Severe skin reaction possibly from hay??

[suzyqet]

Hi everyone, I am in need of your help/advice please.
Last winter, one of my horses appeared to have an allergic reaction to haylage.
We assume it was from the haylage as we withdrew everything from his diet, and over a period of time re-introduced everything until the reaction started again, which, in this case seemed to be the haylage.
Unfortunately I do not have any photos of the reaction but he had what appeared to be blisters underneath his tail and on the underside of his dock along with large bald patches on his stifles and flanks.
In addition to these sores he had an unbearable itch, whereby he would almost fall to the floor if you touched him in these areas. After several months, we believed (myself and our vet) we had found the cause as the reaction stopped and his hair started to grow back. Under our vets advice, we put him on a high oil diet (which he is still on today), used anti-histamines until the hair started to grow back and used sudacreme on the areas concerned until completely healed.
He has not been near or had any haylage since.
Today, however, I brought him in to ride and discovered that this allergic reaction had appeared its head once again. He is currently living out 24/7 with ad-lib hay.
We have just started our 2nd round bale of hay (which is from the same source we bought the haylage from last year) so has been eating this for probably 2 weeks (ish).
The supplier is a very reputable supplier and I buy all my bedding, hay, feed etc from them. I spoke with them today and they are going to see if they can source an alternative supply of hay for me. This way, I can see if it is the hay??
Neither the hay or the haylage last year has been sprayed or treated with anything and although they came from the same 'farmland' they were cut from totally different fields.
Also, he is the only one who has been affected out of 5 horses.
I will be contacting my vet again and am wondering whether its worth going down the route of blood tests/skin scrapes/allergy test patching?
Has anyone else ever come across anything like this at all?
I have a couple of pictures from today to give you an idea of the severity of the problem but not sure how I post them??? I have also had to turn him back out rugless due to the area of the sores, which in this case, is his chest area.
Any help will be greatly received and thanking you all in advance.

 

[suzyqet]

 

[shergar]

Reading your post you say the problem started last winter and you have now turned him out rugless, is the rug the same one he wore last time he had the problem, could it have been washed in some thing that does not agree with his skin ,some horses react to biological powders as they contain enzymes which causes itching when the horse gets warm ,if the rug has been cleaned can you find out what was used ?
I hope you can find the cause ,I have never seen that reaction to hay .

 

[Silverfire]

It could be a type of grass in the hay/haylage that he is allergic too.

 

[suzyqet]

Reading your post you say the problem started last winter and you have now turned him out rugless, is the rug the same one he wore last time he had the problem, could it have been washed in some thing that does not agree with his skin ,some horses react to biological powders as they contain enzymes which causes itching when the horse gets warm ,if the rug has been cleaned can you find out what was used ?
I hope you can find the cause ,I have never seen that reaction to hay .

Hi Shergar, thanks for your reply. The rug he has been wearing for the last couple of days was bought after the problems last winter. The rug he was in for the worst of the reaction had to be thrown away due to the fact he had scratched and bitten himself so much that he completely shredded it. The one he has been wearing is a no fill which has only been on a couple of days since we have had the worst of the rain. I noticed him scratching himself the other day but didnt think anything of it and that was before I had rugged him this winter. It is a complete mystery. I really thought I had got to the bottom of it. I just hope it doesnt get as bad this year as it did last year. :-(

 

[suzyqet]

It could be a type of grass in the hay/haylage that he is allergic too.

This is what i am wondering too Silverfire. But how do I find out what? I dont know where to start? Any ideas?

 

[shergar]

I wonder if this could be a deficiency may be feed him some thing for good skin health linseed is best for skin or look at feedmark Equi dermis plus ,can I ask what type of oil you give him ?

 

[suzyqet]

I wonder if this could be a deficiency may be feed him some thing for good skin health linseed is best for skin or look at feedmark Equi dermis plus ,can I ask what type of oil you give him ?

He is currently fed Alfa A Oil, fibre beet, high fibre nuts and Nafs Oilovite which is a multi vitamin & mineral supplement but with added essential oils including linseed.

 

[Silverfire]

This is what i am wondering too Silverfire. But how do I find out what? I dont know where to start? Any ideas?

If he was my horse then I would try another source of hay first of all. I would look through the hay you are using now and pick out the different seed head grass types and any flowers in it, google them and keep a list. Then if he doesn't react to the new hay look what grass is not in that or if he does react then look to see what grass is the same. You might be able to find out what grass or grasses hes allergic to that way. Blood tests won't tell you and I don't think skin scrapes will either. If hes insured then intradermal tests (I think thats what its called) might tell you what he is allergic to, ask your vet about that.

 

[quizzie]

He is currently fed Alfa A Oil, fibre beet, high fibre nuts and Nafs Oilovite which is a multi vitamin & mineral supplement but with added essential oils including linseed.

Strongly suggest that you change from the Alfa Oil....it contains rapeseed oil these days, which has been implicated in several serious allergic cases. It seems that the rapeseed, while not a primary allergen in its own right, can potentiate the reaction to other substances'

Be warned that it can take a while for the rapeseed to get out of the system after stopping feeding it.

I have personal experience of rapeseed oil causing a problem in my own horse, & have spoken to one of the veterinary universities who have had several cases.

 

[Silverfire]

Micronised linseed is the best oil type feed to give, its high in Omega 3 which is an anti-inflammatory, some oils can cause inflammation (can't remember whether its Omega 6 or 9 that can cause inflammation). I feed a lot of micronised linseed to one of my horses who is hypersensitive to drugs/possibly has auto immune disorder and her skin is really good because of it, its also good for gut problems which is why I actually give it her. She also has a Vit E supplement.

 

[suzyqet]

Strongly suggest that you change from the Alfa Oil....it contains rapeseed oil these days, which has been implicated in several serious allergic cases. It seems that the rapeseed, while not a primary allergen in its own right, can potentiate the reaction to other substances'

Be warned that it can take a while for the rapeseed to get out of the system after stopping feeding it.

I have personal experience of rapeseed oil causing a problem in my own horse, & have spoken to one of the veterinary universities who have had several cases.

Quizzie, if it was this though, surely he would have been reacting to it all summer? This is what his old owner had him on too before I got him and she never had any problems with reactions either. The only thing we have introduced different in the last couple of weeks is this years round bale hay which has come from the same source as the haylage did last year.

 

[suzyqet]

If he was my horse then I would try another source of hay first of all. I would look through the hay you are using now and pick out the different seed head grass types and any flowers in it, google them and keep a list. Then if he doesn't react to the new hay look what grass is not in that or if he does react then look to see what grass is the same. You might be able to find out what grass or grasses hes allergic to that way. Blood tests won't tell you and I don't think skin scrapes will either. If hes insured then intradermal tests (I think thats what its called) might tell you what he is allergic to, ask your vet about that.

This is the first thing I have done. I have taken him off it straight away and am currently working with my feed merchant to find an alternative source. Everything certainly points towards the hay direction but I have never heard of a horse being allergic to hay before, not in that way anyhow.

Micronised linseed is the best oil type feed to give, its high in Omega 3 which is an anti-inflammatory, some oils can cause inflammation (can't remember whether its Omega 6 or 9 that can cause inflammation). I feed a lot of micronised linseed to one of my horses who is hypersensitive to drugs/possibly has auto immune disorder and her skin is really good because of it, its also good for gut problems which is why I actually give it her. She also has a Vit E supplement.

The oilovite I give him has got linseed oil in it. I had him on micronised linseed last year and was surprised as it didnt have that much of an effect, but it was while his reaction was at its worst. I bought the micronised linseed from Charmwood Milling and was feeding him a cup of it in his morning feed along with a cup of it in his evening feed.

 

[shergar]

Only other thing I can think of is how old is the horse some horses with Cushings can have problems with skin infections and as the days are getting shorter I think the A C T H levels increase,{ some one will correct me if I am wrong,} it seems odd that this has happened at the same time of year.

 

[suzyqet]

Only other thing I can think of is how old is the horse some horses with Cushings can have problems with skin infections and as the days are getting shorter I think the A C T H levels increase,{ some one will correct me if I am wrong,} it seems odd that this has happened at the same time of year.

He's 19 Shergar. But doesnt show any of the other typical signs of cushings. He is a coloured and sheds his coat practically all year round, doesnt have a woolly coat, has no signs of laminitis and is in fact in very good nick for a 19 year old. lol. He's 17.2 btw. ;-)

 

[suzyqet]

This was him in the summer. After he had the reaction last winter. The whole brown patch around his stifle area was completely bald and red raw but as you can see, it grew back lovely with no scarring or anything.

 

[Gloi]

He's 19 Shergar. But doesnt show any of the other typical signs of cushings. He is a coloured and sheds his coat practically all year round, doesnt have a woolly coat,

A woolly coat comes later on, some of the early signs are quite subtle. One of ours started with strange skin infections - nothing like yours though.

 

[shergar]

What a beauty he is ,I can see why you think he does not have Cushings but because of his age and the skin problem being the same time of year it may be worth asking the vet to test him as far as I know you are charged for the blood sample to be taken but the lab fees are free ,and if its negative at least you can take that one off a list of possible causes.

 

[Queenbee]

Quizzie, if it was this though, surely he would have been reacting to it all summer? This is what his old owner had him on too before I got him and she never had any problems with reactions either. The only thing we have introduced different in the last couple of weeks is this years round bale hay which has come from the same source as the haylage did last year.

Alfalfa and rapeseed... Infact anything can cause sensitivity, I can only say that Alfa oil was the culprit for my boys sensitivity, but it only showed up when we went to winter rations as opposed to a summer handful. It could be anything - the combination of two elements, so many possibilities but I would certainly ditch the alfalfa. I would also contact companies that do grass chaff, there's one in Scotland... Can't remember their name but I know that they do a variety of grass chaffs, it may be worth contacting them and working your way through the types of chaff... Start with Timothy as a hay replacement and see how it goes, it will allow you to identify the culprit grass type, if indeed it is a specific grass. It may be an allergy to a "byproduct". What I mean is, the horse may not be allergic to the grass, but allergic to the grass when it's gone through a drying process. You can only identify it by a strict process of elimination. In the meantime, I can recommend sulphur soap and rock sulphur temporarily in the water, it cools the blood and stops itching

 

[suzyqet]

Hi everyone, just wanted to give you an update.
Well, since being off the suspected cause, ie the hay, he has improved considerably. He is still a bit itchy but nothing like he was. He hasnt had any more sore areas develop and the sore areas he does have are healing really nicely. To the point, his hair is actually starting to grow back now.
My vet has been out and checked him and cant see any other visible signs of anything else wrong. I am to continue with what I am doing and to monitor him closely. Should he be not better in 4 weeks time we will try a cause of steroids, but tbh, I dont think that will be necessary. She said they can do a certain allergy test which tests for specific grasses etc but apparently its not cheap to do and I would still be no wiser as I would have to inspect every bale from every supplier to make sure it doesnt contain that type of grass. The hay we have changed him onto does seem to be ok for him so am not going to change it. Will update as and when any new developments arise.
Thanks everyone for your advice.
It was really appreciated.