Hives

[Firewell]

I think my horse has come up in hives and I wanted to ask for advice as to what could be causing them.

He was moved livery yards about 5 weeks ago. He had been at his old yard for more than 2 years, he was on DIY and very settled.

He is now on part livery with other people (nice people!) looking after him and I go up about 5/6 days a week anyway. He has settled in well and is very calm and quiet.

He gets less turnout there just because of the weather. When the weather is OK, i.e normal he goes out about 8.30am, comes in at 2.30pm and then I go up and spend the rest of the afternoon riding and brushing him. If the weather is rainey however he goes out for a max of two hours and there has been a few days when he has stayed in. If he has stayed in I always make sure he has done some form of exercise.

He gets adlib hay.

I noticed the hives last week. They are over his shoulder, a bit up his neck and some on his barrel. The ones on his neck and shoulder are tiny little bumps, the ones on his body are larger raised areas, they are not sore maybe slightly itchy.

His feed has changed a bit. He's gone from fibre nuts which I used to feed him to basic own brand nuts that the livery yard uses but that was changed when he arrived 5 weeks ago and I think if was this the bumps would have shown up before now? I also cant believe that there is much difference between low energy fibre nuts and own brand maintenance nuts..I have looked at the ingredients and it's all pretty bog standard stuff that he has had in feeds before.

I did start him on codliver oil about a week ago so it could be that?!

He is a TB and he is chaser clipped. Last week when it was mild he was wearing a 200g MW turnout with neck during the day and a 360g quilt at night.

Now it is colder he is wearing a 360g HW turnout during the day and an under quilt and 360g full neck at night.

Could he be too hot? This isn't an unusual amount of rugs for him, it's what I would normally use and I would say the yard as a whole tend to under rug then over rug...

Could it be inner stress coming out from moving? He has shown no outward signs.

He is quiet to ride, if anything a bit lazy although he did enjoy our last hack out and was walking out with his ears pricked. He's eating up all his grub. He seems OK in himself, he has dropped off a little bit of weight but has put some back on over the past week.

What do hives mean? Iv'e looked at pictures of hives on the internet and they look like his bumps. Shall I just wait and see if they go away?

 

[redmone]

Hi!

No answers I'm afraid but I had to post as Dolly has had "hives" for just over a month now.

We had the vet out who suspected it was a change in haylage (a particularly rich batch, which is common this year apparently due to the weather we had over summer). Other possible causes were an allergic reaction to "something" - a bite, something in the field, a treat she may have been given.....the list of possibilities was endless.

Another culprit suggested was if rugs/saddle pads had been washed?

Lastly, I've heard stress and change can be a source of this problem.

In short, I have no magic solution!

However our lovely livery yard has changed the batch of haylage, and also I've started giving Dolly a couple of piriton every other day (in a carrot!). In a week the lumps have pretty much gone.

Just to say, Dolly does not seem down, is not itchy and is completely as she normally is. Apart from the frustrating lumps!

Good luck in getting rid of them, I found it a really annoying thing to try to get to the bottom of, but then allergies in people are too!!!!!

 

[Louby]

My last horse got them, I was told to strip her of rugs as she was too warm, she was fully clipped and it was minus temperatures! So I did what I was told, felt terrible and the hives (lumps) didnt go. After a process of elimination, it turned out hers were caused by the hay! Stopped the hay and they went within a few days, started it again and they came back. It was maddenning as we had bought a load of it in for the winter. My friends horse wasnt affected and she ended up buying all the hay off me.

 

[redmone]

My last horse got them, I was told to strip her of rugs as she was too warm, she was fully clipped and it was minus temperatures! So I did what I was told, felt terrible and the hives (lumps) didnt go. After a process of elimination, it turned out hers were caused by the hay! Stopped the hay and they went within a few days, started it again and they came back. It was maddenning as we had bought a load of it in for the winter. My friends horse wasnt affected and she ended up buying all the hay off me.

I feel your pain!!!

I was told to strip off rugs too, but instead downgraded to a less thick rug (simply couldn't live with myself leaving her in these temps, stabled overnight rug-less!!!) - they keep coming and going for Dolly.

But I do suspect it's the hay.

Apparently it's worse this year due to a wet summer and possibilities of mouldy hay and spores so said the vet anyway.

Piriton is working for us at the moment. We've changed hay, so once the lumps are gone I'm stopping the piriton to see if they come back.

Blinking lumps

 

[Lennyfan]

My horse got these when I first had him, turns out he's cereal intolerant (yes, I know, he's very special!). Once I took the cereal out of his diet, he didn't get them anymore. I'd say look at what's in the new cubes he's having or, if you can, watch him after he's been fed & see if they come up, my boy's hives literally started appearing about 30 mins / an hour after he ate. Hope that helps.

 

[ElleJS]

Feel you pain my mare has had it for a month, all over her neck, back, tummy. I've been using all sorts of potions and lotions with only slow results. Horrible she has had to have steroid injections and theyve worked a treat. It some areas she's itched the heads off and her skin went red raw. She is on a cereal free diet etc so nothing like that. Vet says its a reaction to heat and sweat in the milder weather and I should leave them well alone keep her dry use talc and not over rug. Apparently loads of horses have it. She had it in the spring once when she got sweaty under a rug travelling home so very sure it's sweat/heat related.

 

[Louby]

I had my current horse blood tested for allergies, he was rubbing his hocks raw and a skin scrape came back negative. I had already decided I wasnt going down the follow up injections to de sensitify but just wanted to know if it could be something I could elliminate. What an eye openner, it came back with loads of positives and borderline positives, including allergy to Alfalfa, wheat and red clover, horse flies, other flies and loads of types of grasses. There was no way I could have eliminated the grasses but it was interesting to see. I did remove alfalfa and more difficult in feed Wheat but it didnt make one bit of a difference.

 

[Louby]

I feel your pain!!!

I was told to strip off rugs too, but instead downgraded to a less thick rug (simply couldn't live with myself leaving her in these temps, stabled overnight rug-less!!!) - they keep coming and going for Dolly.

But I do suspect it's the hay.

Apparently it's worse this year due to a wet summer and possibilities of mouldy hay and spores so said the vet anyway.

Piriton is working for us at the moment. We've changed hay, so once the lumps are gone I'm stopping the piriton to see if they come back.

Blinking lumps

It does sound like the hay, only saying this as a friend gives her horse anti histamines too but Im sure its about 60 a day!! The dose was calculated on a weight bases and he is a TB. If so, I wouldnt think the 2 you are giving would make a lot of difference, I could be totally wrong though. Great to hear her lumps have gone though and fingers crossed they stay away

 

[Louby]

Ive re read that and Im thinking, it cant be 60 surely, it is a lot though I will have to find out oooops

 

[redmone]

It does sound like the hay, only saying this as a friend gives her horse anti histamines too but Im sure its about 60 a day!! The dose was calculated on a weight bases and he is a TB. If so, I wouldnt think the 2 you are giving would make a lot of difference, I could be totally wrong though. Great to hear her lumps have gone though and fingers crossed they stay away

I know, 2 a day is a tiny amount isn't it! Even though she's only 12.2hh, it's still only the adult dose. I'm going to "up" it but keeping it low to make sure she's ok with them first!

Chances are, it's the change of hay that has fixed her!

I meant to mention, Dolly was given some oral steriods by the vet, which worked a treat initially but then wore off and we were back to square one. Can't give too much more steriods as apparently although very effective to fix hives and allergies, they can bring on laminitis, especially in fat ponies

Fingers crossed for everyone with spotty lumpy ponies that it goes away soon!

 

[Firewell]

They only came on a week ago and he has never had them before so I don't think it is the feed. If it was he would have got them earlier as he has been on the feed for 5 weeks. Also he has never shown any intolerances to feed before and he has been fed lots of different things.
I think it is either the hay which again I doubt as it's not a new batch or it's something in his field or the cod liver oil. I only started the cod liver oil a week ago so it could be coincidence or it could be that.
If he still has them tomorow I will stop the Codliver oil and see what happens . They aren't bad, no one else has noticed but I have .

 

[TarrSteps]

They are very common and, as discussed, can be brought on by almost any environmental sensitivity (or not!). It can be a new plant in the hay, washing powder, a feed change. . .and yes stress seems to bring them up in some horses but it doesn't sound like it in your case.

Anecdotally, chestnuts seem to be most often affected. Easy to dismiss but then science has recently proved that red haired people are, indeed, more sensitive!

You could try antihistimine or, if the problem progresses then your vet might suggest some oral steroids.

You might also trial an immune supplement. I've tried a few for a very sensitive horse and found Global Herbs.Immune Plus. (If you end up moving to the US look into Omega Alpha products - they worked brilliantly for said horse but their products are not available here.)

 

[MillionDollar]

Mine gets them when he's too warm. I would just try less rugs and see how it goes, first easy step to take before anything else

 

[Firewell]

Thank you, i'll see how he is tomorrow, maybe they would have gone down with this cold weather. If they still havent gone in a week of trying things i'll try that global herbs supplement

 

[Elfen]

Been through all this and have a vets bill of over £1k.

I used kinisiology to sort my boys hives out - he was covered from head to toe - like bubble wrap, vets prescribed steroids which cleared it, but then came back when I stopped giving them.

Within half an hour of Tim starting diagnosis I knew what he was allergic to and within a week the hives had gone. Pm me if you want photos. He was allergic to a mould in haylage and is now on hay.

http://www.htjcentre.co.uk/

It works, it's cheaper than multiple vet visits and best of all I claimed the costs back on insurance

 

[Beetlebug]

My horse is a TB and came out in hives just after Christmas, he has a chaser clip but has just been clipped fully as its a process of elimination, I have worked out its not feed or hay but its either Straw (wheat) or heat so now he is fully clipped I can see if its heat if they are still there I know it's straw as he eats some of his bed which is not great....

Global herbs restore worked amazing on my fella I just need to work out between straw and heat now but it has already taken a month of cutting things out to see what changes ....

Stick with it but its not a fast process (not for me any way ) as you don't know what is causing it...

 

[humblepie]

My TB had these twice in yard he used to be in, just one particular field triggered them off so probably something in the hedge as other times of the year he was okay in that field. That was June time.

At yard I worked at years ago a couple of eventers came out in them - that was to do with the hard feed they were receiving.

As others have said, lots of causes, hope you get it sorted.

 

[Firewell]

Hello .

Just to let you all know, I stopped the codliver oil supplement and less than a week later they were gone! It took about 5 days for them to go completely so I think that must have been it as he is still in the same field and eating hay from the same supplier.

Thanks for all the replies, hopefully they won't come back now .

 

[* TEAM SAM *]

Hello .

Just to let you all know, I stopped the codliver oil supplement and less than a week later they were gone! It took about 5 days for them to go completely so I think that must have been it as he is still in the same field and eating hay from the same supplier.

Thanks for all the replies, hopefully they won't come back now .[/QUOTEGoing through adsact same thing only things left i have to eliminate now is

1)vegtable oil
2)rugs that have been washed months ago so dont that cus didnt happen before
3) his field

reading this god im hoping its veg oil that would be so much easie than taking everything away and starting again

 

[Lulup]

A new livery on my yard has them all over (arrived with them) and vet said steroid injections will clear but unnecessary as they are no bother - just don't look nice. She has been prescribed anti histamine and the dose is a lot more than the 2 tablets adult dosage for humans - its 14 tablets twice a day.

I am trying to keep feed etc very basic so can try to establish the trigger but I have noticed a common theme in this thread - the same things has come up in many replies.. TB! And what is my new livery.. Yes you guessed it - TB (recently out of training)! Sensitive little souls

 

[Orchardbeck]

My chestnut mare has always been prone to them usually when a new bale has been opened but the worst was when her whole face, eyes and lips swelled up after I added NAF's Moody Mare to her feed which resulted in a vets visit.

I've been gradually switching her from hifi unmolassed to alfa a unmollassed just to give her something extra (and because I begrudge buying bags of what is essentially chopped straw). She came out in hives again.

Do they go down with time, or is it best to withdraw the feed?

 

[Lulup]

I'm still waiting to find out the answer to that - I'm sticking to the same feed/hay and waiting to see if they go down eventually - if I change everything it might make it worse and I'll never know what caused it, so if I do have to make changes it will be a process of elimination, one thing at a time.

 

[georgiegirl]

Autumn occasionally comes up in hives around early spring summer time. She goes from a few small bumps on her shoulders to 50p sized wheals all over her body. We panicked like mad at first and consulted our vet who said that we could go down the route of allergy testing and skin samples etc but 95% come back with no results whatsoever and even when they do it can be down to something completely unavoidable!

In her case he thinks it could even be down to a certain blend of grass which growns at a certain time of year under certain conditions. Thats how specific these 'allergies' can be! He warned us off steroid treatment when she has flare ups. a) its expensive and b) can cause laminitis even in horses which you would say are the complete opposite of a laminitic horse/pony. He has told us that whenever we see the tiny bumps appearing to give her cetirizine tablets (which can be obtained from any pharmacy - get the cheapest version) twice a day and they soon disappear/turn out to be nothing.

I use 7 tabs twice a day and just push them into a piece of apple. It normally only takes two doses to halt any hives in their tracks and doesnt affect autumn in any way.