Advice please... lumpy back

B

Bounty

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Boo has a number of lumps on her back:- 8 in the saddle area on the right hand side, 3 along her spine but behind the saddle area and another 5 on her hindquarters
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They've been with us about a month, started off as just fly bite type swellings (but not, as she's been rugged), but now seem to have a scabby core and have become quite defined.

What shall I do with them? I was planning on treating them the same way that I would treat mud fever, hibi-scrubbing to lift the scabs, air drying and then putting some cream on them. Does this sound ok?
Also, will I be able to get away with doing this without having to clip the area? Vain I know, but I don't want to have patches clipped all over her and don't want to give her a full clip if at all possible because she really feels the cold
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This sounds very similar to what Arch had in the summer. At first we thought they were fly bits, but then my saddler said they were blocked hair folicles and to just leave them as long as they were not causeing him discomfort.

Dont think Id want to clip over them though if they have a scabby head.
 
Sorry, didn't make myself clear
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I'd lift the scabs off and then clip once dry, to make subsequent cleaning sessions easier.

I don't really want to leave them for much longer, I can't ride her atm as she is clearly very uncomfortable under saddle
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These lumps sound like blocked hair ducts that secrete the oil onto the skin, my horse used to get them in the winter so I clipped his saddle patch right out and clean them with hot soapy water, this helps but doesn't necessarily get rid of them.
 
Mine had some like this and it turned out he was allergic to the washing powder from his saddlecloth. I think i treated them with betnovate/fuciderm, I can't remember which but I phoned the vet and explained what it was. They got bigger with heat ie after I rode and went back down to just small lumps normally and took about a week to clear up with treatment. I don't think i just used hibiscrub, i'm sure I had to use a lotion/cream.

I can't remember
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Not an enormous help! Sorry
 
I don't think it can be that Law, as she doesn't just have them under the saddle and her NZ is pretty new and has never been cleaned, and they don't change after being ridden either.

Did you sort yours out in the end though? Thanks for your suggestions!
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Another vote for blocked hair ducts then
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So do you think clipping out is going to help? Was there anyother management type things that you did that helped? I've ordered her a sheepskin numnah, hcih I thought might help matters a little.
 
Here is what mine looked like and they were spread along the whole of his side and bum...

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Have you had a chat with your vet about it?
 
He was rugged at the time too.
I'll have a look in the Vet section because I posted about it at the time and it might say what I did to get rid of it. Also I remember there being a lot of posts about lumps at the same time -like three or four with different causes.
He'd had similar lumps when I caught him eating rosehips in the hedge once too so it could be anything.
The hair nodes is a common one too. I rode a horse whose came up when worked but we just had to get on with it and make sure he had a fresh saddlecloth each time
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Sorry, I read your original post as him having lumps just under the saddle cloth
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Serves me right for making assumptions!
His look really nasty...
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Hers definitely aren't as bad as that, but are much bigger and a lot fewer.
She gets a rash like the one yours had in a patch on her hindquarters in the summer, but I'd just put it down to being nettle rash of something, she's a sensitive soul!

Interestingly, the lumps are mostly where she had awful rainscald when I first got her, the areas were raw flesh, so maybe it's something to do with the skin layers growing out? That was over 2 1/2 years ago though, would that possibly have something to do with it? I don't know how long it takes for the epidermis/dermis to renew?

Reluctant to ring my long-suffering vet... since losing Cybele I've been quick off the mark to talk to him about any niggling worry I have, he's now openly taking the p*ss out of me for being paranoid!
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I had lumps like Law's horse, all over on a horse of mine, same colour bay as it happens, they were an allergy of some sort, and all over the whole body. It just went away after a week or two.

Bounty your ones sound more like slightly long-lived bites or hair follicle trouble. Either way, you sound as though you're doing the right thing. Not to worry too much.

Would you not be able to ride with a sheepskin pad?
 
Lol, no worries, I found my original post and haven't read it all yet but it might help
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It was last February and he was in and rugged at the time

My original post in vet section

ETS: Having read it, it won't help at all! I did phone the vet and I did get either fuciderm or betnovate for it and it cleared up after a week or so
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TBH, my horses lumps were never bad enough for him not be ridden or feel uncomfortable. Also, the sooner I clipped his hair off his back in the winter, the more it prevented the follicles from becoming clogged. Hope this helps
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