Could someone explain to me why sarcoids are so bad?

sarcoids are a type of skin cancer (there are different types some much ore aggressive than others), they can get irritated by heat and/or flies so the horse rubbes them and they become open sores which are mighty hard to heal and can become infected, also they can be in areas such as the groin where they rub therefore becoming sore and liable to infection.

ive had one put down due to them, it was on the corner of her mouth and about the size of a fist.

and the others bill for treatment of them is currently £3.3k so if he wasnt insure id have had to have him pts aswell :(.

some people are lucky though and their horses sarcoids are just like a small wart and thats all it ever is. the only thing thats predictable about sarcoids is that theyre unpredicatble.
 
They often spread, sometines onto tack areas so the horse can't be ridden. They're very easily spread so a horse may end up covered. They grow exponentially so treatment can be difficult/impossible. Many people won't touch a sarcoid horse so the value of the horse decreases to nothing.

If you google pictures, they can be vast and completely ruin the horse for showing etc and obviously demonstrate a low immunity.

Some YOs won't allow sarcoid infected horses on their yards.

Treatment can be extremely expensive and you can never be sure that they won't return.
 
I had a horse vetted a while ago that had sarcoids, there are differenrt types of them, some are more aggressive than others. The said horse had the worst kind which were in the saddle area and caused huge legions in it's side meaning that to put a saddle on would in effect be rubbing against this open wound :( but the funny thing was that when i first went to try the horse it had no trace of any sarcoids and this one sarcoid developed in a 3 week period!

the link below should be of some use :)
http://www.liv.ac.uk/sarcoids/facts.htm
 
I knew a horse a few years ago that had sarcoids on his head. They were around his ears and poll. Needless to say he could not wear a bridle when he was having a "flare-up". His headcollar was sheepskin lined because that rubbed too.

I recently had a horse vetted, it failed on a bad heart murmur, but the vet commented she also had two small sarcoids inside her elbow. The vet said she was not worried about them, but to be honest, I WOULD have been worried and I probably would have turned the horse down because of them.
 
can I ask another question, but where they as common 20, 30, 40 ,50 years ago as they are now?? I mean we are seeing a lot of them and I find this kind of information fascinating. I wonder if is something that we are doing to horses to make them more susceptible, breeding, feeding, rugging, bedding, etc..... or it could simply be climate change and increased UV due to lower ozone levels like skin cancer in people.... sorry really random but its very interesting. and I am bored sitting in bed....can you tell? :D
 
My horse had one grown on his eyelid. it got so big so quickly that he had to have 2 operations to cut some away.
He could hardly see out of that eye.

He started the bcg injections a few weeks ago and the sarcoid is reacting which is great news.

He is a very talented young horse and the sarcoid has meant he hasnt done much this year.

Hopefully he will be back to normal soon.

Regardless of that.

If there was no more that could be done for him, i know that eventually he would have to be put to sleep. i would keeo his as long as possible as a pet but i know the sarcoid woild continue ti grow and eventually he wouldnt cope with it.

The other problem is cost.
My horse has a huge bill at the moment and the insurance will only cover him for a year, his treatment may continue for much longer than that.
 
I agree with sharon - any horse can get sacroids and in many cases they are hardly that bad a thing to cope with, IMO there is alot worse things out there to get. And PTS is very rare - some horses have zero feeling in the sacriod so as much as it looks painful its not (my boy had chemo on his with being sadiated (sp!)) and alot of the times its down to cash rather than pain.

The severity of cases all depends on the type of sarcoid, as its like any type of cancer, the speed of treatment, getting the right treatment and in cases the horses age. My horse has had a sacriod - which lay dormant for three years then got irriated and began to grow and break out. I was quick to act and as was my vet, he got chemo and it fell off in a lump and never came back. He also had one little one which appeared then disppear of its own accord! He was in the right age group to allow the best chance of successful treatment at the time - I do think that makes a different to successful treatment.

I know alot of other people arent as lucky - but I think now we are lucky as there is better medical treatments out there for sacriods and also greater awareness - maybe thats why its seems like there are more cases? maybe back in the day less people bothered about them unless they actual affected riding the horse?

Often even if they are not bothering the horses happiness and performance people still snide comments about them - one pony I know is a great PC pony but has sacriods. They have been extensively treated and are cared for and he is a happy chap, but people still make horrible comment to the girl riding him! she is only young and its totally out of order - its a sacriod.. not like she is riding a horse buted up to its eye balls to keep sound! I know they arent nice looking things and look so painful but this isnt the case for all.
 
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