Marble sized lump on tongue

nikicb

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Let me just say before I write any more that I'm taking this pony to the vets tomorrow morning to have this checked out.....

Yesterday in a routine EDT appointment, it was discovered that my 26 year old, fully active, 13.2 pony has a marble sized, quite firm lump on his tongue. It is in front of where the bit lies. I haven't tacked him up for a while as he has a sharer, but there are no problems there, and he is eating bucket food and forage absolutely fine. He is also working with no issues. When prodded and poked, it didn't produce any reaction. My EDT has never seen anything like this before, nor her more experienced colleague with whom she shared pictures. Raff is absolutely loving life at the moment - he didn't do much for the first 6 months of last year as his then sharer was doing A levels. I almost thought about retiring him, but found another young girl to share him, and he is now worked several times a week, and strutts his stuff at PC rallies etc. If it is an indicator of something more serious, he certainly isn't showing any effects, and since being back in proper work has built up more top line and muscle tone.

Not a great photo, but has anyone dealt with anything like this before? If nothing else, I hope this might end up as an educational thread as Google has produced absolutely nothing!

51323354_10216986565789083_1134815606114091008_n.jpg
 
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nikicb

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Ok..... not great news, but.....

It is a tumour. They took a needle biopsy from it and have looked at that. The cells are amporphous meaning they don't exactly know what type of tumour it is, so they have sent a sample to Newmarket for further testing. He's got some danilon for a couple of days just as his tongue will be a bit sore from the biopsy, but then after the weekend, we can carry on as normal for work as the bit isn't currently affecting him. Depending on what the results are from Newmarket (may be tomorrow, more likely Monday), we can consider our options. Due to where it is on the tongue, they could surgically remove it (and part of the tongue), but that would have to be under GA, although quite a quick op and would be best to remove while still relatively small. Or we could just monitor it. His lymph nodes around his throat area (which are the closest) feel fine, so hopefully it has not spread at this point. The vet said he was in fine shape for an oldie which is good to hear.

I'm not making any decisions until we know more about what we are dealing with. The most important thing at the moment is that he is happy and well in himself and has a great quality of life going out to parties with his sharer. xx
 

Leo Walker

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Oh no :( I'm so sorry to hear that. He has just looked so happy and proud of himself when hes been out and about recently. Fingers crossed for a lot more of that to come!
 

nikicb

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Oh no :( I'm so sorry to hear that. He has just looked so happy and proud of himself when hes been out and about recently. Fingers crossed for a lot more of that to come!

Thank you. Yes, he and F are having a ball at the moment - he loves work and as long as he is still comfortable, that will continue, whatever route we take. x

Sorry to read that, definitely see what it is and make a decision based on what they think it will do going forwards.

Exactly. If this summer ends up being his swansong, we will make it a good one. Lots of things to be weighed up once we have more facts, but quality of life will be the most important thing. x
 

shergar

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We had a pony with a lump on his side it was round like a marble it was under the skin and had no hair loss ,the vet removed it at the yard and put it in the bin ,the lump came back and bigger ,second opinion the vet took some cells from the lump took them to the lab and told us it was called a fibrolast infiltrate think I have spelt that right ,that it should not have been cut out they are injected with steroid ,they are caused by something getting in the skin such as a thorn or sting and cells collecting round that foreign body .Since then a friends horse has had one and her vet was also going to remove it as it was in the saddle area ,I told him about our pony ,so he said he would do some research he came back and just injected some steroid . Could the lump on your pony be the same thing ?
 
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