Any ideas what this could be?

moocow

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There is a horse in a field close to where I keep my three. He has lumps all over his face. I was just wondering if ayone knew what it could be? It looks like he has varicous (sp?) all over his face and head. THere is no hair loss. He looks like an old boy and the lumps are firm but could be fluid filled. They are so swollen they are begining to close his eyes.

He has had this for ages, I got a glace at him one day when I was passing but I was going just flying passsed. today is the first time I have seen him back in the field. My friend works for a welfare organisation and has gone down to see him but she is confused too - she is more of a dog and cat expert. She has gone off anyway to find the owners but just wondering if anyone knew what it could be.
 
If they are around his lymph nodes they could be melanomas. My grey had lumps all over his head with his advanced melanomas - they are not an immediate welfare concern in that they are not painful, but depending on where they grow they can cause problems (not much that can be done about them though).
 
Thanks. They look like melanomas but there are so many of them! His whole head is covered in them poor lad.

I have told my friend to be nice when she goes down to the owners. She has a tendancy to go in all guns blazing when in fact there could be a logical explaination! I suspect that he is an old boy just living out his retirement and that there is nothing that can be done. He is in a lovely field - obviously they move him about (as he disappeared from when I first spotted him). he has a companion, shelter, hay and water so they obviously do take care of him. His face though looks abbsolutely horrific!
 
My boy was exactly like that. He had them all over his face (and other areas but you could not see them very well there). Every new vet who saw him for jabs or something routine would just look at me with wide eyes and say "did you not see the lumps????" Everyone expected him to drop dead because of them but they did not bother him for years and there was nothing that could be done about them (he did not seem to be in any pain at all). Eventually he started getting laminitis again and again despite careful management and it was suggested that the lumps might be causing it, so he was PTS.
 
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