The reason I'm even making an effort!

Hey guys!
There are two reasons why I am making this blog: one is that I love my horse without question, he is like my baby and is unfortantly a sweet itch sufferer so by making this blog I am educating myself as best I can so I can help stop the heart ache that sweet itch brings. As I have been dealing with this disease 3 years. The second reason is that I am headstrong and stubborn and refuse to be beaten down by something like this so the aim is to post my personal experiences with the disease, provide as much information about sweet itch to offer some guidance, to clear up any confusion about this disease. I am proud but shocked that this is the first sweet itch blog so I'll try my best to make it as useful as possible and to find enough information so that I am only one spending hours researching and not you guys! Hope this helps and your comments would be greatly appreciated! xxx

So what is sweet itch anyways??!!

Sweet itch is an immune system disease where the equine has an allergic reaction to insect bites and saliva when the bitten will rub himself injurying the skin. However it only occurs from March to October and is not life threatening but is unsightly and very distressing for the equine. 5% of of the horse population in UK are effected including all breeds from shetlands to draft horses. It is also known as Summer Seasonal Recurrent Dermatitis (SSRD), Queensland Itch, Sommer Ekzem, Kasen and is caused by the Culicoides midge (see "The Enemy" post) and rarely the Simulium Equinum which are ear feeders.