Bizarre protrusions on horse's tail bone - fungus?

[sapphiremoon]

My pony has been dealing with some flakiness on his tail bone. I started spraying Banixx in his tail and that seems to be clearing up the flakes nicely. However, I was taking a closer look at his tail bone today and noticed some really bizarre looking protrusions. A few of them are these long skinny noodle-looking things, and then there is one shorter, thicker piece. Here is a link to the photos: https://imgur.com/a/McxwmjH

The first two photos show the thicker protrusion and the last photo shows the long skinny ones. Has anyone ever seen something like this before?

[IPEsq]

Not exactly (especially the thicker looking one), but I have seen some gnarly splinters in the tail before.

[LovieBird]

Could it be the result of photosensitization? I recently saw a cow that looked like it was growing fingernails out of its back due to a photosensitivity reaction induced by ingestion of a pasture weed.

[StormyDay]

The first one kind of looks like a tick.

[skydy]

I’ve not seen that before. Perhaps @Ghazzu has seen something similar?

[beowulf]

The first image does look like a tick but the last image is so bizarre. Could these be melanomas?

[Sdel]

My guess would be some kind of sebaceous cyst. My horse would get something similar looking on her back.

[Feathered_Feet]

OP can you give it a little clip to clean up the area and a scrub with an antimicrobial and get us fresh pics? It’s so interesting and odd.

[FjordBCRF]

@Sdel

My guess would be some kind of sebaceous cyst. My horse would get something similar looking on her back

Qualifications: Watching all the Dr Pimple Popper episodes.

I agree it looks like a cyst or something of that nature.

Skin stuff makes me squeamish and I still can’t watch a cyst being popped. I board with a derm and she said forget the visuals, the smell is even more memorable.

[Jealoushe]

nvm looked again at the last pic…thought it might it be a tick but maybe not!

[JBCool]

That is WEIRD! Almost like an ergot that was terrible with directions. I guess it is firmly attached? Sorry, not much help.

[Simkie]

I wonder if it could be a sarcoid…? They can look pretty weird!

[fordtraktor]

If it is waxy and you can dislodge it by picking at it…it might be some kind of keratosis. I had a pony that would get this in winter when I wasn’t washing his tail.

[sapphiremoon]

yeah the big one is definitely not a tick

[sapphiremoon]

I’m thinking this might be the case. I haven’t tried to dislodge the big one as it seems pretty firmly attached. The skinny long ones are quite brittle. I tried to break one off and it snapped like piece of dry spaghetti…lol. The base of it is still in his tail though.

[barnesthenoble]

Second/third?-ing the keratosis suggestion. Do they seem painful at all if you gently poke/pull around the base of them?

[pk1027]

Is she grey? Could be the start of melanoma. My grey had them all over his tail, and some did start leaking puss of of them.

[Ghazzu]

Looks like some sort of keratinaceous structure.

[sapphiremoon]

It does not seem to be painful, though I haven’t tried to scrape too hard at it. He is palomino not a grey, and it doesn’t seem to match photos of melanomas I’ve seen so I’m hopeful that’s not the case here! I think some type of keratosis may be the answer here. Anyone know of a possible solution this? It’s pretty freaky looking, especially the long pieces so I’d love to get rid of it for good.

[Ghazzu]

I’d try a benzoyl peroxide shampoo.