Lumps and Bumps! :-(

Gurgleflap · Lumps and Bumps! :-(

Billy G was covered with alergic hives this morning all over his shoulders, neck and head. Some of them were big as half dollars and his eyes were swollen. I've seen this kind of thing before and knew it was an allergic reaction, but I've never had one of my horses get it. It started to get better after a couple of hours and we checked him again tonight and he was better, but covered in whitish salty looking stuff. He was also warm and sweaty--good reason, it's been between 105 and 110 here today. We hosed him down and the bumps were pretty much gone.

Just wondering if anybody has experience and advice. We don't know if it's knats, flies, mosquitoes, or if he got into a bee's nest or something. We've had him over a year and he was fine last year through the summer. Anybody have any thoughts?

Sandy

Clarissa

Maybe he walked into a spider's web during the night that was full of partly live insects. Or perhaps the spider bit him a few times as he was entangled in the web.

If it had been bees or wasps, etc you'd think the lumps would stay for a few days like if we get stung. The fact that the lumps went down is a really good thing as it shows his immune system is fully functional.

If he is itchy tomorrow all is well! Scratch him a lot & hose him down to keep the damaged area cool. That way it will heal properly & not exude which might cause a secondary infection or reaction. Also if he sweats a lot on that area the dried salt might sting a lot so he may start scratching it himself & open up those freshily healed lumps.

My horses used to get stung by the salt on very hot days & they would scratch on a particular tree which bought them up in hives. I think the hives were really bites from mites that lived in the bark of the tree. If I didn't hose the horses off it would get right out of control as the scratching made the stinging worse & so on. I didn't know what was really causing it until I moved them to another paddock which didn't have one of those particular trees. Then a few weeks later I moved them back & after the next hot day they were all lumpy again.

PasoBaby_CarolU

Did any of the other horses have it? It certainly sounds like bites. Hive take a lot longer to get over. I wonder about flying ants or gnats. Some horses are really reactive to them. You might try a wash of Listerine and water. The Listerine well help him feel better, but will also help repel insects.

I'm glad it was a short duration thing. Give Billy hugs from me.

Gurgleflap

No, none of the other horses in the same pasture had the bumps. That's why it is so weird. Billy G spent all last summer there with nothing like this happening. It rained the night before he got the bumps. Rain brings out the gnats here. He was okay today, though. We'll hose him down again. He was salty around his head again today. It is possible that he laid down near a nest of fire ants or something. He tends to be rather insensitive to stuff--typical LBI that way

He's such a "guy"! I'll give him a hug for you Carol, but he much prefers cookies! Thanks Clarissa, we'll keep him hosed down.