Here's a weird one- small mineralizations in horse's back muscle

[Boomer]

Recently I had my 4.5 yo’s back x-rayed due to back pain and incredible difficulty finding a saddle that he was comfortable in. No kissing spines at all, but there were 4 small areas of what my vet called “mineralizations” in the back muscle… He said he’s had positive outcomes with this using shockwave but that it will likely be and on-going maintenance issue.
Anyone dealt with this before? I’m not a member so I can’t post the film. I’ve pulled bloodwork to check for imbalances as well.

Edited to add a picture.

[Simkie]

Anyone can post pictures here

@Simkie

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Curious to see what others have to say, but these things could be incidental. Have you confirmed they’re causing pain?

[Pico_Banana]

I’m not of much help here other than to say my older mare recently developed something like this. I noticed a hard lump on the side of her neck. My vet checked it out and said it was a calcification on the muscle. I’d never heard of such a thing before but it sounds like what your vet is describing, too.

My mare is fully retired and it doesn’t seem to bother her at all so I’m not doing anything about it other than keeping an eye on it.

[Marla_100]

Interesting. Did your vet have any guesses as to what would cause these mineralizations?

Has this horse ever had back injections of any sorts?

[IPEsq]

I’ve seen that in the nuchal ligament on horses with poll problems. Was it in the muscle or the supraspinous ligament? No appearance of tracks through the muscle (which could indicate prior injections…sometimes the needle can leave a disruption in the fibers).

[Boomer]

Yes we have confirmed that they are causing pain. He gets an odd swelling after being ridden - no matter what saddle is on him - at the one that is on the base of the withers. It goes away after 30 minutes.

[Boomer]

I bought him a year ago and the PPE xrays did show the mineralization, but 2 vets looked at the films and probably thought there was something on his back. They’re easy to overlook. He had terrible rain rot when I bought him.

We did do mesotherapy early November when he came up “angry back sore” - threatened to buck me off and that is not normal. So we did new films and the vet initially overlooked the spots but then went and looked at the horse and saw no dirt. She re-shot and the spots were still there.

I’ve talked to numerous vets (some vet friends too) and most think that any of the following may have caused them: 1) ingestion of a poisonous plant, 2) some kind of serious back trauma- maybe a fall , 3) maybe a mineral imbalance, 4) possibly a pituitary issue… or 5) take a wild guess.

Blood chemistry only shows a very slightly elevated liver enzyme which we are rechecking in 2 weeks.

[Boomer]

I did talk to vets who said they had seen this type of thing in necks more often than backs. And of course more commonly in feet/legs.

[Marla_100]

After I asked the question, I went and read online and what struck me was #2- back injury.
The study explained that bruising from a traumatic injury causes leaking blood into soft tissue which can then change the cells which then mineralize.
saw nothing on pituitary problem but the others were mentioned.

[Boomer]

It’s a odd problem for sure - one I’ve not encountered and most of my friend either. He’s been working up until November when he suddenly came up angry sore. That’s why initially I thought it was trauma. He’s had other times over the year with minor back pains, especially going through saddle fitting - he hates nearly all saddles and his back isn’t all that unusually shaped. I have got a EQ saddle Science saddle to try now - so lets hope it helps him!

[IPEsq]

Thinking more about it, I suppose that any site of inflammation can potentially mineralize to some extent, and show some calcification in the scarring. You can see this in the lower legs and other sites where you might have blunt trauma type injuries or other causes of sudden swelling. If it’s dense enough, it would show up on X-ray.

I see a photo has been added now. Based on the size and dorsal location, my guess is this horse has had back injections before. If done with Depo Medrol, that could leave behind some calcification.

[IPEsq]

Second guess would be history of supraspinous ligament injury. While we certainly do cut the ligament on purpose in some KS cases, it can actually be a serious injury requiring a lot of rest and rehab like with other ligament tears.

[StormyDay]

What is their estimated size? I’d wonder if removal would be easier (and possibly cheaper, since I just recently had to pay for shockwave and it’s expensive). You’d probably need to go to a vet school, but they would almost definitely do it standing, he’d probably be able to go home the same day.

[Lusoluv]

The spots look so similar in size and evenly spaced that I would venture to guess he had injections.