my unhappy attempts to clean them up to remove some of the winter wool they are shedding.

Do you have any pics?

 

[AngC]

We used to have to travel around the state a lot and have seen several iterations of this idea: i.e., the round street sweeper thingies. Sometimes mounted endwise on a post sunk vertically and also with two posts with the brusher-thingie mounted horizontally on a cross-pole. They look similar to this: (I snagged this photo off a Kubota site; figured it was ok., but image may be copyrighted.)

http://arb.nwpa.net/Portals/0/used_attachments//IMG_2741.JPG

I've also seen regular broom heads mounted side-by-side on a board and then nailed to the fence.

 

[Reignmaker Miniatures]

Sorry Paula, I don't have any that are postable here but AngC has the right type of thing except that is the one with the thicker stiff nylon/plastic bristles and I prefer the more brush like sweeper brooms. Here we can pick them up for nothing since the parking lot maintenance company just wants to get rid of them.

 

[user 3234]

I know everyone has covered all the medical possibilities, but really it looks like she is just enjoying herself.