Horse IQ

Ticks. If you’ve taken your horse on trail rides, you’ve probably come back with them. Sometimes on his legs. Sometimes on his neck. Sometimes in some very sensitive areas. You’ll no doubt find a few in his ears, too. But if they’re so far inside his ears that you can’t reach them, you’ll need to try one of these methods to get them out.

Surface ticks are generally no big deal to remove. If I’ve got a tweezers available, I’ll just grab the little bugger, pull him out (or at least irritate him enough so he releases his grip), then throw him on the barn floor.

Then step on him. Hard. When you feel the “click,” no more tick!

When Ticks Are Hard To See,
But You Know They’re There…

But some ticks manage to find their way deep into your horse’s ear canal. Sometimes they’re so deep you can’t reach them, even with a tweezers. A situation like this is actually more dangerous to your horse than a surface tick.

If a tick penetrates that far into your horses ear, it can cause an ear canal infection, or a perforated ear drum. Or maybe even menengitis. Bad stuff. You want to get rid of these horse parasites as soon as you can.

What You Need To Remove
Deep Ear Ticks

Since you can’t physically pull the little beasts out, you’ll have to result to chemical warfare. You can get some anti-tick spray, but the tough part is going to be getting your horse to sit still while you spray it into his ears. I don’t know about your horse, but Rosie will have none of that.

If your horse is the same way, you can try some anti-tick dust (sometimes called tick powder).
State Line Tack sells a few varieties. Make sure you get the kind that is designed to be applied directly to animals (as opposed to the kind you put on carpets and rugs).

The key is get the powder into the deep recesses of both ears. I mean as far down as you can get it. Just because you can see a tick in his ear doesn’t mean he only has one. There could be more you can’t see.

If that doesn’t work, call your equine vet. He’ll most likely administer some ivermectin or perhaps some other oral deworming agent to kill them that way.

spinous ear tick…yuck!

Horse ticks are a big deal. So big, in fact, that Kentucky nearly lost its bid to host the 2010 Olympic games. Equestrian teams from other countries weren’t convinced Kentucky was prepared to put defensive measures in place to adequately protect their horses from the parasites.

Keeping horse parasites off your horse to begin with is the best defense. But we know that’s not always practical. If you ride him long enough, he’ll pick them up. And you’ll have to get them off. But now that you know what to do, you can keep him healthier…and always ready to ride.

Yours for Better Horse Care,

Sierra Lynch

P.S. Everyone seems to have a favorite method for removing surface ticks from a horse. Do you have one that seems to always work for you? If so, let us hear from you. Feel free to enter a comment below. And to make sure you don’t miss anyone else’s response, subscribe to one of the Horse IQ RSS Feeds. It’s fast, easy, and free.

Tags: Horse Parasites, Horse Health

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