Buttercup Pollen Allergy??

[larri]

Safi has come over all sneezy ( snorting every minute or so), running nose ( clear) and constantly rubbing her nose against her leg. No head shaking though.

She funnily enough was exactly the same but slightly later last year ( July). Vet last year reckoned she had a minor chest infection and left her alone as she didn't seem bothered by it at all.

I wondered if anyone else had come across this kind of behaviour - to me it sounds and looks like hay fever, but do horses suffer from this? Neither Christa or Merlin are showing any symptoms at all.

Cheers M'dears

Larri

[Mehitabel]

it could easily be a seasonal allergy - we have a pony on the yard who suffers dreadfully and is kept sane over the summer with piriton.

[Bebe]

My husbands share horse (arab gelding) suffers from hayfever. At one point he was on Benadryl for it but it worked out too expensive. This year his owner is trying homeopathic tablets and I think they're working.

His symptoms are:
runny eyes
sneezing
watery discharge from nose
wants to rub his nose on his legs a lot
shakes his head but from side to side, not up and down as a headshaker would

A nosenet helps but he can't stand it. A flymask saves his eyes from watering too much. Oh, his breathing sometimes sounds quite heavy too, like his nose is blocked, and his glands come up just before he starts with the symptoms.

All the symptoms disappear as soon as the hayfever season is over.

[ros]

Yes, Merlin's girlfriend Swallow also suffers from something similar. Not sure exactly what pollens she's allergic to, but it usually starts around now, worse in breezy conditions. She was treated backalong for a sinus infection but it didn't make any difference. She isn't ridden now because she has DJD, but she did used to headshake mildly when she was. She didn't always have the problem, and I do sometimes wonder whether the fact that the farm is right on the side of the busy A38 into Plymouth makes a difference - I don't think traffic fumes help.

[larri]

Thanks for replies

I've had her for 3 years and she only had symptoms last year for a couple of weeks. She started again on Sunday - absolutely out of the blue.

Our field is about as traffic free as you can get, at the end of a tiny village on a no through road and bordered on three sides by other fields. No oilseed rape planted nearby either. I'll see how she goes B4 getting our vet out. hmmmmm:(

[Hesseybabe]

Prince does exactly the same, runny eyes, head shaking, rubbing nose, discharge. I thought it was an allergy, but didnt know what to give him.
Is it safe to feed them piriton? How many?
Also he has started getting quite huffy, and bargy could this be due to the allergy, or something else?

[Dizzy]

One of my friends is riding out in a nosenet, and she says it has definitely helped her horse. Fortunately she does accept it, as Bebe has said - some don't like them.