Lump on Mollie's face - any ideas please?

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FionaM12

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About 10 days ago the young girl who rides Mollie at weekends texted me to say there was a lump on the left hand side of Mollie's face. I went staight to the yard to check. Either it had appeared suddenly or I just hadn't noticed it until it got to that size, but it was quite big.

It's between her cheekbone and her mouth, maybe slightly above her jawline, is rock hard (like bone) and doesn't appear to hurt her. She's headshy anyway and hates anything or anybody touching her face, but she's no worse than usual and I can prod it without her flinching. There's no heat in it and no sign of surface damage/injury.

It's directly under her noseband (Dr Cook style bitless) yet she isn't bothered by the bridle pressure. She's a headshaker and I feel if it hurt we would know!

It seemed to go down over the next few days, but appeared to have got bigger again. It's possibly a little smaller than it was at first (I'm not sure) but it's still there.

The vet is coming to see her tomorrow. Meanwhile, has anyone seen anything like it? She looks miserable in the photos, but she isn't, she was just cross that I was messing with my mobile instead of giving her the treats I was bribing her with!

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Here's another pic. It's just below the buckle of her headcollar. This was last week and I think the lump might have been bigger then. If it's decreased in size, I guess that's a good sign?

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FionaM12 said:
Again, wouldn't you think there'd be pain?
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One of my ponies has a diastema and he has to be seen by my EDT every 4 months to have it cleaned out. He never appears in pain and continues to eat and doesn't lose condition. But my lovely EDT explained it thus..... horses are prey animals. To show weakness, ie showing signs of being in pain due to an injury, is likely to show them as the weakest in the herd and therefore the one that will be 'picked off' by a predator. They are incredibly good at covering pain, so Mollie may be in pain and just not willing to show it. Hope that it's just something that can be treated quickly and she is back to normal soon. xx
 
justabob said:
There might be pain. Depends on her stoicism. Keep us informed Fiona.
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I will do! I really don't think anyone could ever call Mollie stoic, but you never know do you? I've prodded the lump and she's not bothered, and she usually hates her face being touched. She cut her nose on barbed wire the first year I got her and wouldn't let anyone touch it until it was completely healed.

Getting sunscreen on her pink nose is a complete performance and involves the two of us spinning round her stable, her nose in the air. I get more in my hair than she gets on her nose! :D

I just can't imagine her letting me touch her face if she had toothache, but maybe she'll prove me wrong! :)
 
nikicb said:
One of my ponies has a diastema and he has to be seen by my EDT every 4 months to have it cleaned out. He never appears in pain and continues to eat and doesn't lose condition. But my lovely EDT explained it thus..... horses are prey animals. To show weakness, ie showing signs of being in pain due to an injury, is likely to show them as the weakest in the herd and therefore the one that will be 'picked off' by a predator. They are incredibly good at covering pain, so Mollie may be in pain and just not willing to show it. Hope that it's just something that can be treated quickly and she is back to normal soon. xx
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Patterdale said:
Yep, I'd say diastema. Definitely teeth I'd say.
A diastema would fit with it sometimes being bigger than others too.
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Thanks. :)

*Goes off to google diastema* :redface3:
 
Sorry!
It's basically a gap in the teeth where food gets stuck and impacted. Left long enough it can cause abscesses and lots of pain.
They don't always have clear pain symptoms though. I once had a horse competing at novice who, on a routine teeth check was found to have a bad diastema which must have been painful, but she was still getting dressage tests in the late 20s.

I've also had a horse who got it behind his front teeth (not a usual place but he had an old mouth injury which had changed the shape of his jaw) and I could clean it out myself, until it got too bad and then he had it filled with some snazzy blue filling stuff :D
 
Now I've looked up diastema I'm quite worried. I can't get into Mollie's mouth, she has huge issues about her face, as I say. I did some research into her past and found out she once had a horrific head injury from an accident in a trailer and it left her traumatized and severely head-shy and a head-shaker. :( When she shakes her head she's frantic, I believe it causes her pain and I manage it by not using a browband (she can't bear one), using a nose net and if that doesn't work, she isn't ridden.

She needs sedation for routine dental work. I've just read that managing diastema involves cleaning their mouths and teeth. I can't imagine being able to do that without great distress from Mollie and risk to myself. :(
 
nikicb said:
One of my ponies has a diastema and he has to be seen by my EDT every 4 months to have it cleaned out. He never appears in pain and continues to eat and doesn't lose condition. But my lovely EDT explained it thus..... horses are prey animals. To show weakness, ie showing signs of being in pain due to an injury, is likely to show them as the weakest in the herd and therefore the one that will be 'picked off' by a predator. They are incredibly good at covering pain, so Mollie may be in pain and just not willing to show it. Hope that it's just something that can be treated quickly and she is back to normal soon. xx
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A personal and in general observation about animals in pain, I think that they sometimes seems more likely to show pain over small things, and the more painful/serious injury, the more likely it is that they try to be stoic and not show it. Which in my mind doesn't need to contradict the "prey animals doesn't want to show weakness"-theory, because with a minor injury, hypothetically let's say they have a small stone stuck in a hoof, then if they had to, they're probably still fully capable of defending themselves, so there is less need to hide the pain. But the more they're in pain/the more serious the injury is, the more vulnerable they are, so the more reason they have to be stoic and pretend as if it is nothing.

I hope that the veterinarian can fix Mollie as quickly as possible, and that her being head shy doesn't cause too much trouble.
 
Just a quick question on diastemas.. I had my 3yo teeth looked at the other day by the vet ans he has a diastema though is between 2 baby teeth still so could just grow out (fingers crossed) he spoke about if it was a gap between the permanent ones we could open the gap up to prevent gunk sitting between them.

Have you guys with ponies with diastemas had this done and still it gets bloked?
 
BigYellowHorse said:
Just a quick question on diastemas.. I had my 3yo teeth looked at the other day by the vet ans he has a diastema though is between 2 baby teeth still so could just grow out (fingers crossed) he spoke about if it was a gap between the permanent ones we could open the gap up to prevent gunk sitting between them.

Have you guys with ponies with diastemas had this done and still it gets bloked?
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My mare is 22 and has a diastema at the back of her mouth. I do not have to clean it out - I don't know how I would without sedating her daily. I smell her breath as a check for the rotting smell (never had it yet). The vet opens the gap up and rounds the edges to prevent stuff getting stuck and this has worked well. She may eventually have to have a tooth out as one is moving out of line and causing the problem but so far it has never caused any problems whatsoever.
 
FinnishLapphund said:
I hope that the veterinarian can fix Mollie as quickly as possible, and that her being head shy doesn't cause too much trouble.
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Thank you. I'm very much hoping it will be nothing serious and easily sorted. My old girl is terrified of the vet so I'm hoping whatever treatment she needs will be quick. :)
 
Well, the vet's been but we still don't know what it is. The vet examined her externally (with great difficulty, as Mollie was terrified) and said she'd like to put her on a course of antibiotics and anti-inflammatory powders and see if the lump reduces. She also gave me something called Calmex to give Moll over the three days leading up to her next vet appointment.

I'm feeling a bit deflated that I still don't know what's causing the lump.

In order to get the powders into Mollie, I'll have to give her a small feed now twice a day and she's not used to hard feed. Also the vet said that as Mollie's a fussy eater to put some mollasses or similar in to disguise the taste. I can see me trying to pull Mollie down off the ceiling. :eek3:

So the next couple of weeks will be interesting....
 
Hope she's feeling better soon, but what your vet has done is one of my pet hates.
In this day and age there is no excuse for not examining a horse properly, and just prescribing (already overused) antibiotics as a default.
If the vet couldn't get a proper look they should have sedated her and done the exam properly IMO.
 
Nice to hear an update after vets visit just a shame that you couldn't get any answers !

my mare had similar lump on her side - right in the middle of it I found a tiny tick ! took the tick off and the lump went down within a day or 2 !

Wonder if the horse equivalent of antihistamine would help if it is a reaction (not even sure if you can get an equivalent).

Hopefully it will just go down on its own ... fingers crossed.
 
Patterdale said:
Hope she's feeling better soon, but what your vet has done is one of my pet hates.
In this day and age there is no excuse for not examining a horse properly, and just prescribing (already overused) antibiotics as a default.
If the vet couldn't get a proper look they should have sedated her and done the exam properly IMO.
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I was disappointed and surprised she didn't examine inside Moll's mouth. I'd pre-warned her she'd need sedation for it. She was very nice and seemed to know her stuff so I hope she's right and her way's for the best.

meesha said:
Hopefully it will just go down on its own ... fingers crossed.
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Yes, fingers crossed indeed. Thank you.
 
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