How to Treat Allergies in Horses

When dealing with horses that have allergies, there are several warning signs you need to look for, such as hives, edema, difficulty breathing and swelling in the lower jaw area. If you begin to see these symptoms often, you can work with your veterinarian to find out exactly what your horse is allergic to. After you know what your horse will react to, you can start using preventive measures.

Things You'll Need

  • Dexamethasone
  • Phenylbutazone
  • Flaxseed supplement
  • Vitamin C supplement
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Instructions

  1. Treating Acute Reactions

    • 1

      Give your horse a shot of the steroid dexamethasone (referred to as dex among horsepeople) intramuscularly. If you don't have the dex on hand, have your veterinarian come out as soon as possible to give the shot.

    • 2

      Give a gram of phenylbutazone, which is often referred to as bute. Bute is an anti-inflammatory, so it helps get swelling to go down.

    • 3

      Let your horse stand in his stall for about fifteen minutes if he's having trouble breathing so that he can try to get his breathing back to normal.

    Preventing Future Reactions

    • 4

      Have your veterinarian perform tests to find out what your horse is allergic to so that you can avoid the substances in the future.

    • 5

      Add a flaxseed supplement to your horse's diet. You can feed six to eight ounces of whole seeds, or four to six ounces of a stabilized rice bran supplement, both twice a day. Ground rice bran supplements have to be stabilized; otherwise, the rice bran will go bad.

    • 6

      Add four to six grams of Vitamin C to your horse's diet. You can find Vitamin C supplements made for horses through various supplement dealers, and many of them are a combination of Vitamin C and other antioxidants, which can also be helpful. You can also use supplements marketed to people, although the dosages in the human pills may be considerably smaller than the appropriate dosage for horses.