Allergic to stainless steel bits??

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rushyj

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Has anyone heard of this problem. I have a dutch sj that cannot have stainless steel in his mouth. I was told this when i bought him and after a year of not using stainless steel I was entered for his first working hunter and thought I would try him in stainless steel weymouth set... He hated it in his mouth and after 5 mins his mouth was bleeding quite badly but could not see from where. This was not down to having two bits he works brilliantly in his not ss set.

Has anyone come across this before and what causes such a bad reaction???
 
whats he worked in normally.. vulacanite or sweet iron or similar... I wouldnt say hes allergic.. id say he doesnt like it...

Ive never herd of a horse being allergic to stainless steel and unless im mistake (hich i could be as its way to early for me) Stainless Steel is Hypoalergenic...

Lou x
 
Wouldn't think that stainless steel would cause an allergic reaction. agree with Nailed I think he just doesn't like it, otherwise any contact with anything stainless steel would cause a reaction eg. buckles, surcingle straps etc. Lots of things are made from stainless steel. Maybe try sweet iron, vulcanite or some of the happy mouth bits. Sorry if that's not much help!
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My mare used to have a reaction and went bald and scabby around her mouth/side of he face so I bought a KK bit (aurigan) and used rubber cheek/bit guards for a while but dont need them now. I couldnt swear it was an allergy but it was odd that the problem went away when I changed the metal inside her mouth and protected her from the SS of the rings.

She does have very sensitive skin and reacts to lots of things.
 
I seem to remember reading somthing about a top flight SJ horse who was "alergic" to stainless steel. Now I don't think it's possible to acctually be alergic but probs just the best way of describing what happens....
 
An allergic reaction involves constriction of the airways, swelling and shortness of breath.

He sounds like he has had a bad reaction rather than an allergic reaction. Were there any sharp bits on the bits or could he have got pinched between the 2 bits?
 
Hi he has been ridden in a happy mouth pelham as a general rule his double bits were aurigan after we tried him in the stainless steel.. When we tried him in the ss double his mouth literally filled with blood. He has a fantastic mouth and there were no faults on the bits.

I have done a search on the web which suggests that it could be a reaction to the nickel used in stainless steel. Some people have had issues with horses reacting to the needle when the horse has been injected. Strangely the horse who had that reaction was also Dutch.

This is him in the aurigan bits and totally happy. It is so strange.

boogie.jpg
 
Just asked OH and stainless steel does have nickel in it, to stop the corrosion. Nickel is awful for reactions, so think you're right this is what's causing it. Sorry I had never heard of this before
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I've just been discussing this with hubby too - he works in a nickel refinery and said that nickel is really nasty stuff - it accumulates in the liver (in humans anyway) and the body can't easily shift it. I need to get a new bit anyway and think I will try to get one made of a different material.

Hubby's just added that knives and forks are made from stainless steel, so everybody ingests a bit, but it's a good idea to not ingest too much. They have regular urine tests where he works to ensure that they're not accumulating nickel.
 
QR - it is the nickel in cheap earrings/watch straps etc that causes the problems with those - you know - horrid itchy ears and scabby bleeding wrists!
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Once you have been sensitised to it - that's it - a bad reaction will start very quickly after contact. People have even started getting sensitised to their phones!

As a bit of an aside - that's why you should only ever have piercings done with titanium or one of the special plastics - never stainless, even surgical stainless
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Thank you all. I think it must be quite rare thing to have happen but there should be more warnings about it. There must be loads of horses out there hating the bit they are in but with a lesser reaction to it so it is not even considered.
 
what about surgical grade stainless steel, does that have nickel in it?
to OP, if horse was bleeding i'd guess he'd bitten his tongue or something, i can't believe any allergic reaction would lead to broken skin and bleeding that fast.
 
Just after he was ridden in it we could not see where the prob was in his mouth as blood and foam.. (the foam is normal for him) We checked him the next day and he had ulcers either side of his tongue and a split down the centre of his tongue, not a huge one but enough to cause the bleeding. During the time he was ridden there was no pulling him or trauma of any kind. He really did not go well in it but backing off nothing that would have caused any damage.

Completely unrelated but I know a lady who cannot take the enzymes in some fruit such as pineapple and her tongue will literally split in the same way and bleed like hell.....yuk
 
QR allergic reactions can take several forms not just shortness of breath, tongue swelling etc. In people eczema is often an allergic reaction to contact with a substance, and can cause skin to crack and bleed. Nickel which is a constituent of stainless steel is known to cause problems in people, which is why many people can only wear gold or silver jewellery.
Allergic reactions often get worse with greater exposure.

Rushyj - Presumably this was what the previous owner meant when they said the horse was allergic to stainless steel. It would seem that this horse would be better ridden in its aurigan bits.
 
Rushyj definitely an allergic reaction. The split in his tongue suggests it probably swelled quickly. As a human who is very allergic to nickel I know how poorly it can make you. I'd definitely steer well clear of all stainless steel bits in future as allergic reactions like that often get worse each time the allergen is present.
 
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