Advice please - what do you think this lump is?

[Patches]

Put it in here as I thought more would see it.

Have never noticed it before. Bought her in tonight and spotted it straight away.

I'm thinking teeth, abcess maybe (she had her teeth floated on the 30th October) but she is eating hay and chaff fine. Temperature is normal, no discharge down the nostrill. Her right eye has always been a bit teary since I had her. Vet said it's because she has pink flesh around the eye.

Only other thought is that she's not in her usual stable at the moment (due to repairs when her lardy bum took the top block off the wall - been re-inforced!) Do you think it's possible she's bumped it on this wall?

Obviously I'm going to call the vet in the morning, but I'm as always concerned.

 

[tinker512]

I am thinking teeth as well, Sprite had a similar lumping on her jawline, Ellie had a smaller but more prominant on near Patches and that was a tooth abcess also.

 

[ladylisa]

yeah im thinking abcess, seen a pony with something like this before and that was an abcess.

 

[GTs]

Any chance you could give the area a good clip so we can truely see what we are dealing with??

TBH I would like to say it looks like a bump, however there is something that makes me think it is more then that.

 

[Patches]

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I would like to say it looks like a bump, however there is something that makes me think it is more then that.

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Sadly it always is with me and my luck GTs.

I'm not going to try and clip her face in the dark as I don't think she'd let me do it in the stable just yet. Infact, I'm not sure she'll let me clip her face fullstop yet...not tried. Small steps.

Going to call the vet first thing but knowing my luck a veterinary visit usually results in surgery!

 

[LauraBR]

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Going to call the vet first thing but knowing my luck a veterinary visit usually results in surgery!

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Don't say that! It could be plenty of less sinister things!

What are we like... Sam is off to get x-rays of his face next week for a tooth problem!

 

[Patches]

I tell you what Laura, you and me must both have some kind of vet fetish on a subconscious level.

You know what they say...fear the worst and hope to be pleasantly surprised. I do remember seeing a horse on Super Vets with a tumour once that presented as a lump on it's face.......see....I do werret!

 

[Lucy_Ally]

How does it feel? Hard or squashy? Is the area hot or painful? It could be a tooth abcess, it could be that she is getting food trapped up high between her top molars and her cheek (my old mare would sometimes get this) - although it may be a bit high up for that. If it is sore it may be that she has bumped it, but as there is not much flesh there it would be unusual for such a large bump to form.

See what your vets think, if its not one thing its another for you isn't it?

 

[LauraBR]

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I tell you what Laura, you and me must both have some kind of vet fetish on a subconscious level.

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psml! I esp like the way we seem to have similar prolems at the same time lol- didn't we have foot x-rays done on the same day lol?!

 

[GTs]

I was joking about clipping it - just was an excuse to clip - I would not take the clippers near to it, as if could be a cause of discomfort.

I would call the vet, have a chat and just make sure she keeps eating and drinking - and keep your fingers crossed.

 

[Patches]

It's not squishy. It feels firm but not solid really. She does move away when I mess with it and that side of her face does feel warmer to the other. However Patches has never been a very tactile horse. I would think if it really hurt she'd be more forceful in her attempts to evade me touching it. If it was an abcess wouldn't she have discharge down her nose as I thought most upper jaw abcesses infected the sinuses too?

I can hear her breathe more on that side if I put my ear close to her face so I am assuming whatever it is has swollen slightly inside the nasal cavity.

This morning she did rear when tied up as I was trying to put cream on the back of her knee (told you she reacts violently to things! lol). There wasn't anything for her to bang it on when she went up but she did thrash around on the lead rope and the tie ring is on the outside of the stable building, which is brick built.

As I say, she's eating fine and is a young horse (8). EDT has never commented on her having food compacting anywhere it shouldn't and her float of two weeks ago was a simple routine float.

 

[Patches]

Yes and we had a very similar diagnosis too if I recall.

Perhaps I should just let you pay for the x-rays tomorrow and you can tell me what's wrong with Patches?

lol

ETA: Good luck with yours. What's Sam's problem, or what does the vet hope the x-rays confirm or rule out?

 

[henryhorn]

Most likely inflamed tooth root. I would get your vet to cast his eye over it, we nearly always see swellings similar to this when the young horses are between one and three years old, but this doesn't look like a growth reaction more an abscess.

 

[GTs]

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If it was an abcess wouldn't she have discharge down her nose as I thought most upper jaw abcesses infected the sinuses too?

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That depends where it is - horses do not get cavaties like we do, but instead they get infections at the root of the teeth. If the root of the tooth is embedded in ths sinus (I would imagine most are) you will get foul smelling discharge from the nose. Now if you look at Patch's it looks quite far down her face, which leaves me wondering what exactly is around there (is there even a tooth??).

I would wait till tomorrow and see how it is - most bumps will go down in 24 hours.

 

[Patches]

Fingers crossed then, Doc, that it is just a bump, but I'm not banking on it.

I did wonder about giving her a dose of bute tonight but decided I didn't want to mask it and would rather the vet could see exactly what is going on if he has to visit tomorrow. She's not struggling to breathe and is eating so it's nothing life threatening to that extent.

 

[GTs]

You could give bute, if it is some inflamation it might help take it down, it will do nothing for an abscess. If she was mine I would not bother, if it is going to go down it likely will on its own.

 

[Happy Horse]

Mine had a similar looking lump on his face - it was a thorn he had eaten that had gone into the inside of his mouth and caused an infection. It went away on a/b's. He did have to be xrayed to rule out a tooth abcess.

 

[Patches]

Arrrrrrrrrr (lightbulb moment)....you know what she was munching at the hedge (hawthorn) the other day...daft mare!

 

[Mid]

Could be swelling :/ I'm not good with lumps and bumps, but I saw a little wild pony foal kicked in the jaw and the result was a swelling just like yours. It took weeks to go down, and when we last checked on her (she's a blue roan with a bright ginger mane and she still hangs around with her dam!) her face was still wonky.

Tell us what the vet says!

Good luck!

 

[Jemayni]

I know a lot of people have already responded, but the horse in the stable nxt door to me has the identical lump (but slightly bigger and other nostril) so I thought I'd reply. He was imported from Ireland about a month ago and he passed a vetting with the lump! His is slowly going down defo not getting worse so the YO is just leaving it alone. Would be interested to know what your vet said.

 

[I_A_P]

yep same as my mare who had a tooth root abcess last year

 

[rrose]

looks like tooth related

 

[RobinHood]

Before you call the vet it might be an idea to check that it's not just some food stuck. I'll never forget when some people on the yard were really worried because their old pony suddenly 'grew a huge abscess', we couldn't stop laughing for ages when the YO stuck her hand in the pony's mouth and the 'huge abscess' turned out to be a handful of feed.

The lump looks identical to the one my sister's pony had when he bit the inside of his cheek and it got infected. He has antibiotics for a week and it cleared up completely.

Will be interested to see what the vet says, good luck xx

 

[FRESHMAN]

My first thoughts are teeth. However unless it is the quality of the picture do you see a runny eye on the nearside? It might just be a blocked tear duct which can also become infected up the same line as your horse's. (depending what it is blocked with) The duct starts just inside the nostril & usually clears with a saline flush. Keep your fingers x'd as it will definately be much cheaper than a tooth problem.

 

[Patches]

Yes the eye is running but in a later post I do point out that her right eye always runs like and has done since I've had her. It was worse today after about 10 flashes of the camera before I got some pics I was happy with to post.

Vet checked it out and decided it was because of the pink skin she has around that eye which makes it more sensitive to light, wind etc. It's been very windy here today as well which never helps.

I will bear it in mind though although my gut instincts tell me her eye is a red herring.

 

[FRESHMAN]

Well Patches if the eye has run since you have had her then again I would ask the Vet to check the tear duct, this would give more reason for it to be infected if partially blocked for a period of time. I ignored a runny eye once, simply because it was just watery & not gungy. Then got the lump on the front of the face & thought the worst. I did not even know that the duct starts in the nostril & runs up the face of the horse to the eye. Saved a fortune as after 2 flushes it was gone & never came back.

 

[Patches]

Cool.

I'll ask the vet if it could be connected. I'm now registered with a different veterinary practice to the ones who saw the eye just after I had her. Sounds like the preferred problem of choice, or at the least the cheapest option!

Thanks Freshman.

 

[Theresa_F]

Poor Patches - are you sure she is not a TB??? Perhaps you should call her Dangerprone Daphne - this was Fleur's nickname.

Eye - this is not normal - I have had several mares with pink skin round the eyes and they were no more prone to watering or having problems than others on the yard. I have heard that blue eyes can be more sensitive to light but not the skin colour being a problem.

Miss Delia had a blocked tear duct - she had a slight swelling similar to Patches - whole area was blocked with pus. Had it flushed out and was fine after A/Bs and steriods.

I do hope it is not serious - let us know how she gets on after the vet has been.

Think you should have married a vet

 

[Patches]

I was thinking about this only a few weeks ago Theresa when I'd had the vet and £500 of repair works to my son's car to pay for.

Would I have been financially better off marrying the vet, mechanic or my farmer.

Worked out Duncan's still the winner as livery would have been extortionate for four horses without marrying a farmer

I should have made it a bit clearer about Patches eye. Her right eye is half blue and half brown. Left eye totally blue. It's something to do with an eyelid being without pigment that makes her more prone to runny eyes and sadly a rare but aggressive form of cancer! Eeeek!

I will get this new (rather dishy vet) to check her over though.

 

[Theresa_F]

I know that the Aussies avoid buying blue eyed gypsy cobs for the problem of eye cancer. Andrea said to me that this is the only type they won't buy from her.

I know a couple of blue eyed horses and they do not have running eyes so again I would question this - I'll also ask Andrea as she deals with a lot of blue eyed cobs if she notices them having problems.

Don't worry too much about cancer, if that happens she can join the one eye club with Cairo. That said, when he got cancer back in his eye again, the radiology therapy though very expensive did the trick. If it has been available when he originally got cancer, he may still have two eyes.

Let me know how she is.