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Don't let the cold weather fool you....

3K views 13 replies 5 participants last post by  walkinthewalk 
#1 ·
I found two ticks on Sonny yesterday when it was soo cold I had my winter jacket on...and I found one tick on another horse that was in the stall (randomly felt a bump on the neck and when I looked at it, it was a tick).

It surprised me cause I thought it was wayy too cold plus I never had a tick problem with SOnny. These are the first ticks I've EVER found on him.


Is it normal for the ticks to make a last stand before they die off? Or hybernate or whatever....lol
 
#5 ·
Is it normal for the ticks to make a last stand before they die off? Or hybernate or whatever....lol
Yes it is and I wish I hadn't read this thread -- baaad Karma - lol lol

I was just thinking that we got lucky this year by not seeing "the last stand" of ticks on the dogs or the horses - lol lol

I will probably see some now that it's been mentioned - lollol

Since you are in New York, I am really surprised to hear you say that about the ticks. I am from the OH/PA border originally and, like you, was never used to seeing ticks on anything but the dogs.

We retired to Middle Tennessee and I nearly threw up the first year when I saw the Lone Star ticks, out in battalion force, after my horses:???:

I'm used to it now, but I look at EVERY square inch of all four horses. I have found ticks in the edges of their ears, under their chins, way up in the darkest spots under their tails and anal area, INSIDE their sheaths, plus all the normal spots.

It is probably too cold for you now, but if you bath your horses heavily with iodine shampoo, and wait a few minutes, it will make the ticks stand straight up and you can pick them off really easy.

For some reason, the iodine will numb them for a bit, but it rarely kills the evil little creatures --- they are tough:-x

The Lone Star ticks we have are almost impossible to kill, so I keep an empty horse cookie jar (heavily sprayed with Repel-X) on the counter in the barn and throw the ticks in there. Tick purgatory so-to-speak:D

Also as an FYI, pull the ticks out as quickly as possible. If they are allowed to back themselves out, they will FIRST regurgitate back into their host & that poisoned "gunk" will cause an allergic reaction to one degree or another. A doctor on a local morning radio show said that.

The ticks are why I feed garlic to three of my horses from March thru mid-October. It is 90% effective in keeping the ticks off. I know that for fact, because the 4th horse had an ulcer three years ago and I am afraid to feed him the garlic. I pick more ticks off him in a night than I do off the other three combined over a week's time:sad:

ACK!!! My head itches, I am done "tick talking" :oops:
 
#6 ·
I removed both that were on him and squished them....and I made sure both were dead. THey had just shooked on recently because they weren't fat or anything.

I started to feed him garlic, but I've read some stuff about garlic saying it can cause horse's to become anemic (yeah spelled that wrong)
 
#14 ·
I started to feed him garlic, but I've read some stuff about garlic saying it can cause horse's to become anemic
The studies I have read all compared wild onions to garlic, which is the "apples to oranges" theory and virtually worthless.

Someone on another board did say they found a study on garlic but the amount fed was so large that it's no wonder the horse(s) developed anemia. I can't remember the dosage, but I do remember wanting to gag and I like raw garlic cloves - lol lol lol

That being said:

1. I don't feed it to my Arab because of his past history with one ulcer.

2. I fall just short of feeding the recommended amount.

3. I only feed it from mid-March thru mid-October or early November. Although this year I quit in mid-September because the ticks must've all hitch-hiked to the north to reign terror on you folks:sad:

4. Garlic is water soluble and will quickly leave the horse's system once their taken off it.

5. I doubt that it matters, but I buy equine powdered garlic.

I have been doing this routine for four years and so-far-so-good.

That doesn't mean it will be successful for everyone else or that someone's horse might become anemic. Again, I feed a little less than the recommended amount and it's divided into two feedings. It works pretty effectively against the ticks, but I don't see that garlic does anything for flies -- any kind of flies:sad:
 
#7 ·
I'm in upstate NY and actually moved from one house because we couldn't even have the kids play in the yard the ticks were so bad. We lost 3 dogs to Lyme disease even after they had been properly vaccinated as pups. We moved to another area and keep at least an acre cleared around our house, to help keep ticks at bay, we also bought chickens which eat them. The area around my paddocks outside the fence is kept clear. Ticks are most active in spirng and fall, and I have seen them on my dogs in February. In my opinion there is no seasone that is completely void of those wretched little beasts.
 
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