I have never experienced a horse having hives But, My horse has a couple of large bumps on his body and we believe that he has hives from bug bites. how do you treat hives? he only has very little, i would say maybe 7 bumps, but they are huge like the size of a ritz cracker. one of them is where the saddle sits. can I still ride?
Call the vet and get some Dexamethasone. It will take care of the hives. Not sure I’d ride when if they are located in the saddle area. Might be uncomfortable for him.
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I think these are more like welts from the bug bites. I usually just itch them for my horse and that’s all. I probably wouldn’t ride if the welts are under the saddle, unless they are not painful or itchy at all.
If he gets actual hives that are mild to moderate, I’ll hose him and sponge him off with diluted vinegar - this seems to strip anything from the hair that might be causing a contact allergy.
If he has severe hives, I’d call the vet and give him some dex.
0.2-0.4mg/kg of Cetirizine aka Zyrtec works great for hives per my vet. Costco has it very cheap as do online drug vendors. $22 for 500 10mg pills IIRC
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@theresak said what I do for temporary relief when it’s minor: a sponge bath with a few glugs of vinegar in a bucket of water.
Witch hazel works well to cool and sooth. I keep a bottle in the barn fridge and the horses seem to enjoy having it gently rubbed on the welts. My vet has recommended benadryl for itching before going to the bigger guns of steroids. Super cheap at Sam’s club arund $5 for 500 tablets. Has done the trick for all of mine - just plain allergic ones, sweet itch pony, and sweaty IR pony.
I don’t ride if welts in the saddle area are obviously bothering them. However, witch hazel has very often put an end to the itch over night and brought down the welts considerably as well. So we don’t miss too many rides most of the time.
My horses are covered in welts it bug bites. Hose them off with cold water and done welts eventually go away. It’s bug season deer flies ,horse flies and mosquitoes and a few flies.
My trainer swears by hand sanitizer
My standard protocol when my mare has outbreaks is a shot of Dex, cold hose, then antihistamines for 5 days. No, I would not ride with hives in the saddle area.
Dex IV should do the trick.
If the horse has hives I give a vinegar bath. If he is trying to scratch his skin off/actively very itchy I will give dexamethosone and sometimes banamine as well.
if it is chronic, Platinum Skin and allergy supplement.
One of the side effects of using dex is laminitis so be very careful if you go that route. Yes it’s rare but it can happen. And NO I would not ride if the welts are in the saddle area.
I am at my wit’s end with my mare who has had hives for 6 weeks. She is in the same pasture that she has been in for 5 years. She had one bad episode a couple of weeks ago and the rest of the time the hives have been widespread but small and not on her face or near her eyes ( like the way they were during the bad episode)
She has been on dex, prednisone, hydroxizine, Banamine The only thing I can figure is that I did change her feed to a high protein, low fat one because I was watching her weight. I have stopped that as of yesterday. So she is in 14% protein until the 10% I just ordered comes in next week.
I have also started her on Platinum skin and allergy which is sinfully expensive but at this point, I’ll almost try anything. And, she is on 10ml oral prednisone which is also expensive. The hives are not gone but they are not eruptive (for lack of a better word). I also make a turmeric paste which is supposed to be good as an anti inflammatory and she gets two big tablespoons a day
I would contemplate allergy testing, but the Horse has to be off meds for 3 weeks and that is impossible.
She is 20, has a bit of arthritis, but has always been healthy. She has had hive outbreaks before but never this chronic.
Sorry this is so long- but I am open to suggestions (short of isolating her from her two friends and stalling her- that would be way stressful for her)
thanks so so much
We suffered through this earlier this summer. Benadryl. I just buy the generic, very affordable. Works well.
Karen, I’m sorry - this sounds terrible stressful.
I bought a paint mare in August. Her previous owner warned me she was sensitive to flies, and she wasn’t kidding - they adore her. We hadn’t seen horseflies in ages until we brought her home, and then they swarmed her.
I did some research and decided to try Bug Check from The Natural Vet. I’ve been happy with it - it doesn’t 100% stop biting things from going after her (she still need a fly mask on the worst days), but she can now happily hang on in the pasture without a fly sheet. The company makes another product I’ve not researched called “Aller Check”.
Good luck. I spent years counting out daily antihistamines for a horse we think had sweet itch from gnats. They helped, but I wish I had thought to research - I totally would have tried this for him.
Diphenhydramine / Benadryl. About 10 tablets for the average horse. Economical Easier and safer than Dex. Will make drowsy, so needs a day or two off. Crush and mix with applesauce, put on feed.
I give mine Benadryl. It works well on horses, humans, and dogs. Gets rid of hives within an hour or so. Works great for ant bites and wasp bites, etc.
No Dex. Dee can cause founder even on non IR horses.
I had a hive problem this summer and my vet said they now like Zyrtec better than Benadryl (generic is fine). It was 10 pills for my pony.
