So last year my poor horse was tortured by gnats on his belly. I tried everything topical cream I could think of. No luck. This year it got worse. Despite giving him a feed through bug control, his belly still broke out and he got the added misery of hives. Turned out the hives were good luck. I did some research on hives and found Flax to be a possible solution. It happened to also mention sweet itch, so I gave flax a try. I bought a cheap, 50lb bag of ground flax and started giving him a cup a day. Three weeks later...NO HIVES!!!...NO SWEET ITCH!!!...I'm so friggin happy! He's still a little itchy on his belly, but all of the hair has grown back, and I'm using cortizone cream to help it heal completely. I guess the only downside to flax is an overuse of it can lead to thinning blood, but other than that, it's gold! I felt so bad for that horse last year. He'd lay on the ground with all 4 legs stretched out so he could rub his belly. Now he's doing it less and less. I highly recommend it if you have a similar skin problem.
