Hivin’ a good time
In which our intrepid explorer, One More Nite, explores the wilds of a mowed pasture and returns with hives. Proving, once and for all, that she is still a sensitive-skinned Arabian. Poor little girl got into something and then she scratched.
I found Prize’s hives on Friday evening when I turned Isis out in the paddock. It was dark, so I could only feel the lumps and didn’t see them. All of the Arabians I’ve had have ended up with hives from getting into something they were allergic too. Never anything serious (except for one time when Logan had a severe reaction to spring shots).
Saturday evening I was very surprised when I saw her. The hives were much worse than I originally thought and they were sore to the touch. She has hives on the left side of her cheek and upper third of her neck. The hives are also on her left leg, left knee (swollen), and inside of her right leg. Maybe she laid down in the soft cuttings as a bed in something she was allergic to.
The barn owner and I tried to figure out what she might have gotten in to. Were the lumps hives or stings? Did she manage to tangle with a wasp nest or ground bees? The scabs on the hives were scraps across the top instead of coming to a point with a bite at the top. One of the cedar trees in the mares’ paddock had many of the lower branches rubbed off, so we guessed that Prize had itched her neck against the tree.
I gave Prize a dose of antihistamines. Shortly after, she had a gentle bath with some oatmeal shampoo. Once she dried off, I put hydrocortisone cream and diphenhydramine cream on the hives.
Isis also had hives, but not nearly as bad. (The Houdini horse had managed to get her grazing muzzle off and dispose of it. No matter how many times we searched, we weren’t able to find the muzzle.)
This morning, I called the barn and Prize’s hives were much better. The swelling was gone and only the scabs from where she had scratched against a tree were still present. Prize’s hives were almost completely gone this evening by the time I arrived at the barn.
