Any thoughts on why my horse has hives please?

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Marigold4

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I have a 2-year-old filly, kept mostly out and in a small herd of 3. She's stabled for a few hours during the day. About 3 weeks ago, she came out in moderate hives (about size of 5p pieces) and they won't go away. I've tried fly rugs and fly spray in case of fly bites, changed each element of what she eats, dosed her with piriton for a week (x 12 tablets p.d.) but no change. I showed the.hives to the vet when he came for vaccinations but he wasn't concerned. The hives are not itchy or causing her any other issues as far as I can see.

Any thoughts on what might be causing them? Or how to get rid of them?

Time to get the vet back?
 
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we cold horse one here who had hives, from fly bites

my current mare developed an allergy to alfalfa. sores and scabs all over, removed the alfalfa and sores gone.

could be from flies or food or pollen piriton made no difference to her
 
How are the poops? Have they changed?
The weeds have been growing mad these past few weeks, buttercup especially, and the grass hasn’t been catching up in some areas more dry. A 2yr old is still probably ‘sampling’ everything in the field, including weeds that they probably shouldn’t have.
My gelding when a youngster had large 2p sized hives from buttercups that were not itchy or bothered him, but took a while to go down.
 
PurBee said:
How are the poops? Have they changed?
The weeds have been growing mad these past few weeks, buttercup especially, and the grass hasn’t been catching up in some areas more dry. A 2yr old is still probably ‘sampling’ everything in the field, including weeds that they probably shouldn’t have.
My gelding when a youngster had large 2p sized hives from buttercups that were not itchy or bothered him, but took a while to go down.
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No change to her poos. They are eating everything down to the ground though as the grass simply isn't growing here, so eating the weeds is certainly a possibility. They get extra haylage in field to supplement. I have a paddock with proper grass and no weeds that I was saving, so maybe I will try her in there and see if that helps
 
We had a similar problem. As a yearling no problem, then as a 2yo started with hives. Went in winter, then came back as a 3yo. Vet tried an injection and advised using Switch. Nothing worked, but he did say she will probably outgrow it. So far this year shes absolutely fine. We popped a fly rug on last year which appeared to make it worse.
Changes this year are that shes in during the day, ive added supplements and oily herbs to feed. She has a couple but nothing like previous years. Vet said its really hard to pin down what causes them, as it can be anything from dust , heat, flies, sap from trees etc etc
 
Asha said:
We had a similar problem. As a yearling no problem, then as a 2yo started with hives. Went in winter, then came back as a 3yo. Vet tried an injection and advised using Switch. Nothing worked, but he did say she will probably outgrow it. So far this year shes absolutely fine. We popped a fly rug on last year which appeared to make it worse.
Changes this year are that shes in during the day, ive added supplements and oily herbs to feed. She has a couple but nothing like previous years. Vet said its really hard to pin down what causes them, as it can be anything from dust , heat, flies, sap from trees etc etc
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Thanks, Asha. That sounds very similar! I found a fly rug made it worse too. Which supplements did you use? I guess we just have to wait it out. Yesterday I bathed her in tea tree shampoo to see if that helps.
 
Marigold4 said:
Thanks, Asha. That sounds very similar! I found a fly rug made it worse too. Which supplements did you use? I guess we just have to wait it out. Yesterday I bathed her in tea tree shampoo to see if that helps.
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she been on immune aid. so far so good
 
canteron said:
No my horse didn’t get it every year - but it was just a reaction one year to the continuous dry heat. The vet gave it an injection and it never happened again.
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Thanks for replying. Do you remember what the injection was? Was it steroids?
 
My previous horse came out in hives after eating barley when he grabbed a mouthful during a hack.

Wasn't actually aware he'd come out in hives until we got back from our hack. He was covered head to foot.

Is there Barley growing next to the perimeter of your fence maybe?
 
Could be fly bites or she could be laying on some nettles or something in the field? It seems to be a really bad year for allergies of all kinds. IME you need to give a higher dosage of antihistamines for hives but consult your vet first. My boy has 15 morning and night on high pollen count days for hay fever so I would imagine it would be at least that dose, possibly higher.
 
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