I have a horse with nuchal bursitis.
My former 1.40m jumper flipped over a jump many years ago. And when I say “flipped,” I mean took off, got tangled in a pole, and did a full rotational flip, landing on her chest, then head, then withers, then butt. She had a large seroma on her chest for a couple of months, and we did a lot of bodywork to help her through some initial stiffness and soreness. But we kept going and showing for another couple of years with no apparent long-term effects. A year or two later, however, we noticed that she had a developing lump on her poll, though it didn’t seem to cause discomfort or any particular sensitivity. We eventually ultrasounded it and the vet diagnosed it as nuchal bursitis.
It’s been 4 or 5 years since that and we’ve never done much for it beyond chiropractic/acupuncture to keep her as limber as possible all over (and, of course, through her poll). Of course, she was also in the process of stepping down and retiring from the big jumps, so my vet (and the other vets we worked with) may have not been as aggressive as we would have been if she had still been actively competing?
The lump has maybe gotten a bit smaller over the years, or maybe not, but it certainly hasn’t gotten any larger.
I tried to find a picture that shows it on my mare, but this was the closest I could find. You can see the lump right behind her ear on the left side of her poll: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/PNWjumper/media/Facebook/2015%20Horseshows/11212112_10153482481788408_8539108638548174984_o_zps5qdl9jmo.jpg.html?sort=3&o=90
And here: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/PNWjumper/media/Facebook/2015%20Horseshows/11700584_10153482481078408_884839334715040940_o_zpsxb5dw7ui.jpg.html?sort=3&o=97
This is the other side of her neck for comparison: http://s1280.photobucket.com/user/PNWjumper/media/Facebook/2015%20Horseshows/11717373_10153500191243408_3088780006519131727_o_zpsqqinqqkc.jpg.html?sort=3&o=76
Seems like it was a lot more noticeable for the first couple of years.
Anyhow, the vet who diagnosed it was absolutely fascinated by it and talked to a lo-ot of other vets around the US about it. Nobody ever mentioned surgery as an option…perhaps because hers was trauma-induced (and, as I mentioned above, that she was already in the process of retiring from the big stuff)?
As you can see in the pictures above, she’s still jumping around and showing, and recently took my daughter over her first 3’6" jumps. She’s definitely a little stiffer in her poll than she used to be, but she’s also 20 years old, so I don’t know what’s age-related, and what’s due to the nuchal bursitis.
