Hi Everyone! I’m finding my mare this year having an extremely hard time with her allergies and was wondering about the shots for horses. I was wondering what would be legal for Equine Canada (I believe antihistamines are banned) that could help her? I’m looking at the ones that you give just once a year. Her symptoms is extremely itchy (but never rubs her hair out) snorting a lot and throwing her head around when dust or bugs are bad. She seems extremely bad the last couple days with a dry spell and also the barn cutting hay
You need to use an antihistamine, either injectable or oral. No, you can not compete in EC competitions while it is in use. There is a clearing time for the drug. But if you do not treat the allergic response, you risk lamenitis and possibly founder. Consult your veterinarian.
My mare has a terrible time with allergies for 4-8 weeks late spring/early summer every year. I’ve tried just about every approach to managing them over the past two decades, but it has all been pretty hit or miss depending on how the pollen is each year. During her severe period the most I’ve ever accomplished is managing the symptoms, but luckily the rest of the year she’s perfectly fine.
I did monthly allergy shots for probably 6-8 years and they might have helped to some extent but never completely cured the symptoms. I don’t compete her any longer so antihistimines (generic Zyrtec) are my go to now along with Dex under direction of my vet. I also give her high dose vitamin E, flax and MSM to help with inflammatory reponse. You usually cannot compete on antihistimines, although USEF allows Zyrtec with a medication report form and Dex is allowed in low doses. I can’t speak to EC’s rules. When she was competing I would usually just not plan any shows during her severe allergy season.
Allergies are pretty tough and every horse is different so yours might benefit from allergy shots but they weren’t a magic cure for my horse.
Is there a clinic or university that can test your horse for what she is specifically allergic to? A friend of mine took her Clyde mare to K-State and had her tested, she has 19 allergens that she has serum made up for. She gets a sub-q shot every 21 days to help combat the specific allergens. Might be worth looking into if you are competing your horse and this is a long term thing…
