I am convinced that drafts do not belong in Florida..course, neither do humans. Tucker developed allergies about age of 2. I am copying my blog from my website about his allergies, rather than trying to re- write. Would love to know about others who have draftx's with allergies!
Tucker arrived in November 2003 at 6 months of age, from a PMU farm in Canada. My first inking that he might have skin issues began in May of 2006. when he scraped the bridge of his nose. The sore would not heal and Tucker itched it nonstop. Soon it went from a small scratch about the size of a nickle, to the size of a half-dollar. I tried all kinds of medicines, half did nothing at all, the rest would work for a while, the sore would start to heal, then Tucker would rub it raw and we would be back at square one. Four months went by, finally my vet prescibed me some Lidocaine and had me mix it with Preparation H...this was just what we needed, the sore cleared.

The following May, 2007, Tucker started getting the itchies. BAD itchies. He was rubbing on everything and breaking boards left and right.....electric fencing became my new best friend! Tucker was losing his hair, and it soon became evident we had something major going on. We allergy tested him and he tested positives for 26 out of 72 items....including alfalfa, beet pulp, flax seed (which he was being fed either directly, such as the alfalfa and the flax, or indirectly, as the beet pulp was in his pellets), dandilions (BUT,we don't have dandilions I told my vet....then I looked at the ingredients of Stop Itch which I was feeding him to help him...yep, contains dandilions!), spanish moss (in his night time paddock), and of course, the mosquitioes and other nasty things that fly in the night.

I made alot of changes..changed his diet, moved him to a new paddock, stopped the Stop Itch. Saw some improvements right away. We started him on allergy vaccine. He has now been on vaccines for a year.

In the fall of 2007, Tucker came in with a sore on his lower left front ankle. Oh, one of the things he is allergic to is GRASS...GIVE ME A BREAK! HE IS A HORSE after all! So he gets these little crusty sores on his lower legs, they go away in a couple of days. Except, this one would not heal, and it grew and grew and got yuckier and bigger and the ankle swelled. After fighting this for about 2 months, with all kinds of meds, I had my vet do a biopsy. Nothing earth shattering revealed, just mainly stated autoimmune disorders. Well, December came, it got cooler and the leg started to heal! I think it would have if we had only had a long, COLD winter. But we didn't, and by spring, the sore was back again, this time on a mission. Tucker was to make his debut at a local schooling show, and within 48 hours, the leg got GROSS. It blew up to the size of a grapefruit and was bleeding and smelly and just nasty. I was convinced it was cancer. So we cancelled the show. By now, I was working for, of all places, a Veterinary Dermatology office! One of the best Derm vets in the state! So one of the vets there got together with my regular vet and we did another biopsy and this time sent it off to the lab we use for skin issues. Now my regular vet has been saying all along he thought it was a Habronema. And when the lab results came back, it confirmed what he thought, it was a Habronema. So I got some liquid Ivermectin from work, mixed it with DMSO and Fura ointment. And within a week, the sore was reduced by 90%!!!! WHY DIDN"T WE DO THIS FROM THE BEGINNING? The month of June was great..the Habronema was on the fast track to disappearing. Life was good. But then, we hit a wall. A BIG wall, like a PUISSANCE wall. And the Habronema stopped shrinking and started growing. NOTHING I did helped. Then, Tropical Storm Fay came and really screwed us. My farm flooded and has been as much as a foot under water for 2 weeks now. We were drying out and then we got the outer band of Hurricane Hanna and we flooded again. And with all the wet, the Habronema just got worse. And then Tucker got a sore on the left hind that won't heal..isn't growing, but it isn't healing either. My vet says he can't even do anything until it dries out, since the wetness makes it worse.

Then I read a great thread on Chronicle of the Horse, about Neck Threadworms. Seems there are some studies about the correlation of NTW's and allergies and all kinds of issues that vets blame on other things...like fistula of the withers, lameness and even contracted tendons. Biopsies and necropsies have shown that in reality, the culprit is NTW's.

TAKEN FROM BRUNSWICKVET.COM:

Adult females worms up to 30cm long live in the major ligaments of the neck and, in rare cases, the flexor tendons and suspensory ligaments of the fetlock. Tiny juvenile forms (microfilariae) are produced by the female worms, and these migrate out of the ligaments towards the skin surface to form small, itchy lumps under the skin.

The horse rubs and abrades the lumps, which may seep serum. Biting insects, particularly sand flies, and possibly mosquitoes, are attracted by the abraded lump and digest microfilariae as they feed. These insects are capable of spreading the infestation to other horses within 20 – 25 days after ingesting microfilariae.

The lifecycle is complete in approximately 4 – 5 months. The adult worms have no recognised detrimental effect on the neck ligaments, however occasionally they may cause swelling of the flexor tendons and lameness in the front limbs.

The larvae can also invade the eye and cause blindness, particularly if the horse rubs and lacerates the eye.


Signs of Onchocerciasis
- Small lumps, from pea to marble size, develop in the skin on the underside of the belly, chest, withers, neck and face
- Itching and rubbing causes thinning and loss of hair, and scaly skin, particularly along the mane
- Surrounding weepy and scabby areas develop in severe cases
- Often white tufts of hair regrow on healing
- Biopsy of the lumps by your vet to identify microfilariae can confirm the diagnosis of onchocerciasis

Treatment & control of Onchocerciasis
- Control of biting insects is essential to prevent the condition
- Stable and rug the horse day and night
- Install insect screens in stables during summer months
- Control of the microfilariae that cause skin itching can be achieved by worming with Equimax, Equiminth, Equimec, or Equest
- After treatment, horses often become intensely itchy within 24 – 72 hours, causing severe skin abrasions and mutilations, and damaging feeders, walls and fences on which they rub
- The itch may be controlled by prednisilone granules added to the feed for 3 – 5 days (consult your vet for advice).

Treatment is for a double dosing of Ivermenctin, followed 2 weeks later by a double dosing of Equimax. Or you can do it the other way around, doing Equimax first. There are over 450 posts about this, with links to great artlcles, and people telling stories about how their horse's itchies or mysterious ailments have cleared up after double dosing.

So Tucker has now been DD'd with Ivermectin and then on August 30, he got the DD of Equimax. Did it to all my horses.

Impulsive's tail, which was itchy and had no hair at the top, ceased being itchy and the hair grew back.

Tucker's neckline, chest and tail healed after the first DD. No improvement with the Habronema, midline or swollen sheath. Then after about 10 days, he got attacked by the bugs and he pretty much looks horrible...his head, his ears, his tail. Like I said, we are really wet and the mosquitoes are HUGE and HUNGRY. So he now wears a fly sheet at night (during the middle of summer, it is just too hot for him to wear it, but now that our nights are actually getting cooler, he can wear one, THANK GOD) and he is actually keeping his fly mask on. The only product that really gives him any relief (and believe me, I have tried them all), is Calm Coat. I rub it on all his itchies twice a day.

I am going to DD Tucker again next week and see what happens. And keep DDing him for a while, as long as we are wet and yucky.

Will keep his progress posted here.



November 30, 2008:

Tuckers leg looks the best ever in over a year! Between the double dosing and the cold weather, it is actually shrinking. In addition, I did 2 syringes of UlcerGuard for the bare spots on his face and his face cleared up immediately!

Last month, Tucker and I went to an eventing clinic with Jon Holling. It was Tucker's first real outing on the xc course and he had a blast! He jumped logs, banks, ditches, steps and went into the water complex. Jon really liked him. It was so exhilerating to be on the xc course! I had a very bold, very solid horse under me and it was a great feeling!

April 2009:

Tucker's habronema is looking much better. I will post pictures soon. I have resigned myself that it will be an on going maintenance. Am currently treating with Dex/Ivermectin/DMSO/Fura Ointment.

Tucker attended his first horse trial this month! Wow, what an experience! Check out his pictures!

June 2009:

Tucker still looks really good..not just his habronema, but his skin in general. The habronema is still there, but it is about the size of a nickle. I have resolved myself to the fact that I will always have to just maintain it. His skin is good too, not perfect, but the best it has been in years. He rubs his tail and mane, and there are crusts on his midline. I double dosed him with ivermectin last week and will repeat every 2 weeks for a while. I started Tucker on a supplement called APF. It is to build the immune system. I don't know if the reason he looks so good is due to the allergy shots kicking in, the APF, or the combination of both, but ever since I started him on the APF, 4 months ago, he no longer has site reactions to the allergy shots. Usually he swells about the size of a tangerine where I give him the shot, but no more reactions. I am impressed with this stuff!

I promise to try and get some pictures soon!