The problem with Queensland Itch is that it is initiated by a variety of causes and then perpetuated by another variety of causes. Most often the initial reason for the itch in a horse starting off with sensitive skin is some sort of metabolic stress whether that be climatic or illness or difficulty in breaking down (usually in the liver) some sort of chemical substance showing up in feed or supplements. Otherwise the itch is initiated by insect bites or by mites or fungal infestation taking up residence in an area of rubbing where the skin has been injured.
However initiated, once the skin is damaged and if the immune system is not totally healthy, the irritation is maintained by the residents, very often fungal whose interests lie in maintaining the status quo.
My initial approaches to this problem as with all other health problems is to address the internal causes and allow the skin to heal itself. This has proven inefficient and often fruitless as the initial cause is so variable and may already have passed on in any case.
Recently then, I have been approaching it from the outside on the grounds that if we can provide healing agents and immune system boosters to the damaged area and antifungal and antibacterial agents to the colonies of bugs we will get an earlier result and will in many cases fix the problem altogether if the initiating circumstances have passed on.
This is not to say what we are now prescribing is totally experimental. We have been conducting trials using this latest approach recently on horses with encouraging results and I have long used the same group of herbs on Dog skin problems which are rife and on Tropical skin conditions in humans.
The first task is to clear toxins from the blood and to begin the process of healing the skin from the inside out. After 5 or 6 weeks into the course I encourage my clients to give me feedback so I can recommend the subsequent program to completely get rid of the problem if it has not already gone by then.
