Horse is STILL lumpy - any suggestions?

[peapod]

Quick recap -

When Sonny changed his coat last year we noticed he developed a number of lumps on one side of his neck - around the size of a penny piece - this year when he changed coat he had even more - they have NOT disappeared, grown, or really changed much at all. The majority of them do not have a scab on - although periodically we do get some scabbing up on top. If this happens and I take the scab off; there is a very hard core of pus inside the lump, which is virtually impossible to squeeze out (because it is solid!) but can sometimes be pulled out. Sonny's brother had the same lumps, although not as many - he had a couple biopsied and the result came back as a reaction to a fly bite. With this in mind we tried Global Herb's "Sarc-Ex" - specifically designed for lumpy skinned horses with fly bite reactions. Perfect! We thought - however Sonny refused to eat it; when I mixed it with cider vinegar to mask the taste he did eat it....but it had zero effect on the lumps.

He has a fly sheet on as a matter of course (it is an anti-UV fly sheet, primarily to stop his coat bleaching), we have also removed all barley from his feed incase it's a barley intolerance - this has had no effect. We also took out a lot of the protein from his diet at one point, as it was suggested that it could be an "overspill" - an effect from having too much protein in his diet. This also failed.

At the moment we are trying Blood Salts - the reasoning being that if it IS a reaction to a fly bite; perhaps Sonny's immune system isn't functioning as it ought to - it sends the white blood cells to deal with the fly bite, but then doesn't clear away the pus that's left afterwards.

Does ANYONE have any suggestions as to what the lumps could be/what could help or if their horse has experienced the same?

The lumps do not hurt him at all, they are not itchy - they are just...THERE! They are very unsightly - and I want them gone!!

The lumps are focussed almost entirely on one side of his neck, with a couple on his back and belly - which does make me think they are fly bites (as his fly rug covers the rest of his body, and his mane covers the other side of his neck) - but this doesn't explain why they haven't cleared up!

It is incredibly frustrating because I just can't figure out what's causing them to stay - surely they should be cleared away a few days after the fly bites?!

A couple of photos of Sonny, you can clearly see the lumps on him - they are more like this at the moment, the second photo shows them at their worst - I do think they have gone down slightly:

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Oww nasty, looks like an allergic reaction to something. Echinaceia (note sure on spelling) is good for boosting immune system. Would it be worth getting him tested, to see what he is allergic to - Horse fly, midges etc

 

[Tia]

Not sure whether it is the same; but Cloud, our little pony gets something which sounds exactly the same as your boy. It always happens in the winter and when she had it in England, my vet diagnosed it as a Staphylococcal infection. He gave me the treatment (honestly can't remember what though) and yes it did clear up.

She hasn't had it for a couple of years however she did get it this winter on changing coat. Same as your guy, only on one side of her neck. All I did this year was to gently pick them off, squeezed the pus a little and left them be......they've gone now.

I had wondered whether it was Nodular Skin Disease, but vet said no, definitely some sort of staph infection. Weird how this year using absolutely nothing was just as effective as having it treated in previous years.

 

[peapod]

That does sound very similar Tia - can you tell me a bit more about a Staphylococcal infection please? Sonny's did definitely emerge when he changed coat - it will be interesting to see if he gets even MORE when he changes again in Spring! It's strange how it only seems to hit the one area as well; it's altogether very annoying!! I wouldn't be as bothered about it if we weren't showing - it's obviously not causing him any upset at all; he's just the same as he always was - but it just looks so incredibly unsightly!

 

[madhector]

just seen your post, and the pictures of your horse look identical to what happened to my mare in the summer, we first thought it was a reaction to the flys, but when they went away the lumps were still there, each day she would have more and they drove her crazy, we tried suppelments, flyrugs etc, nothing worked, we came to the conclusion she was alergic to something she was eating, vet said that contact allergies look very different, so we were advised to keep her in on rubber matting or shavings and feed her dry hay for a week nothing else, no turnout, after a week the bumps started to go down so we started turning her out in one of the fields, all fine for another week, we then started introduing different types of food back in each week, nothing started it up again, till we moved her into the other field, she came in covered in bumps, the only thing different in this field was the trees, and we worked out she had been eating the poplar trees, again another week in to get the bumps down, and then i fed her some poplar leaves, again new lumps, took along time but we now know she is allergic to poplars, hope this helps, just make sure if you try differnt things, you leave a week imbetween to allow the lumps to come up, i.e. week one she has mollasses everyday, week two barley everyday etc..

 

[Tia]

It's basically a bacterial infection, often resulting from poor hygiene, however in our case most likely because we have very fluffy ponies who produce excess oils in the winter. Fundementally the pores become clogged once the horse sheds it's summer coat to be replaced by a far thicker and oilier winter coat.

I think Cloud was given a short course of anti-B's and I believe I washed the area with an antibacterial wash - you can get Nolvasan from the vet - I have a bottle of this and I can't think of anything else which I would have had it for....so I am assuming this is what I was given for Cloud. Hibi-scrub would probably be just as good.

As I say, your boy may not have the same thing as Cloud, but it was when you mentioned that when you picked the scabs off and a pocket of pus was underlying that made me believe that they were one and the same.

Are your pony's lumps like boils? And when you pick them is the pus thick and globby like a rubber-worm? I could actually pull the white/cream pus out in one piece. Measurements were about 3mm wide and about 1cm long.....sorry sounds gross but it really wasn't. Not all of the lumps had pullable pus though.

As I say though, this year all I did was pick the little top off and squeeze and pull the glob out and then I just rubbed Furacin on them (like Protocon, anti-b cream).

Good luck. If your pony's thing isn't the same as this then you might want to go with the OP's suggestion of an allergic reaction.

Cloud has never ever had these lumps in the Spring, they have only ever been present at the beginning of winter. Oh and I have just figured out why she hasn't had it for the past couple of years - I have had her fully clipped so no thick fur or oils. This winter because she is pregnant I have not clipped her or her neck. Hope this helps.

 

[peapod]

Ooh thanks Tia, it does sound similar - Sonny's lumps have mostly had dried up hard cores of pus in them, but when they HAVE been squeezable, the pus has been like a worm= all gunky and squeezable! Will try the Hibiscrub I think, and see how we get on! Thanks again!

 

[calon]

there has been loads of this recentley and can be a sod to get rid of fucdin if thats spelt right worked for ours . i have had it caused by clipping and flys then getting hot makes it blow up again ,wash all rugs and brushes and dont cross contaminate as it can be catching elli has the right idea about what it is and it does seems rife this year

 

[WoodfordFox]

OK, here's a different suggestion. A few years ago my horse came up in small lumps across his back. I'd just had a new saddle fitted and, by coincidence, my saddle fitter's Mum had just completed a course in homeopathy for horses. I was told it could be 'skin nodule syndrome' and was advised to give the horse 1 silica tablet each day for 1 week, wait 4 weeks then gave another weeks course. I was told I probably wouldn't see an imrovement till after the second course, but in fact the lumps disappeared much quicker. And so did his sarcoids. Silica is typically used to treat uclers and absesses, and it's easy now to buy homeopathic tablets in feed stores etc (at the time I had to buy him human ones from Boots). Remember that homeopathy is a delicate medication. In people you should drop the tablet straight into your mouth, not touch it with your hand. You should also avoid strong flavours eg coffee or mint. In practise, I couldn't fire a tablet straight into my horses' mouth, I popped it in a carrot instead!

 

[kayleigh_and_rocky]

Rock has these lumps too except his never come to a head! He had them all down his leg and some on his side and a couple on his back, biopsy showed it was an allergic reaction to something but as yet we dont know what even though hes had allergy tests and hes not allergic to anything hes eating or in contact with!! Got a nutritionist coming out soon to help
So not really any help as rocks lumps are still there and like you said arent growing or going down, dont hurt or itch, they're just there!! They went down when he was put on steroids, however came up again as soon as he stopped!

 

[peapod]

Thought I'd update on this.

Horse WAS finally diagnosed with a Staph. infection at the beginning of January - he was put on a course of A/B's, and pottassium iodide. He was fully clipped out. The lumps had a marked improvement, but never disappeared completely. Now his coat is growing back in, the weather is getting warmer, and the lumps are getting bigger... Am going to Hibiscrub him this week, but thought I'd ask if anyone has any other suggestions at all? I'm so disappointed that I can't seem to get to the bottom of this - I am determined to find the cause of this though. Worth noting that he is in a field with four other horses, three of whom are his full brothers. All 5 geldings are on exactly the same food. None of the others have lumps. It is so frustrating!

 

[_daisy_]

they look like the same thing Chantin has got. Hers however dont seem to have any puss etc just a scab and once this has removed its fine.
Hers came up about 4 weeks ago ish and havent really gone yet. We thought it was an allergy but the blood test results came back with only a slight intolerance to wheat. So have changed her feed completely so she has no wheat. They did go down but it coinsided with the cooler weather. Soon as the warm weather reappeared on Monday this week they have come back and are really bad again.

Ive now put mine down to midge bites. Ive ordered her some Fly free from Global Herbs and have invested in a Rambo sweet itch hoody rug to see if this helps.
Was also recommended to try her on Bumpy skin and restore by Global Herbs.

The supplements should be here today so will get trying them on her to see if they do help.