Saturday, May 21, 2011

Day Twenty: 30 Day Horse Challenge (and horse health question)

Day Twenty: Your favorite horse show.

I haven't ever shown before so I can't answer this one again, but I do have questions for you. I noticed this morning that Chrome has a lump on his neck, or rather his throat . . . I took pictures because it's hard to describe where it is. He has no fever, he's not lame, he has a great appetite and attitude, the lump is firm, but not hard, there is no heat in it, doesn't appear to be painful and he has no nasal discharge. Here are the pictures. I've never had experience with strangles, but it appears to be too far back to be that or teeth problems. Maybe it's an allergic reaction of some sort?? A lymph node?? A donkey bite?? There are no lumps anywhere else on his body.

Okay this first one is for perspective and to show that when he has his head up high you can't see the lump at all. He looks sleepy lol. I think I got him mid blink.


This second one is me pointing at the lump, but his head is still up so you can't see it. Just to show the location with his head up.


This is the lump with his head down and stretched out. You may have to enlarge the picture to see it. You can see his halter in the left hand side to give you an idea where it is. It's about two inches or so from his cheek.

This is me with my fingers around the lump to show the size of it. It's flat, but pretty big.


This one is a little further away so you can get an idea how far from his cheek that it is. I drew an arrow to show where it is.


This is one from underneath his neck. It almost looks like there is swelling further up on his right side, but I checked and there is no swelling. I drew an arrow to show the spot on his left side that I'm worried about.


At this point I'm not panicking. He doesn't act sick, no fever, doesn't appear to be uncomfortable or in pain . . . Are there even any lymph nodes down on the jugular? Anyway let me know what you think. If he shows any fever, lethargy, pain or loss of appetite I'll immediately call the vet, but right now I'm just watching him closely. Thanks guys. :)

1 comment:

  1. keep taking his temp - this would worry me a lot. this is a symptom of strangles.

    re: your comment, i hope you have seen my posts about how i love to sneak up on a herd of horses with my horse. we can move very quietly thru the woods and sneak up and boy do they get mad when they finally see us and don't know how we got that close! they usually stand and snort but sometimes run off. i don't want to cause a panic or an injury so we have to be careful and move a bit so they know what we are if i sense that.

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