lumpy horses

[Terri]

I have 2 horses that look like the lunar surface. 1st Prince (the qrt horse) broke out in hives a couple of days ago. I assume it is from the stupid deer flies. I have given him packages of benadryll and hosed him. He is still pretty lumpy. Now this morning Mico is starting to look the same, although no where near as bad as Prince. I spray, and put that equi-spot on them. I am learning to hate summer and long for the cool nights in Sept and Oct. I will call the vet this morning as see if he has something to give them without having to empty Walmart of its benadryll inventory. Any suggestions?

[ErinC]

Pillo does the same thing.

[TrueStepPaso]

T....one of the QH at my barn gets hives pretty badly in the summer months, but that has stopped in the last two seasons because she started giving him garlic....she swears by it. And its hard to ignore, because I've seen the difference with my own two eyes as well.
So, she gives him garlic, and just sprays him down with an herbal fly spray from time to time.....
It smeels GREAT at dinner time in the barn....like an Italian kitchen :D

[Carol Nelson]

True Step...I've lately been reading that garlic in high doses can be toxic to horses...so be careful.
Terri, if you've got a Sam's Club near you, they have generic benedryl at 400 capsules for something like 3.28 a bottle. I use Benedryl on my allergic horses and that's about as cheap as you can get it. The vet will have some antihistamine like Spec-Tuss or someone else mentioned another one on here...but doubt they can give it to you that cheap. We have our QH who suffers from fly-bite dermatitis on six a day, but you can go as high as ten. Four a day worked well for my Paso mare with a sinus condition. (We did ultimately have to put her on Uniprim, an antibiotic, to knock it out completely though).

Will add here that although Sam's has an annual membership fee, it's well worth what I save on just about everything. I buy CoQ10 for my foundered horses there, Glucosamine and MSM, for my joint compromised horses, and of course, the Benedryl. all at greatly reduced prices.

[Abejita]

CoQ10 for founder?? do tell...

[PattiB]

If your vet gives you Tri-hist watch your horse. We had a Rocky gelding that got stung by a bunch of yellow jackets, put him on Tri-hist and the next day he was sweating and breathing hard. Turns out some horses have that reaction, we had to keep him in front of fans for several days before it wore off.

[Carol Nelson]

Abejita, CoQ10 is used in humans to promote cardiac health, in horses, it speeds circulation to the hooves. (actually, I imagine, to the whole system)

[Terri]

the vet gave me somthing called dexamethasone (also called it something that began with an A). I just squirted it down both their throats. the vet said they should be better in the am. It was just $5.00 per horse.
What I've heard about garlic is that it works great but needs a couple of months at low dose to build up in their system to be effective. So you should start adding it in small amount in their food in say April for July to be a happy month. Haven't heard it was toxic. Will have to find out more before I try it next year.
I'll let you know how lumpy they are in the morning.

[motorgypsy]

dex is a steroid. Be careful with it because if you use it regularly it has all the negative side effects of steroids.

Put a fly sheet on the horse. Sultan gets hives something terrible from insect bites so we just got him a fly sheet - I think it's the Rambo dust buster. Dont' put the stiff screen type fly sheets on them though. They make sore spots and rub out the mane. Yes they do sometimes tear them up but they really help and we just duct tape and glue and sew them back together.

[Terri]

I put a fly sheet on Mico once, I found pieces of it all over the pasture.

[motorgypsy]

We do use benedry also - forgot to mention that. It works but he just gets bitten again and more hives..

There are only a few flysheets that can hold up to our guys. The Bucas for $100 lasted for three seasons. The Rambo Dust buster has made for two seasons. I like the Horsewear Ireland with a different name - maybe Deveon??? can't remember the brand that comes with a neck sheet but they have destroyed two of them but not so I can't fix them.

The stiff ones rub sores and the mane out. The flimsy ones are toast over night so don't waste your money.

[Abejita]

My mare looks like what you describe today..She has been having another problem for the past two weeks ..now this morning she had a few bumps on her butt..this afternoon ..her whole body..She looks like the Mini-sta-pufft marshmallow girl..gave her Dex,but yes do be careful.Vet told me no more than a day or two and I gave 5cc tonight if she needs it tomorrow I am supposed to lower dose to 3-4 cc.It may cause founder if given to long is what I was told. They also recommended cold hosing and even Banamine if I want to give that instead of Dex..also told me to put her on MSM (she was on it until about a 3 weeks ago Stupid me)We are really starting to think this mare has a problem with her immune system being over -active (this is the problem mare who didnt get pregnant,,is a headshaker and got a bad case of white line disease last year..then two weeks ago all 4 legs were stocked up and she had some kinda rain rot/ dew posioning that was the whole way up to her knees like overnight... stuff that was different than any I have ever seen..would not clear up with wraps with panalog so she went on SMZ also)Here are some
pics I took tonight right after I gave the dex.Will see how she is tomorrow (she goes out at night and is in during the day.There is another horse in her group who is pretty sensative to bugs also..but he doesnt have a welt on him..go figure)

http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/Bruja1/bernie006.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/Bruja1/bernie013.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/Bruja1/bernie015.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/Bruja1/bernie012.jpg
http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y139/Bruja1/bernie010.jpg

[motorgypsy]

YUP that's just what Sultan gets if we leave his fly sheet off. He is such a wuss. Benedryl does work and has very few side effects. I don't know if I'd ride a horse on benedry. They might fall asleep while you're in the saddle???? (That's a joke guys!!)

[Abejita]

Just dont let them drive any farm equipment... ;-)

[Brigitte]

Serano has them too, think he has always had them.

[GeorgeGuns]

I gotta put my two cents in for MSM again, seems to be the best thing I've found yet for these kinds of bite reactions.

CoQ10 is an anti-oxoidant, supposed to be pretty powerful. That might be why it helps foundered horses - would help with detox and de-trashing the hoof.

[pasofantasy]

I would be careful, knowing problems, that I have when I take Benadryl. I couldn't think properly at first, so much that I couldn't remember what town I lived in. At that time, the doctor wanted me to take it daily, but I couldn't figure how I'd function that way. Later, I did take it short term if needed when I should rest anyway. After the last time, I don't ever want it again! I wasn't only drousy, but hyper at the same time. That's a terrible feeling!

[qltrlori]

Poor thing! It looks like it would itch something awful!

My dog got stung by bees Wednesday. Her head swelled up like a balloon. You should have seen her lips! The vet gave her a shot of Benadryl and she took about 18 hours for the swelling to go down. Wish I'd taken a picture!

Lori