little lumps

[virtuallyhorses]

Hello there, can anyone give me any advice on how to deal with some of the little skin lumps and bumps that appear from time to time.

In particular I have one little lump on my horse's back under the saddle area. Now I'll make it clear that this is a miniscule, non-weeping, non-raw, non-infected lump about the size of my little fingernail and about 2mm tall. Normally I would dismiss it - except - that it is on MY horse!

It looks very benign, isn't growing, doesn't irritate my horse - or wouldn't if I weren't poking and picking at it (and of course because of its position he does the whole back reflex movement when you scratch at it)

The nearest I can come to working it out is that it looks like a clogged pore type bump. He had two, one finally relented to my attentions and came off as a scab. I don't think it would irritate me as much if it weren't under his saddle.

I was thinking of trying to exfoliate him - either with something like my own apricot scrub (don't even start on how bizarre this may look to someone walking in ) or pumice stone to open it up- anyone got any suggestions or should I just 'get over it' and leave the stupid thing alone ?


cheers
Viv

 

[shaver]

I have been around alot of horses , My vet says I know what I am doing, If I am not to sure I will call him , if's it needs vet attention I will call him out. So I don't worry to much just keep an eye on things.

 

[Speedy]

My mare had a very similar sounding spattering of bumps - transpired that they were an allergic reaction to the stuff I'd been washing her numnah in. If I give it an extra rinse, then hey presto, the little lumps disappeared

 

[ros]

Sounds like a little lump Frank had on his neck. It sat there for about two years, then all of a sudden it got a bit bigger, developed a crust, and most of it came away as a scab. I think it was probably something like a little bite originally.

Funny - I got a wart on my indexfinger a few months ago. It was really bugging me, right in the joint, but it's suddenly started to disappear! It's comforting that people get lumps and bumps too!

 

[Tootsie4U]

Is your horse outside alot in the weather? Sometimes things like that are "rain rot"

A little antiseptic and betadine will help.

 

[tasha]

My yard owner's TB has a few lumps like that. She treats them with a disinfectant wash every week or so, and they seem to be disappearing.

You could also try surgical spirit too.

 

[Bev Heron]

A couple of days ago we were picking scabby little lumps off one of therapy horses, a QH x TB, I think. She had several of them all over, barely visible neath the hair--you had to feel for them. The instructor said it was a kind of fungus, but not rain rot, so she was going to put an antifungal on it.

 

[virtuallyhorses]

Thanks for all your replies and ideas - just to clarify its now just a single lump\bump - and definitely not dermatophilus (rain rot\scald\mud fever ).

I've been applying iodine in case there is any fungal, bacterial or viral component, but I'm trying to leave it alone for a while rather than constantly irritating it, and rinsing my numnahs an extra time thanks to Speedy for that suggestion on allergic reactions.

Ros - Funny, I don't have any problem at all ignoring all my aches, pains, bumps and lumps - no matter how odd, torn muscles etc go without professional treatment - but my animals are a different matter

 

[virtuallyhorses]

Asked the vet

Had the vet out for annual strangles booster and so did the usual thing and asked a dozen or so questions at the same time ... apparently these a collagen lumps that regularly appear in a variety of areas. They come, they go for often no apparent reason. In the saddle area they can be related to pressure (so have checked out the saddle for any lumpy bits in the stuffing where they are) but can also just be 'one of those things'.

Apparently a good wash with salty water is helpful to make sure they don't open up but otherwise they're just lumps...