What could this be? Skin problem

[Angelbones]

Unrugged my pony today and found these lumps on his body. They must have come up since yesterday.

Some had scabby tops and had dried oozing. There is a definite round pattern behind the hair when washed. They are mainly on his neck, shoulders, and belly. They are swollen obviously, fairly hard to touch and his is very sensitive about them but when washed with Hibiscrub he really like the rubbing so they must be itchy. I rang the vet and sent the photos over - he said first thing to do is give him antihistamines to see if they go down over a couple of days, keep then washed but dry and report back to him if anything changes. We are obviously worried it could be ringworm (I've never seen it before), and are keeping him isolated as none of the others in the yard have any signs so far, but are following the vet's instructions at this point.

Anybody got any clues as to what it could be? Any similar experiences?

All comments gratefully received! Sorry for picture sizes but it gives the detail.

Thanks guys x

 

[hairymolly]

My old pony once came out in a lump like this it was about 8cm in diameter and is in exactely the same place as in the first picture. It went away after a week or so on antihistimes(sp) and vet camt to conclusion that it was a allergy. Sorry not terribly helpful.

 

[KingCharles]

it could be ringworm witch is highly contagious and humans can pick it up from the horse as well.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/article.php?aid=39758

 

[JoBo]

Bodey had something like this come up in the Summer, it stayed for week or so, went away never to be seen again. We (and the vets even though they never came and saw it) thought it was some sort of allergic reaction, but to what, was a mystery. Oh and we just kept slapping the Sudocrem on, seemed to do the job.

 

[janet68]

Doent look like ringworm in my opinion just some sort of allergic reaction and it will go down

 

[Jeska]

Could it be hives? definately not ringworm but id say hes had an allergic reaction to something, have you had his rug washed or changed his bedding? even changed his feed? anything that might of caused an allergic reaction

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

could just be an allergic reaction or could be ringworm! Ask your vet for some imaverol solution and wash him off, and get some virkon e to wash his brushes, headcollar, rope, numnah, girth etc and his stable down. keep his things separate from everyone elses as a precaution, time will tell!! one of mine has lumpy crusty spots due to getting warm in his winter hair and not being as clean and shiny as he should be!!

 

[suzysparkle]

It looks like Urticaria to me?

 

[spider]

Mine got lumps like this as an allergic reaction to an insect bite. Or could it be that he is too warm under his rugs?

 

[Shilasdair]

It looks like urticaria to me, which is just an allergic reaction to something - could be insect bites, feed, or something in the environment, or even something like Show Sheen or rugwash.
Urticarial lumps seem to come in two forms - round, or disc shaped, and tend to be fluidy, sometimes itchy, and can ooze serum (honey coloured sticky fluid which is a component of blood).
Ringworm, caused by a fungal infection tends to be less fluidy, more scabby, and comes up more slowly.
Hope it disappears as quickly as it appeared.
S

 

[Angelbones]

Thanks everyone - sounds more hopeful that it could be an allergic reaction to something.

We haven't use anything different to normal and that stuff has been used on / around him for the past 2 years so I don't think it is detergent / food / sprays related. I did consider him being too hot under his rug but as he is a native, clipped and has been out in a heavyweight rug but in foul weather I don't think he is too hot - and he didn't get any on his back / quarters.

The ringworm issue is a worry as he hunted on Saturday and spent quite some time in a cattle yard, but then again so did the others and they are all fine.

We will be disinfecting everything thoroughly tomorrow. Fortunately we don't share brushes / headcollars / buckets with the others but we will be extra careful. Ho hum, I guess we may see a change over the next couple of days one way or another and take it from there. I'll let you know what transpires..

 

[hendry]

Hi doubt very much its ringworm either sounds more like an allergy to something.. Had one of mine come up like this before from a feed, I found out in the end. It didn't show up for a couple of months and took a while for them go completely. They didn't cause any harm just did get a little pinker and fuller looking when he was warm. Could even show up if he ate something from the hegde.. Mostly these things seem to be a mystery and can clear up as mysteriously as they came. If they get any worse prob worth having vet give some steroids!

 

[charlie55]

My old boy had this, but all over his body and he was very itchy, it turned out to be too much protein ...