head shaking, itchy horsey!

So Chloe has been extremely itchy lately.
At first she was just shaking her head... mostly at the trot. She doesn't really do it other than when I'm riding her. I figured it was flies so I got her a bonnet but it's not really fixing the problem. The ears are too large for her so maybe they're tickling her? When I don't have the bonnet on, her forelock gets on/in her ears... maybe that's tickling her? She only does this when trotting and when we're warming-up and when she's really relaxed. I'd really like to get this issue fixed as it's really disrupting the contact!

The insides of her ears are being bitten alive and I'm constantly finding tiny black bugs in her ears. She really likes it when I get pretty deep down in her ear and scratch.
I'm planning on getting a fly mask with ears tomorrow.. so that should hopefully fix the problem.

Recently, she's been really itchy everywhere. She has like these things on her skin that aren't really scabs or rainrot.. but something in between. Any idea of what this could be and how I should treat it? Sorry I can't really give you a better description! I've only found them on her chest and her belly.

She gets thoroughly groomed (curried/brushed etc) head to toe every day. We've never had this problem. She is kept in northern Virginia

The bites could be from the gnats or "no see ums" and she could be allergic to the bites and that's causing her to itch everywhere. There are a bunch of different types of products out there and the best thing to do is contact your vet, tell him what is going on (with the ears too) and they will be able to suggest a topical or some other type of product that will help her with the itching.

My boy is really itchy on his butt and mane right now and I have been using MTG which seems to be working pretty good.

but I couldn't help but comment - my son calls gnats "no see ums" too, I don't know where he got that from! Is it from a show somewhere or something?

My Grandpa taught me that. Basically because the bugs are so small, you can't really see them. You can see the horse's skin quiver when they bite, but you literally can't see them when they are flying around. We've got a couple of horses here that are really affected by their bites.

We've always called them "no see ums!" They love horses' ears and ventral lines, but as Solon said, some horses are just more sensitive. They love my draft cross's belly button area, have to smear SWAT on there to keep him from being miserable. At times, he kicks his belly to relieve the itch and gets himself raw :( We live near a stream so they're pretty much a year 'round issue here. There are some sprays specifically for mosquitoes and gnats.

I hate to say this, but this sounds EXACTLY the was Cinny's fungus problem started. He was sort of ichy all over and then started geting spots on his chest, then his rear, then his head....that looked sort of like rain rot but not really. I went for over a week trying to figure it out and it just got worse. Called the vet and took him 10 seconds to say "you've got fungus there."

If the problem persists...I would either have a vet verify that it is or isn't fungus or treat it as fungus.....

Awesome, do you have a brand to suggest? (Sorry, not meaning to thread hijack, but I have tried every fly spray out there and nothing has helped with those little biting black gnats. I have a lake just off my property so they are bad here too.)

Okay so I gave her a bath and got her a fly mask with ears yesterday. I used regular horse shampoo. I went over her legs/chest with iodine and I think I found the culprit. It looks like some sort of bug is biting her and it's making her really itchy. It's like a swollen area with a tiny tiny tiny scab in the middle. She really appreciates it when I scratch them... especially the ones on her hind legs! Poor girl. Any ideas on how to treat/prevent this?

Something that flared up yesterday is either hives or a lot of bug bites around her nose and eyes. They aren't swollen.. just little scabs every where.

I also put mtg on her everywhere. Haha. If I found some sort of scab or abnormality on her skin.. I put mtg on it.

I braided her forelock for my ride and although the headshaking hasn't stopped... it went down a lot.

Now that she has the flymask w/ ears im going to fully clip her ears today so I can see what's going on in there.

I'll give you an update on her skin and ears later on tonight!

I would watch the flymask with ears for a while...if the culprits are already in her ears then you will just be trapping them in there.