This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Equine Nutrition, Horse Feeds, Feeding » Equine Nutrition an Overview of Feeding Horses »
  Discussion on Food allergies
Author Message
New Member:
mkentner

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 - 11:00 am:

My horse has skin allergies during fly season. He is miserably itchy and covered with bloody lesions due to fly bites. After trying every skin product and supplement known to man; I decided to try allergy testing as I want to avoid steroids.

It turns out he is allergic to over 30 different allergens; including soy beans, wheat and barley, and bahia grass (bahia is everywhere here!) He even tests borderline to corn, oats and rice. I've started allergy injections, but I've been informed that for food allergies; these items must be avoided.

I've already contacted Purina and other feed mills and have been informed that all commercial horse feeds contain wheat and usually soy beans. That means no commercial feed for this horse.

Right now, I'm feeding him 3 lb/day linseed meal with rice bran and plenty of bermuda type grass hay. The linseed meal is not too palatable and water must be added. It's sticky and messy and I have to drive 5 hours to get the linseed meal. It's a pain. I'm really wanting to change. The horse is a fairly easy keeper but lacks muscle and seems to have numerous health issues including gastric or hindgut ulcers at times.

Can you recommend a feeding program for such a horse? He is about 15.1 hands, approx 1000 lbs. lusitano. I don't want to change hay, but would may be interested in alfalfa pellets.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 - 7:03 pm:

Welcome Merle,
Was this test done on your horses blood?
DrO
New Member:
mkentner

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 - 10:02 pm:

Yes, done by Bio-Medical Services as recommended by my vet.
New Member:
mkentner

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 - 10:05 pm:

https://www.bmslab.com/
New Member:
mkentner

Posted on Tuesday, Aug 17, 2010 - 10:34 pm:

In addition, just FYI, this horse has chronic ERU in one eye which is responsive to atropine and banamine. Since starting the allergy shots, the flare ups of ERU seem to be controlled....they were so frequent that I was giving banamine about every other day, but it seems to be somehow in remission. The skin condition is not as of yet under any control by the allergy shots. (Horse has been on the shots for about 6 weeks now). I have started using cyclosporin eye ointment daily for prevention even though there had been no flare ups since starting allergy shots.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 18, 2010 - 7:15 am:

Merle, there are several problems with the notion that your horse is allergic to the common feeds you have been using.

Note in your first sentence of your first post above that your horse has allergies during the fly season yet you feed your horse these feedstuffs all year long: how does this support the idea your horse is allergic to those feedstuffs? We have had reports before of horses being allergic to every regular foodstuff under the sun while displaying classic signs of "summer eczema" or culicoides hypersensitivity.

Currently there is no good scientific evidence that these IgE blood allergy tests are sensitive and specific for identifying skin hypersensitivity allergens in the horse. There is good evidence that there are problems with the specificity and sensitivity of these tests: it is known that horses often develop IgG antibodies to the culicoides saliva allergen but do not develop culicoides hypersensitivity and it is known that horses with known culicoides hypersensitivity do not dependably have elevated IgE levels in the blood.

I would recommend you reconsider the significance of these tests and consider the possibility your horse suffers from the most common cause of skin allergies associated with the fly season pattern: fly bite allergies. For more on this see HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Hair and Coat Problems / Itching / Irritated Skin » Culicoides Hypersensitivity: Sweet & Queensland Itch.
DrO
New Member:
mkentner

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 18, 2010 - 8:50 am:

I did not say that I'm feeding the feeds he is allegedly sensitive to. For a year now, I've been feeding him only linseed meal (flaxseed with oil removed) with added rice bran and bermuda type hay. He tested negative to flaxseed and bermuda grass.

But as I said, I want to change to another feed as linseed meal is not available locally.

Yes, my horse has fly bite sensitivity among the 30 allergens he supposably has sensitivity to. According to the testing my horse is sensitive to several insects including several flies and culicoides. He does have some itching and scratching all year round; but of course, the bloody lesions only occur during fly season.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 18, 2010 - 9:13 pm:

Merle, not knowing what sources of forages are available to you makes it hard to make recommendations for substitutions of linseed meal. However what ever linseed oil that may remain in the meal has a high omega six content is considered to have potential antiinflammatory properties that other oils don't.

As to your statement you are not currently feeding these feeds you miss my point. "Have" is a past tense verb and I presumed you must "have" been using them at one time. The point is current scientific research suggests that these IgE blood tests provide little meaningful information, identifying substances as allergens that are not and missing allergens that are, so you should reconsider your whole supposition of trying to feed hard to find alternative feeds. Note that the year round distribution does not let out culicoides sensitivity as overtime year round itchiness can occur. Since beginning this feeding regimen have you seen an improvement in your horse and if so how much might be attributed to renewed attempts to decrease exposure to biting flies and midges?
DrO
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC