Ticks in horses: how does that work?

Ticks occur in the summer, when it is warm and dry. They are mainly found in tall grass and bushes. A tick can survive for up to a year without food and will simply wait until a cow, horse or human passes by. The tick then bites and starts sucking blood, up to 600 times its own weight! Some ticks can transmit diseases. Protecting your horse from ticks can be quite challenging. It is wise to regularly check your horse for ticks. In addition, you can add herbs and essential oils to your horse's feed to make the blood unappetizing for these annoying pests.

What is a tick?

Ticks are spider-like creatures with eight legs. The sheep tick (Ixodus ricinus) is most common in our area. This tick bites humans, sheep, cows, and horses. Ticks bite to suck blood, as they need that blood to grow. Ticks go through several moults or metamorphoses, during which they become a little bigger each time. They need the proteins from blood for each moult. Adult females also need blood to lay eggs. The sheep tick can transmit diseases while feeding. This mainly happens when the tick has been attached to its 'host' for longer than 24 hours.

Lyme Disease

Lyme Disease is the most well-known disease transmitted by ticks. But ticks sometimes also carry less known conditions such as Anaplasmosis and Piroplasmosis. In recent years, 'exotic' tick species from the Mediterranean region have also been found on horses. Due to climate change, these species are expanding, but they are still very rare in the Netherlands and Belgium. For now, the sheep tick remains the most important tick species for horses. Horses, like humans, can also contract Lyme Disease. This can be detected in the blood, but is not always immediately noticeable in your horse. Sometimes symptoms of Lyme Disease only appear some time after the tick bite. Symptoms of Lyme Disease include: Fever, weight loss, joint inflammation and lameness, muscle pain, lethargy, moon blindness, meningitis, and spontaneous abortion in pregnant mares. Sometimes horse owners receive a diagnosis of 'Lyme' when the horse has been showing 'vague symptoms' for some time. A strong course of antibiotics is the most commonly used medication.

Check your horse

Once a tick has engorged itself, it is usually easy to see. Horses that are in tall grass or near trees are at a higher risk of a tick bite. Your horse can also pick up a tick while out on a ride. Therefore, try to check your horse daily. Fortunately, not all ticks are infected with the Borrelia bacteria, which transmits Lyme Disease. On average, 20% of ticks in the Netherlands are infected. However, there are significant differences: in some places, half of the ticks are infected with Borrelia, while in other places hardly any are. It is known that about 2 out of 100 tick bites in humans result in Lyme Disease. You can see where ticks have been found recently in the Netherlands and whether the tick was infected on www.tekenradar.nl. You can also submit a removed tick for testing.

Removing a tick from a horse

If your horse has a tick, it is advisable to remove it as soon as possible. The shorter the time a tick is on your horse, the less chance there is of pathogens being transmitted. You can remove a tick with tweezers or a special tick remover. If you have long nails, you can also use those… Grab the tick as close to the skin as possible and pull gently. It is important to remove the entire head. You do not need to twist, as is sometimes thought. Optionally, treat the spot where the tick was with disinfectant, but never do this before removing the tick. The tick could inject debris into the bite wound as a reaction to the disinfectant. Only disinfect after removal!

Preventing ticks?

Unfortunately, preventing tick bites is difficult. There are currently no approved sprays or drops for horses that can be applied to the coat. Because ticks in their early life stages are so tiny, it is also very difficult to quickly detect a tick on a horse. Fortunately, you can use herbs to repel insects and ticks. The blood of your horse will then be less appealing to these pests. A herbal mixture containing fenugreek, echinacea, thyme, and citronella, among others, makes your horse unattractive.