Pete has bumps - but from what?

[SandyMM]

I've already had him to the vet.

There are probably hundreds of bumps/scabs - raised up and pea-sized - 99% are on the two left legs from pasterns to body/inside and out.... Most are from the knees/hocks down. Legs were swollen, but no unusual heat noted the first two days...

This happened once before, but we caught him standing in a fireant pile. No ants seen this time...

Saturday he started a trail ride with 'clean' legs, but by Sunday around noon his 2 left legs were oozing a sticky goo and the bumps appeared.

We rode through an area of mud that was pretty boggy, but all four legs were in the mud, so it doesn't seem to make sense that it was just the mud.

We used an Absorbine/iodine wash on his legs Sunday afternoon - which seemed to dry up some of the mess by that evening, but huge overlapping bumps still visible. The ones that have come off take the hair with them and Pete is developing patches of bald skin as a result.
Anybody else ever have this happen?

Paula and Donald have a horse who appears to have the same sort of reaction to mud and they use a body wash after a ride that involves mud...

[PNYGRL]

Friend of mine has a mare that has gotten those. We went on a trail ride covered the exact same trail, her horse came back with bumps on legs, my horse not a single bump. They cleared up in about a week. Someone suggested chiggers, or an alergic reaction to something we encountered, but we never figured it our for sure. We were on a three day ride and noticed them evening of day two. Hope you figure it out.

[SandyMM]

The bumps don't seem to be particularly painful - he doesn't chew or try to scratch them. Paula and Donald think their mare is allergic to either the 'swamp mud' or something alive in the mud. They hose that mare down after the ride and apply a wash of absorbine mixed with vinegar (I think). We tried absorbine and iodine and although it did seemt to dry out the weepy areas somewhat, the bumps had already gotten a good hold....

[pnalley]

So far we have figured out that you have to use the Absorbine wash before they get scabby. Since mid summer last year Nieve has had no problems, prior to that almost every time we took her out she got those weepy bumps.

[DSDECKERT]

Sounds like allergies if it isn't ant bites. Try washing his legs with Ivory dishsoap...I know it sounds weird, but cleared up hives on Jochi. (an old cowboy friend suggested this to me!)

[SandyMM]

Well, it's been almost a week and Pete's legs look pretty bad, but they are healing. Several areas are still covered with raised scabby bumps that take the hair with them when they come off.... The last time this happened, all the hair grew back, but it took several weeks to look normal again. All the swelling has disappeared, so that's a plus...

If it's allergies, it doesn't much sense that it was 99% on the left side - on the inside and outside of both legs.... Contact dermititus is a possibility, but makes no sense that it's on the inside of the left legs, but only 3-4 bumps on the right side - inside or out...

I guess we'll mix up some of Paula's and Donald's 'magic wash' and hit him with it before and after from now on.... It's worth the time and trouble to not have to go through this again!

[motorgypsy]

Have you tried benedryl?

[Trudy]

Sandy, go to my pictures and i think under profile. a friend posted a picture on there with her horse and it had hives. sounds like what you are talking about.

[Trudy]

And of course I meant on facebook...

[SandyMM]

thanks - I'll check...

[motorgypsy]

Sultan gets hives on a regular basis and they have NO central entry or scab. They are just welts - usually in a pattern like he'll have them all down one side of his neck. His are oval welts about 3/4 of an inch long and half an inch wide and raised perhaps two millimeters and of uniform height, not higher in the center. They show no sign of a bite or entry wound and go away sometimes in hours. I've seen them on people also and they are just different from a bite or a nettle or poison ivy. Larger and closer together and in one area like my friend who would get them on her neck when she was stressed out.

[pnalley]

Brat gets hives like what Nancy just described. It is not the same thing that Pete & Neive get.