Allergic reactions

[BigRed]

My 15 year old TB Mare suffers from sweetitch - not the classic mane and tail problem, she is affected very badly on her belly and chest. Anyway, she also gets a strange reaction to something she touches with her nose. She comes in from the field with a black spot on the side of her muzzle, usually the size of a 10p piece, the hair and skin goes black and within a couple of days scabs over and then the scab drops off and the skin is pink and then it heals up. I have no idea what is causing this, it might happen every couple of months. Summer and Winter. I cannot identify any plants that might cause it. Once her muzzle actually swelled up, like a hamster and the vet came and looked at it in case it was an abscess, which it wasn't. This is the only time the reaction was that extreme.

She had the full allergy tests done at the horspital last year and they just said she was allergic to pretty much every fly and mildly to cows, to which she has no contact at all.

Any ideas anyone ?

 

[TheBlack]

might be the hay

 

[Birker2020]

I think it is an alkaloid from a plant that she is coming into contact with and the black spot on her muzzle could be a burn. You would have to google alkaloid plants to see which ones there are.

 

[BigRed]

It can't be hay or haylage because it happens in the summer when she is living out and not eating anything like that.

The Alkaloid plant sounds very plausible, I will check that out. Thanks.

 

[scallywags]

Speak to your vets about antihistimines. My girl lives on them, she has done for yrs, as she has COPD / SPACOPD. Her lungs react badly to all dust and pollen, so she has problems all yr round. If it wasnt for them she would have been PTS yrs ago, as her lungs were shocking, even on high dose preds etc
I also used them on my pony last summer as he got sweet itch type symptoms, and it stopped the itch straight away.
And a friend used them on a horse covered in hives type bumps (reason unknown, but thought to be an insect bite, allergy)

They should (in therory) help any allergy reactions. There are 14 chemical types of antihistimines, so you may need to try a few. Out of the ones I've tried cetrizine works the best, but all neds are different. My vet gets them in and there really cheap, like £20 for 1000 tabs

 

[sanam]

I had 2 horses in my barn with a sensitivity of the lungs and similar reactions. My vet told me about a T'REJUVA nebulizer and the amazing clearing and regenerating formula.
After 6 weeks both horses were clear, no bad reactions.
I used it on other horses and their immune system and performance improved. It's worth it!!