a lump- would you be worried?

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Grey_Showjumper

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i am quite worried, but not sure whether i should be:
i found a lump in my horses neck, on the top where the mane is. its quite hard and sort of a square/circle shape. about the size of when you hold your first finger and thumb out straight.
i can move it and prod it etc. and it doesn't appear to be hurting him, but im quite worried. i have never noticed it before, got my friends to have a feel and they thought it was a bit weird. definitley no cut etc. the only thing i could see was that it was quite scurfy/scabby in that area.
as i have never noticed it before im not sure whether its something i should worry about or not.
its definitley under the skin as it where and harder than the other flesh around it.
he hasn't changed in himself, eating normally.. high on life, but thats to be expected... seems fine when i prod it...
he is a grey, has no melanomas (sp?)...
he has had a cough recently and was a bit down when being ridden while he had that, but is absolutley fine now...
any advice... not sure whether i should get the vet out or not?
he once had a lump, similar size and shape on his back leg, on the upper part of it, on the bone.. vet had a look and said it was a fly bite, stayed for quite a while but has now gone, this was in the summer.
any advice would be great!
 
That's a perfect place for a louse bite, and you know how reactive he is to bites already. I would treat him for lice whether you can see them or not (sometimes you can spot the eggs stuck low on the mane hair roots) and see how it goes in the next week or two. It doesn't sound like something to hurry to get a vet out for to me.
 
Saddlery shops and the mail order companies sell a range. I love the Lincoln one because the menthol smell is gorgeous!! It's in a white tube with green writing on.
 
Most louse powders/washes don't work (advice from my vets). Your best bet if you think it's lice is Frontline rubbed well in down to skin level and repeated after 10 days, when the unharmed eggs hatch out. I'd be surprised if it IS lice though. Lice attack in packs and take no prisoners! So if you have a horse that has a very fierce response to bites, I'd expect him to be a) very itchy in a lot of places and b) to have humungus welts and lumps all over the place. Fly bite would be more probable except this is mid-winter and the only bitey things flying at the moment are buzzards! Could he have stuck his head in a bramble/thorn bush and stuck a long thorn or sliver of wood in himself? If it was me. I'd carefully monitor it: it might disappear as suddenly as it arrived or it might start to change eg the surface might get ulcerated or oozey. Any concerns at all or if it changes or doesn't go away, vet.
 
The Lincoln one definitely works. I have "imported" two lousy horses into my yard in the last two years and one application to every horse sorted it out each time. (To their rugs and their necks and backs, so it was around a long time.) Each time I was alerted to their presence by single bites at the crest of the mane, just like this case.
 
he is not itchy at all, apart from his usual rub after a good work out...
i was looking at it today and you can sort of see it, and the skin on top of it is more scurfy... i think i might give it a good wash...
the other thing is he has lost his mane in this area, it fell out a while back when i was hunting.. most of the plait just came out! but i think that was actually the band pulling on it (his mane comes out VERY easily)...
don't think it can be a thorn or something as no hedges/trees in his field or surrounding it so...
will keep on eye on it, i know what shape/size it is at the moment so if theres any change i will get the vet to just check it out.
im not sure whether it feels like a bite or not, it definitley feels different to the one on his leg.. but will keep that in mind re. lice!
smile.gif
 
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