Allergic to horses

[ed&arch]

Is anybody else genuinely allergic to horses?

Has your allergy ever put you off wanting to do things with them?

Any miracle fixes apart from the usual antihistamines?

 

[milliepops]

I'm allergic to horses. it seems to improve with my own ones after a while but i still have to be careful, not touch my eyes or face when I've got horse dirt on me etc. When i first got my welshie 7 years ago i would get welts on my skin if I got her sweat on me, that's the most instant reaction I have had... her nose stubble still brings me out in a rash but I can do all the normal stuff without too much of an issue.

I'm allergic to other animals and stuff like hay so I'm well practiced at being careful and taking tablets etc, fortunately it's controllable enough to not ruin things tbh i am more uncontrollably allergic to OH (farrier) after he returns from a day of handling other people's horses and has foreign dirt on him

 

[ed&arch]

I'm allergic to horses. it seems to improve with my own ones after a while but i still have to be careful, not touch my eyes or face when I've got horse dirt on me etc. When i first got my welshie 7 years ago i would get welts on my skin if I got her sweat on me, that's the most instant reaction I have had... her nose stubble still brings me out in a rash but I can do all the normal stuff without too much of an issue.

I'm allergic to other animals and stuff like hay so I'm well practiced at being careful and taking tablets etc, fortunately it's controllable enough to not ruin things tbh i am more uncontrollably allergic to OH (farrier) after he returns from a day of handling other people's horses and has foreign dirt on him

Yes everything you have said is very relatable. The more I’m around my own, the better it tends to be. I do have asthma and hay fever too. I’m on very strong antihistamines that only just touch the allergy symptoms!

I just absolutely hate the constant sneezing and itchy eyes!! ?

 

[milliepops]

I just absolutely hate the constant sneezing and itchy eyes!! ?

it's the pits, i really hate having allergy symptoms when they are bad, for something that seems really trivial to people not affected it's utterly awful sometimes. You have to be so disciplined and even when you are a grain of microscopic grot can get up your nose and then there's hours of misery to follow!

 

[canteron]

There is a horse which is the poodle (low allergen) of the horse world.

From memory it’s a Curly Bashkir. A friend had one and he was lovely!!

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=bashkir+curly&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

 

[JohnParfit]

We've been on this journey. My wife had to give up horses in her early 20s due to a near fatal asthma attack. We imported a Curly from Canada. He's lovely, but they're certainly not performance horses. I would suggest that you get a proper alergy test. We did this and found that she was actually more alergic to the hay dust than the horses. By managing her exposure to dust, soaking hay, open stables, she keeps it under control and we now have 4 horses and she's healthy.

 

[Sealine]

I can relate to everything Milliepops wrote above. I found out I was allergic to horses after my first riding lesson at the age of 5. I ended up in A&E as my face swelled up and my eyes closed completely. That first lesson was enough to get me hooked and I embarked on a life long anti-histamine drug habit. I remember my Dad poking Piriton tablets down my throat before my lesson because I was unable to swallow them. It was torture but worth it. I'm also asthmatic.

 

[naomibmck]

I'm another sad horse allergy sufferer. I thought I'd gotten rid of it, but when I took a break from horses over the pandemic it came back! I'm easing into horses again and find it helps me to take an allergy tablet on the day, and then another shortly before I go to the stables. I also make sure that I'm covered as much as possible, so a high necked long sleeved shirt is key for me. Maybe wearing riding gloves for handling might help too? I avoid heavy grooming at the moment, as it's just too much for me, but I understand not everyone can actually do that!

 

[scruffyponies]

I used to be quite badly allergic. Not collapse unable to breathe, but certainly 'clawing at my eyes and ears'.
Management: Wear gloves, keep separate clothes, change and shower as soon as you get home. Pop a bit of vasaline up your nose beforehand (yes, really).
If you have a cat, get rid of it - they make allergies worse, and in some cases no cat = no further issues.
Over time, exposure does lessen the reaction. Once I had my own pony, and was seeing him daily, I found I stopped reacting as much, and over the course of a few years stopped reacting at all. Now I get no more than the slightest reaction when I'm brushing their winter coat out in spring.

Good luck.

 

[southerncomfort]

I think my daughter must be allergic.

She started getting an itchy rash if one of the ponies licked her, but now she gets it seemingly if they so much as breathe on her. She's also started wheezing when she's around them/hay and has just been diagnosed with asthma. She also gets the most horrific hay fever. Antihistamines don't seem to help at all.

 

[milliepops]

it may be a case of finding the right ones, this spring OTC ones were useless for my tree pollen allergy but fexofenadine was good, other times I have used the benadryl acrivastine one to good effect.

 

[windand rain]

Yes especially at the moment while shedding the short hair the long hair not so much but get eczema from the grease and asthma from the short hair. Better with ones I handle daily less so with others and a shows as also allergic to latex and neoprene

 

[BuzzyBee1982]

Yes but it can be managed. I have Triamcinolone injections and take cetirizine, chlorphenamine and fexofenadine. It definitely worse when they are shedding all this hair ?