Big lumps on horse!

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sjstar23

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There's a livery on my yard and the horse has come up in large (as in area not in height) (They range from the area the size of a golf ball to the size of a tennis ball but they do not protrude that far out of his skin) circular swellings all over him. They almost look like large rings, but it is not ringworm as it has not gone bald, and is far too large and looks completely different. Some of them have formed tear-drop looking swellings underneath them, which looks as if whatever liquid that is in the swellings has dispersed into these. VERY wierd! Bit worried as they are all over him, including on his cheeks, throat, neck and sides. I will try and get a picture. We thought it may have been a protein allergy of somesort as the haylage they are on at the moment is really good stuff, but we've swapped him to hay and cut his hardfeed right back, and the swellings are continuing to get worse. Anyone else experienced this or know what it could be. I've never seen anything like it and neither has anyone else I've asked so far! HELP!!!
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I've got a horse that does this - the swellings vary from roundish halos (also can be floral shaped), to little round bumps.
My vet told me it was an allergy to protein, called erythema multiforma. If you can find what the horse is allergic to, it will go down (but it can take a few weeks).
Allergens could include feed (especially cereals), insect bites, rugwash solvents (has he changed rug recently) amongst millions of other things.
Short term you can get steroid treatment from your vet - this only treats the symptoms though, not the cause.
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Thanks, the vet said it could be a protein allergy, but we were worried because he's just on hay, chaff and sugarbeet now, so we wondered why it is still getting worse. Hopefully they will go down in a couple of weeks then, it's gunna be a pain in the bum finding out what caused it though! Hopefully we'll try the steroid treatment to at least help them go down. Thanks very much!
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My livery will be relieved to know her horse probably doesn't have some scary tropical lurgey! haha
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[ QUOTE ]
Thanks, the vet said it could be a protein allergy, but we were worried because he's just on hay, chaff and sugarbeet now, so we wondered why it is still getting worse. Hopefully they will go down in a couple of weeks then, it's gunna be a pain in the bum finding out what caused it though! Hopefully we'll try the steroid treatment to at least help them go down. Thanks very much!
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My livery will be relieved to know her horse probably doesn't have some scary tropical lurgey! haha
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Welcome - I have the steroid pills (and injections) my vet gave me - but didn't use them because they only make the lumps disappear temporarily. When the steroids wear off, if the allergen is still there, the lumps will return. I decided I was better off trying to work out what the allergen was.
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If your livery's horse is like my girl, he'll be pretty unbothered by them - they don't seem to itch or hurt even when you press them.
I hope you find the cause soon...my vet also suggested it was common where a horse had had recent antibiotics or other injections.
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My horse has random lumps too. I can't for the life of me work out what it is that's causing them. For some reason they sometimes get worse after exercise but not always. They don't seem to bother him but do annoy me.
 
A mare on a yard where I treat another horse has these all over her. Steroids made little impression and she was a bit lethargic with a runny nose. After nearly 2 weeks of puzzle and no improvement vet carried out extensive allergy testing and she is highly allergic to 3 types of grass mixes (covering 10 types of grass) and mildly allergic to some moulds and dust. Just prior to these lumps coming up she had anti-biotic treatment for an abscess and we wondered if this had triggered something (??) as she is 15 and this has never happened before.

I would suggest the allergy testing so you can find out for deffinate what the trigger is and avoid it.
 
Our mare is in fourth week of 'lumpiness'. Hard to know what caused it, as nothing in her management had changed, we are now fiddling with her feed now to see if this works, and have also wormed her well and changed her rug (in case it was a detergent on the rug). She has had a few injections of steroid to try and surpress the reaction, but the test will be when the course finishes in a fortnight.

She had just been clipped, and a couple of people have mentioned an allergy to clipper oil recently??

Eveshooter - I mentioned allergy testing to my vet, but he didn't have any details. Can you help. Do a specific drug company make a testing kit??

Fiona
 
We have had a similar problem with a mare and our thoughts are clipper oil related. The mare is shire/thoroughbred and like yours no change in management.
 
Proudwilliam - more details please. How did you initially think of the clipper oil, and narrow it down to perhaps being the culprit.

I posted a few weeks ago, and was told that a food allergy (ie to barley) could pop up overnight, even if horse had never been intolerant before.

I would love the problem to be something 'simpler' like clipper oil, as the problem becomes much easier to treat.

FIona
 
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