[ohmyitschelle]

Honey tends to always have some sort of issue in spring/summer, usually her hair malts off her face faster than it should like a fungal condition, but this time around, it never happened and was quite surprised. But needless to say she's finally got a new reaction on her neck/shoulder which I'm not so surprised about, but I just don't know what to think of it!

I first noticed these come up about a month ago. Honey, being on a rather simple diet of hardly any grass, good quality meadow hay and fresh water (due to the simple fact that she was like a balloon and still is a smaller version of said balloon) naturally tries to grab at any grass she can outside of her paddock in her tie up area and had gotten desperate in grabbing the strands in between a weed that I had yet to remove and in the end ate a chunk of it. Not knowing if it was poisonous or not, when I noticed the "welts" I guess would be the best description, I put it down as a reaction and thought they would go away. (Weed was instantly removed)

However they haven't. It's been a pretty darn hot summer here in New Zealand, and I'm wondering if they have something to do with the heat. She seems completely unphased by them, still eating and drinking and therefore excreting very healthily :wink: and is in work and not showing any signs of being under stress.

Her diet hasn't changed - she's been on said diet just before spring hit and much to her disapproval, has barely been allowed any spring grass and is slowly strip grazing her current paddock down.

I'm not too bothered by them, but since they've stuck around a bit, I just thought I'd find out if anyone else has dealt with something similar before? I haven't monitored if they get smaller on days that are cooler as we've had unnaturally cold snaps a couple of times in the past week, but apart from that its been one hot summer and do vaguely remember something to do with sweating and glands... but this is me sounding very uneducated and I don't want to assume anything without a basis of factual knowledge!

The weirdest thing is that its only on that side of her body - NOT on her right neck/shoulder. The other thing I have to mention is that her paddock we ride in is currently higher than I'd prefer (went from two horses to one, and with her basically on a hay diet and me yet to get a topper in, I have a fair amount of grass about!) and there are grass seeds. But if there was any affect from this, surely it would appear on both sides, rather than just her left side.


If there was any change in behaviour/basic vitals I would have contacted a vet by now but since there hasn't been, I just thought I'd throw it up here.
Any ideas?

 

[lubylol]

Subbing to hear what people have to say! Cowboy had these on his hips all summer and I'm curious!
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[waresbear]

Looks like a mild allergy to something.

 

[ohmyitschelle]

Thanks waresbear, that's what I originally thought. I can't seem to put my finger on it though, as her diet hasn't changed and its still the same hay so I can't rule it down to that either...

 

[FlyGap]

If you look very very closely are there any teeny tiny red dots one on each bump? My mare broke out similar but across her chest. They were almost microscopic, red dot on each welt that I could tap off. Sprayed her with fly spray and they disappeared. Not ticks, lice, but maybe a mite of some sort?
Sub!
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[ohmyitschelle]

Oooh will definitely have a look to see if this is the case tomorrow!

 

[FlyGap]

Cool! I'm super curious! Even though we are on totally opposite sides of the planet! Winter here!
I moved my mare home off summer pasture and she got them after 2 weeks. So my first thought was allergies. But upon closer inspection I noticed them spread a bit and the dots. Your reins could have mites on them SOMEHOW?!? That would explain the pattern. IDK?
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[ohmyitschelle]

Hmm.. that's a good thing to think about actually, thank you!! Definitely going to investigate it further, and will get back to this thread when I'm back from the paddock tomorrow!!

 

[Kayty]

Looks like Onchocerca to me. I had a pony here get the same bumps this time of year, it was Onchocerca, just wormed her with a paste that controlled that particular worm, and it cleared up within a week.

 

[walkinthewalk]

Looks like Onchocerca to me. I had a pony here get the same bumps this time of year, it was Onchocerca, just wormed her with a paste that controlled that particular worm, and it cleared up within a week.

I'm glad you said that because I thought I was going to be the only one thinking that.

ohmyitschelle, Ochocerca, a/k/a Neck Threadworms are not technically worms but microfiliae. They are from the biting Midge Fly. You probably have those in New Zealand?

Equine-Onchocerciasis in Horses

A horse has to be heavily dosed with pure Ivermectin. I dosed with a full tube, then another full tube two weeks later. That was all I needed but some folks have dosed every two weeks 3 or 4 times which, can be risky if the horse is prone to colic or ulcers.

If you're dealing with Neck threadworms (NTW) 12 - 48 hours after you worm, the skin eruptions will get much worse an the horse will itch like mad. That is because the microfiliae are dying off in the skin and making the horse's life miserable.

Hope this helps

P.S. Fecal samples don't work because the "worms" are in the skin as opposed to being in the digestive system.

 

[DrumRunner]

Looks like Onchocerca to me. I had a pony here get the same bumps this time of year, it was Onchocerca, just wormed her with a paste that controlled that particular worm, and it cleared up within a week.

This...I couldn't think of the exact name but knew it looked similar to what my sister's pony did years ago. We used a paste wormer too and just watched it, keeping it clean..My only other thought would be an allergy to certain fly bites, but if it's only on one side that seems a little odd..

 

[mudpie]

Looks like hives? Perhaps you should try an immune-system supplement

 

[FlyGap]

Maybe this is what my mare had too. Hmm... In AR!?
I did worm her around then too. Weird! Poor girls!
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[ohmyitschelle]

The wormer I amusing for Honey has Ivermectin as the main/only ingredient. So will still go ahead and use it with the full dose and hopefully that will rule that out/fix the issue!

 

[Trinity3205]

It is recommended that to treat Neck thread worms, you need to double dose ivermectin. It doesnt go by tubes but by weight. So give twice the horses calculated dosage for weight in ivermectin all at one time.

Also, horses that are infected with them will have a die off stage the few days to week right after dosing and it will flair up and be really itchy. Usually they look motheaten when they have this. Im not sure that is what this is but it wont hurt a normal horse to be double dosed with ivermectin and see how they respond to it.

 

[ohmyitschelle]

Sorry, I never replied until now.
Thank you everyone for the great advice. I believe it was Onchocerca as suggested as I gave Honey a good dose of Ivermectin wormer and the bumps have disappeared!

Will definitely remember this if I notice it again!!