another horse with swelling

[lisae]

Hi, my mare has developed a strange oblong swollen area running along the midline of her belly, about three inches long, where the umbilical cord would have been when she was a foal. It's slightly sore, she pins ears if I palpate it but doesn't kick. I'm thinking a) hernia [she just came back from the breeders and five days of standing for stallion] or b) too much vigorous fly kicking.

I've slathered it with fly repellent and I note that we took her out driving today and she was very willing, had a great time. We went 45 minutes, took her off the cart for a 20 minute break and hand graze, with play in the creek (first warm day this spring, oops it's summer now), then back on the cart and home... she was fantastic despite lots of traffic, lawn mowers, kids waving in the village, and cars cars cars. She and my husband (who served as groom) are both sound asleep now!

Any ideas - I have the vet coming on the 30th for ultrasound, I'll have him look at it then unless it gets worse....

[Bebe]

I'd be thinking along the same lines as you, if she's older than 3/4 I wouldn't think it would be a hernia as the abdominal wall is pretty strong so she'd have to have been really energetic to manage it. I'd guess it's to do with flybites, the midline is a common place for swelling because of them.

[Big Ears]

Be very careful here. Our donkey, Big Ears, had this several years ago, again we thought it was an allergic reaction to a fly bite. She had a huge ventral odema, which travelled down her back legs, she had ultrasound and all sorts of investigations, but we never really got to the bottom of what it was.

It eventually cleared up with diuretic tablets. However, two years later she died of a colic, which was operated on, but they could reach the obstruction as it was too far inside. I suspect that the odema was the beginning of a tumour and that it shifted and blocked the colon, causing the colic and her death.

Don't want to worry you but ensure it is well checked out, as despite all our efforts, we lost Big Ears, a small donkey with huge personality.

[Gemma16]

Hi, I would most proberbly say it was fly bites.

Taffy has the same kind of swelling on his belly too. I think its because there is very little hair there to pretect it so its easy for flys to get to it.

I hope it goes down soon. Good luck with her and good luck with the ultrasound hope its good news:D

[lisae]

story about your donkey, how sad. I checked on the mare today, the swelling had reduced by half and she wasn't as uncomfortable to have it touched. I'll mention it to the vet just incase, especially if it is still apparent.
Thank you everyone!