My son's TWH gelding has developed an allergy to something in our pasture.  He has broken out on his face, chest and shoulders and rubs until the hair comes out.  Does anyone have any suggestions to help alleviate his condition?

We are using a granulated antihistamine but that doesn't give him much relief.

Thanks in advance for all the wonderful words of wisdom.

JacciB

P.S.  It is NOT rainrot.

My appy mare has those exact symptoms.  I have been giving her the Triple Crown Rice Bran Oil Plus for about a month now.  It has really seemed to help with her dry itchy skin and the hair is comming back.  I have also started my old mare on it for her really dry skin.

It's a bit pricy, but so far the results have been good. http://www.triplecrownfeed.com/12percent.php

Click on the rice bran oil plus and it will tell you what is in it. 

Get some ground flax seed and feed'em 4oz a day.  I normally did  2- 2 oz. feeding when I was feeding it.  I now use feed that has ground flax seed in it. A 50 lb bag will cost about $36 and last a long time.  3-months or greater.  You need to figure out what is causing the problem.  Flies, gnats or whatever and try to prevent the problem but the ground flax seed will help. Keep him coated with fly spray. I have a TWH mare that has the same problem.  Her damn had the same problem also.

Oh yeah, he will be shinny as a dime after a couple of months.  His skin/coat will be unbelievable.

Are you sure he doesn't have Sweet Itch from the bites of Midge flies?  Many horses are allergic to midge fly bites and if left go by the unknowing horse owner, can result in misery for the horse and a whopping vet bill ---- ask me how I know that

If you are, in fact, dealing with Sweet Itch (horses can develop that allergy later in life as I have found out), be prepared to have to deal with it almost daily until those nasty little creatures go away for the winter

Regardless of whether I am treating scratches, sweet itch or rain rot, I wash the area with water and provodine or betadyne or iodine, keeping the mix dark brown.

I slather WalMart's brand of diaper rash cream on it because:

That zinc oxide seems to make everything eventually go away and diaper rash cream is thick enough to keep the flies off the sore and won't easily wash off in the rain.

That all being said, were it my horse and never having dealt with something like this before, I would call the vet to be sure

I've had good luck with Pawalker's method but there is a little twist. I mix it about half and half with Noxzema, which has some medication to add to it. For me, it has worked better than straight zinc oxide, which I've also used. Many uses from girth galls to sunburn prevention.

"I mix it about half and half with Noxzema"

I am smacking myself on the forehead for not thinking of that myself

Wal-Mart here I come for a big jar of Noxzema

I have taken him to our Vet.  He got us started with granule antihistamine, but advised us it may not provide as much relief as we hope as we did not want to spend the $$$$ on endless allergy tests that may reveal nothing.

After reading the post about the Midge flies, I do believe that is our problem.  My husband noticed that there are many more flies on this particular horse than our others and it does, in fact, clear up in late fall early winter. 

I will definitley try the Noxzema / zinc oxide combo.  Thanks to all for your words of wisdom and experience.

JacciB 

FYI: A good friend who had a horse that had been having a lot of breathing issues, her vet had pretty much tried everything and nothing was working.  She kept suggesting allergy testing and the vet said no, not worth the expense, but meanwhile the horse was on several expensive medications.

    She decided to get a 2nd opinion and the new vet suggested allergy testing.  Guess what - poor ol Earnhardt was allergic to timothy hay, corn, carrots, and other things she'd been feeding him for the past 5 years.  She changed his diet and he looks like a new horse!  No breathing issues, skin is great, and he's not on any medications.  Just stopping the medications saved her in one month the cost of the allergy testing.

So don't always rule out allergy testing, sometimes it's better to pay a little to find out the real problem and cure it.  

That is a very good point, Dunoir.  If zinc oxide/noxzema mix combined with the flax seed and a good fly sheet to help, I believe I will "bite the bullet" and schedule the allergy tests.  Afterall, it's not fair to the horse to suffer because of a vet bill.

Thanks again to all.

JacciB

Please check out this product: BugCheck!  It can be ordered through TheNaturalPetVet.net or it is for sale through Smartpack.  Even some feed stores are starting to carry it, at least here in FL.  I am vet poor from my gelding.  He has a terrible time with hypersensitivity to 'no-see-ums'.  So bad that if the steroids didn't work there was talk between the vets & university that the final outcome might be to put him down because he was so bad and getting worse each year.  Oh, he was only 4 at the time.  He lived year round as a bloody sore with secondary infections.

Sorry to cut it short, my daughter just woke & is crying.  Good luck!