I know someone with a 20 year old pony who has gone through most of it's life
with the affliction that you have described. The owner keeps him under wraps
even in our hot summers for this reason.
Our mare suffers a little on her chest from lumps due to fly bites and we stick
a little cortizone cream on it. It seems to keep the swelling down. I don't
know if rubbing cortizone cream on the horse will show up in a test.
Antihistermines can make us humans drowsy and overheat (when exercised).
Don't know if that translates to hoof-folk. I gather most horses actually get
exitable and spooky when given this stuff. Disallowed by the FEI & AHSA.
Keeping them cool also seems to help and deters the flys too. On bad days we
take our horses and stick them in the barn during the hottest two or three
hours and run a fan. This keeps them cool and makes the flys work harder and
blows some of the smaller ones away. We also use this period to feed grain,
thus controlling the amount fed to each horse (they are normally kept in the
same paddock).
I gather that cortizone injections can be detected by the ELISA drug test, can
improve performance, change moods and have side effects on electrolite balance,
along with other metabolic effects. Disallowed by the AHSA and FEI.
I only know this much because >>I<< break out in hives big time, and just about
drop down dead sometimes for lack of breath from handling the hay. So this is a
kind of study for me. If I had to take a drug test they'd can me forever.
Along these lines you might be interested in a book that has a lot of info on
drugs and vaccines.....
Equine drugs and vaccines - a guide for owners and trainers by Eleanor M
Kellon. ISBN 0-914327-55-0 , Breakthrough Publications, Ossining, NY 10562.
It has for each commonly used drug the effects, side-effects, lay-off time to
test detectability, dosages, etc.
Regards Nicco
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