Swollen cheeks?!

claire_india

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12 May 2011
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Kildare, Ireland
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My 10yo mare has been living out 24/7 for the past 10-12 weeks and I have been riding her off the grass & have had no issues at all until yesterday evening when I brought her in to tack her up and both her cheeks were swollen. :confused: Not massively but enough to look as though her throatlash was too tight...she wears a Miklem bridle so think that makes it look even more obvious! I'm thinking it's just grass glands as she's in super form, hasnt gone off her food at all, she doesn't mind me poking and prodding the swollen parts and generally seems herself other than the swollen cheeks....anyone any thoughts?? The field she is in at moment has little or no grass on it as the rest of the field has been fertilised so will have to keep her off that for couple of weeks. She's been getting her hard feed twice daily all along and now that the grass is becoming scarce I've started giving her haylage also. I checked her this morning and one cheek seems to be back to normal but the other is still swollen. If any swelling still there tomorrow I will call the vet.

In the meantime though is it normal to get grass glands after being out for so long and also at this time of year?? Do you think might it be somehting else?
 
Yeah we had really warm dry weather for about 6 days (20ish deg) but then the weather turned on Sunday night and it poured rain all day Monday and the temps dropped quite considerably so I changed her to a warmer rug. It was showery yesterday but not as bad.

Monday was her day off so I didnt notice her cheeks then, only yesterday when i was tacking her up it looked so obvious....
 
Pretty sure that is grass glands! my boy got them this year and i panicked and nearly rang the vet thinking it was an allergy! one of the other liveries informed me it is swollen grass glands due to him pigging out on wet grass!

glad they have gone again!
 
My mare gets a 'fat face' when she's being a pig and doesn't come up for air lol which means even if there isn't much grass if she's working hard to get what little there is she will come in with swelling. It doesn't bother me or her and will go down with exercise or staying in etc.
 
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