Sweet itch (Culicoides hypersensitivity) causes intense pruritus in horses during warm months, with affected animals rubbing themselves raw in response to insect bites. Management is a significant welfare responsibility.
Sweet itch causes a form of chronic welfare suffering that is both highly visible and highly preventable with appropriate management. An unmanaged affected horse may rub continuously, causing severe mane and tail loss, open wounds, and secondary bacterial infection. The constant pruritus disrupts sleep, causes behavioral changes including irritability, and prevents the horse from engaging in normal grazing and social behavior. Management is primarily physical: full-body rugs that prevent midge access, stabling during peak midge activity (dawn and dusk), avoiding grazing near water where midges breed, and appropriate topical treatments. Horses managed well with these approaches can have good quality of life through the summer season; horses managed inadequately suffer significantly. Owner education and access to appropriate protective equipment are the primary welfare levers.