Lumpy and Bumpy

My poor horse is covered in hives from nose to tail.  I will try to get pictures today, but so far the hives just don't show up in pictures very well.

After trying steroids three times and having the hives return, I've decided to go a different route.  I'm currently working with an herbalist and doing a system detox for Licorice.  She warned me that it is very common for it to get worse before it gets better, so I'm only mildly freaking out.  Meaning I've only called her twice in the last two days.  Ha!  She thinks it will take another week or so to start turning the corner.

In the meantime, it's a constant battle to figure out the weather.  He needs to be wearing his full fly sheet and neck cover any time it's not raining, but this time of year it rains for an hour, then dry for three, then rain again, then dry.  The barn is almost 30 minutes from my house, so it's not really possible for me to go out there all the time.

While we're waiting for his skin to settle down, we've been doing lots of groundwork.  Licorice is finally getting the hang of lateral movement, though we're both pretty slow at it.  It's supposed to be gorgeous this week, so I'm going to mix our time up between doing groundwork and then me just hanging out in his pasture.  I'll bring a camping chair, a good book and just chill with my pony.

Curious if anyone has had a horse with allergies to bugs and what your experience was?  I know I could just put him on Benadryl, but I'm not a huge fan of covering up symptoms without getting to the root of why.  If this doesn't clear up in the next few weeks, I am going to look into allergy testing as I've heard there's a vet that does the skin testing for horses.  Interesting, but I'm sure it's not cheap!