Horse Allergy to food

[hldyrhrses]

We have a horse in our barn that seems to be allergic to something in Low Starch grain. We use Blue Seal grain. He breaks into hives. We have changed him for the last few months to just hay stretcher, and hives have resolved. We tried adding it back in recently and hives came back. Vet recommended Senior, but ingredients are basically similar to Low starch so I’m guessing result will be the same. Does anyone have similar experience and have a recommendation on a grain that will give him a better diet then just hay stretcher? He’s an event horse.

Allergy testing seems limited for food allergies. We live in New Hampshire, so there aren’t insects to cause hives or much to be exposed to. Food allergies seem to be diagnosed by elimination diets, but looking for a direction rather than just buying random grains.

We are working with a vet as well, just wondering if anyone has a similar tale!

[Scribbler]

@hldyrhrses

We have a horse in our barn that seems to be allergic to something in Low Starch grain. We use Blue Seal grain. He breaks into hives. We have changed him for the last few months to just hay stretcher, and hives have resolved. We tried adding it back in recently and hives came back. Vet recommended Senior, but ingredients are basically similar to Low starch so I’m guessing result will be the same. Does anyone have similar experience and have a recommendation on a grain that will give him a better diet then just hay stretcher? He’s an event horse.

Allergy testing seems limited for food allergies. We live in New Hampshire, so there aren’t insects to cause hives or much to be exposed to. Food allergies seem to be diagnosed by elimination diets, but looking for a direction rather than just buying random grains.

We are working with a vet as well, just wondering if anyone has a similar tale!

What are the ingredients in the problem food? What’s in the hay stretcher?

I’ve known a horse that got little oozy eruptions from alfalfa.

Have heard of horse allergic or reactive to soy.

Can you post links to the ingredients page? That site is impossible to navigate! Also I can’t find Blue Seal Low Starch Grain under that name so it must have a different name.

So: get the ingredients list of the problem grain and the no problem hay stretcher.

Compare

If they share an ingredient like alfalfa or soy, that’s logically not the problem.

We can’t answer any questions without a link to the ingredients of both feeds and their actual names not just general descriptions.

[WNT]

Is it the Blue Seal Sentinel Performance L/S or another feed?

I would compare the bag tags between the L/S and the hay stretcher, see what’s in one and not the other, and start there. Depending on calorie needs and potential allergens, a ration built around a vitamin/mineral supplement and appropriate calorie and amino acid sources may be the only route.

[hldyrhrses]

There lies the problem. We did compare and there is a handful of ingredients in Hay Stretcher and a list a mile long in Low starch. Hard to pinpoint.

Crude Protein, min	12.0%
Lysine, min	0.65%
Methionine, min	0.30%
Threonine, min	0.47%
Crude Fat, min	12.0%
Crude Fiber, max	20.0%
Acid Detergent Fiber, max	23.0%
Neutral Detergent Fiber, max	36.0%
Calcium, min	0.75%
Calcium, max	1.25%
Phosphorus, min	0.60%
Copper, min	50 ppm
Manganese, min	130 ppm
Selenium, min	0.55 ppm
Zinc min	170 ppm
Vitamin A, min	000 IU/lb, 5
Vitamin E, min	165 IU/lb
Biotin, min	0.55 mg/lb
Total Bacillus* Species, min	500 million cfu/lb

Ingredients

Soybean Hulls, Wheat Middlings, Dried Plain Beet Pulp, Soybean Oil, Wheat Flour, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Corn Distillers Dried Grains, Flaxseed, Rice Bran, Ground Corn, Soybean Meal, Yeast Culture, Salt, Monocalcium Phosphate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcite, Magnesium Oxide, Reed-Sedge Peat, Natural Flavor, DL-Methionine, Yeast Extract, Calcium Propionate (Preservative), DL-α-Tocopherol Acetate, Calcium Sulfate, Selenium Yeast, L-Lysine, Zinc Amino Acid Complex, Manganese Amino Acid Complex, Zinc Sulfate, D-α-Tocopherol Acetate (Source of Natural Vitamin E), Dried Enterococcus Faecium Fermentation Product, Dried Lactobacillus Acidophilus Fermentation Product, Dried Aspergillus Oryzae Fermentation Extract, Dried Trichoderma Longibrachiatum Fermentation Extract, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Extract, Manganese Sulfate, Copper Amino Acid Complex, Copper Sulfate, Biotin, Dried Bacillus Subtilis Fermentation Product, Dried Bacillus Licheniformis Fermentation Product, Rice Hulls, Vitamin B12 Supplement, L-Ascorbyl-2-Polyphosphate (Source of Vitamin C), Cobalt Glucoheptonate, Ferrous Sulfate, Niacin Supplement, d-Calcium Pantothenate, Riboflavin Supplement, Sodium Selenite, Threonine, Choline Chloride, Vitamin A Supplement, Pyridoxine Hydrochloride, Thiamine Mononitrate, Calcium Iodate, Folic Acid, Vitamin D3 Supplement, Menadione Sodium Bisulfite Complex, Rosemary Extract, Cobalt Carbonate, Mixed Tocopherols & Citric Acid (Preservatives).

Hay Stretcher-

Crude Protein, min	11.50%
Crude Fat, min	2.00%
Crude Fiber, max	20.00%
Acid Detergent Fiber, max	27.00%
Neutral Detergent Fiber, max	47.00%
Calcium, min	0.80%
Calcium, max	1.30%
Phosphorus, min	0.45%

Ingredients

Wheat Middlings, Soybean Hulls, Oat Hulls, Dehydrated Alfalfa Meal, Red Dog Flour, Cane Molasses, Calcium Carbonate.

[RhythmNCruise]

Could be soy. My sensitive-skinned guy is much less prone to all manner of lumpy-bumpy-itchy-oozy things when he’s not on soy.

[RhythmNCruise]

@hldyrhrses

Corn Distillers Dried Grains, Flaxseed, Rice Bran, Ground Corn, Soybean Meal,

My money is on one of these being the culprit.

[Scribbler]

Notice that both have soy bean hulls but only the problem feed has soybean meal.

Soybean meal is where the phytoestrogens and other possible stuff is. Why not keep him on hat stretcher and feed bit of soybean meal as an allergy test?

[victoriakent]

Food for thought: Often the body can be mildly allergic to multiple things, and in moderation can still tolerate the culprit in low doses, but when combining several allergens at once you can get a “straw that breaks the camels back” effect.

For example, I am allergic to cats, hay, mice, dust, etc. I can still handle hay day to day. I can pet a cat once or twice and be ok. But if I do both on the same day I am down and out, my body says it has had enough! (So I basically hide from our barn cats at all cost!)

Point being, the horse may be mildly reactive to a few things, and its the combination of several at once that cause that issue.

[WNT]

From salt down in the L/S, you are looking primarily at minerals, vitamins, and the probiotic package in the feed. I would be less concerned there; those aren’t in the hay stretcher since it’s not fortified.

The suggestion above to stay on the non-reactive hay stretcher and add back a single ingredient at a time for 1-2 weeks and observe for a reaction will be the most telling. Soybean meal, flaxseed, rice bran, corn. It is tedious, and I’d start with the soybean meal then the flax. You probably want to allow a couple of days in between feed products to be really careful. If he’s that reactive, you’ll probably know sooner.