I think there's a lot of myths about horses and bees and bee stings.   
Unfortunately, at least one US insurance company believes them.
 
In eastern MT, we had a large commercial beekeeper who never fenced  
apiaries on rangeland.  Cows rubbed on boxes and knocked over a few - but  he 
observed that one time was all it took for the cows to learn to use something  
else, even if there weren't a lot of trees and other vertical things on  our 
semi-arid grassslands to rub against to relieve an  itch.  He decided it was 
cheaper to lose a few hives than to build  fences.
 
Several of the ranchers in his area of operation raised horses, and I never 
 heard of a horse 'dying' from bee stings, nor did they stay away from the  
hives.  I've watched them check out hives when first brought in - usually  
got a sting or two, and ran off.
 
I do know of cases in which horses found that in the winter, beehives had  
lots of good, crunchy sweetness. The horses were as bad as bears, knocking  
covers off and pulling out frames.  Cold weather would have reduced the  
stings, but I assume they got stung.  Based on the damage, it appears that  the 
horses would drop the honey combs when stung, but come back in a day or two 
 when the bees had frozen off, and finish the snack.  The same horses left  
the hives alone in the summer.  My guess, that reward was sufficient to put 
 up with a few stings in the winter, but a hive lots of guard bees in  the 
summer was more than they wanted to put  up with.
 
A few years ago in the western US, two horses were put down by a vet  after 
they were stung by lots of bees.  In this case, someone tied the  horses up 
next to hives, then left them.  One must have knocked over a  hive, the 
bees attacked, the horses in their panic knocked over more hives -  couldn't 
run away.  I've often wondered whether the horses might not have  recovered, 
if the vet hadn't finished them off.  Of course, separating the  downed 
horses and the bees would have been difficult.
 
As others have mentioned, beekeepers used to harvest honey using  horses.  
It is my understanding that the beekeepers put canvas covers  over the backs 
of the horses, would use the team to pull an  empty wagon into the yard, 
unhitch, take the horses off to the side (tie  them up in the shade under a 
tree), then pull the honey supers and load the  wagon.  When the beekeepers 
were done, and the bees settled down,  they'd go get the horse team to pull 
the wagon home.
 
I also find it hard to believe a bee sting or two would be of any  
significant harm to a horse, unless horses, like people sometimes are  allergic.
 
I've seen cows bit by rattlesnakes.  They  puff up at the bite  site, but 
don't usually die.  Cows and horses have a LOT of body mass  compared to the 
amount of venom.  If cows can shrug off snake bites, seems  unlikely that a 
few bee stings will kill a horse.  Every documented case  I've found where a 
horse was supposedly killed by bee stings involved horses  that couldn't 
get away, or horses that hurt themselves galloping away, or a vet  pulled the 
plug assuming the horse couldn't survive.
 
Jerry

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