The itchy horse ‘fly’ wheel
If you’ve ever read any business management, you might be aware of the concept of the flywheel, popularised by Jim Collins in his book, ‘Good to Great’.
Just like a physical flywheel that gains momentum with every push, the business flywheel gains momentum as you exert effort on each of the key drivers in your strategy. Keep pushing and the momentum grows: all actions are interconnected and together they create a virtuous circle which leads to growth and success!
It occured to me the flywheel concept has an application in my itchy horse world too… although it’s not quite so positive.
The itchy horse ‘fly’ wheel: once an itch response is triggered, these are the key protagonists that make symptoms worse for us.
The ‘fly’wheel of doom
Possibly a little dramatic, but hey ho!
My experience of an incredibly itchy horse is that when one thing sets off the ‘itch’, other factors are inevitably at play.
So a bout of mites (for example harvest mites) that might annoy other horses in the herd, will likely cause a major itch response, resulting in the collapse of C’s immune system, alopecia, and create potential for bacterial skin infection.
If I subsequently undertook a Fecal Egg Count (FEC), I would find his worm count to be elevated, while others in the herd (in the same field), were zero. At its worst in 2022, this resulted in a FEC of 2,600; more recently (in a milder case in 2023 when I caught it early), a worm count of 1,400.
My fields are poo picked once or twice daily, and I’m pretty meticulous, so you can imagine my frustration. And I’m always left wondering, which came first? Compromised immune system, worms or biting insects? The cumulative effect of all these triggers means my flywheel is turning a little more rapidly than I’d like.
To solve the problem, I don’t just need to put a sweet itch rug on plus a topical lotion. I need to treat C from the inside out, and that means everything from worming to feed/supplementation; calming his immune system, adjusting his environment and supporting recovery with medication.
If I can positively impact every aspect of the flywheel, reducing reactivity, then I am on the road to recovery. Momentum can be positive too. :-)
Question: Do you know what fuels your horse’s ‘fly’wheel?
