Food allergies are a hypersensitive immune response either IgE mediated or non-IgE mediated, to certain food proteins. There are three types of food allergies that occur in horses, IgE mediated, mixed (IgE/Non-IgE), and non-IgE mediated (cellular, delayed type hypersensitivity).

Horses with food allergies can present with a variety of different signs that can range from mild to severe. Just because an initial reaction causes few problems doesn’t mean that all reactions will be similar; a food that triggered only mild symptoms on one occasion may cause more severe symptoms at another time.