Lump along lower jaw bone

[OceansAway]

Hi everyone,

I was trimming my mare’s face, and I noticed she has a lump along her lower jawbone, slightly behind the corner of her lip, and lower. It’s hard, not squishy, and probably the size of a bigger marble.

She won’t be 5 until this summer, but I originally suspected a tooth issue. However, she’s not drooling, is eating fine, and didn’t seem bothered when I poked around. I am really worried, but vet says they can’t come out for a few weeks, and it doesn’t seem to warrant an emergency visit. However, she did seem a little weird about me handling her face the other day, but I’m not sure if that was just coincidence or something she’s always done that I previously overlooked.

Of course reading online has me worked about a bone tumor or something else of that nature. Does anyone else have experience with something like this, or like to share their opinions about what it might be? Thanks so much!

[Jackie_Cochran]

When my Paso Fino mare was erupting her molars she got several sort of sequential in time bumps on her lower jaw.

Later on I read somewhere that this is normal when the molars are coming in.

It was not permanent on my mare, IIRC in a year or so the bumps sort of retreated back up into the lower jaw bones.

Remember that horse’s mouths can become sensitive when the permanent teeth come in since the permanent teeth have DEEP roots in the jaw bone.

[OceansAway]

I was wondering about teeth, but her adult molars have already erupted. Possibly maybe it’s residual from when they erupted earlier and I didn’t notice because her face got shaggy so early in the fall?

[Jackie_Cochran]

My mare had nice long winter hair on her lower jaw.

These lumps became so much more noticeable when she shedded out.

If there lumps are squishy and not hard, if they are hot, and if they are sensitive I would get the vet out to look inside her mouth.

[RedHorses]

My senior got a lump on his jaw when he was 6? 7? The vet didn’t want to touch his teeth with a rasp without seeing what was going on so he had an xray.

Turned out the first molar on the left side had cracked, vertcally, from the root up. It hadn’t gone all the way up to the crown, and the vet was hopeful that it could heal. He got some (nasty) antibiotics for bone infections, I monitored the size of the lump, and sniff checked his breath every day (infection would make the lump bigger, and if it opened inside his mouth his breath would stink), and I didn’t use a bit for a couple of months. I even had to alter his hackamore to keep the curb strap away from the lump.

It did heal, and the lump, which was as wide as my first three fingers (index to ring) and as thick as my pinky did get smaller over time, and eventually vanished completely. Time being many years. For a long time it could be felt, if you knew where to feel.

[ClearDonkey]

Can you share a picture?

BO’s horse had a bone growth on her jaw, very similar to this one from Google (but smaller):

I actually hauled her to have it removed. The vet confirmed that it was an osteoma.

[OceansAway]

I knew a horse with one of these, a little lower down. We called it his double chin! Unfortunately I can’t share a picture because you can’t see it with the naked eye due to her winter coat. She’s also a very dark color, making it even harder as there’s no definition. It doesn’t seem to be similar to this, though. It’s along the bone close to the corner of her lip, kind of like behind where your rope is, and it doesn’t point downward. It’s coming out of the side.

[danacat]

My 15 year old gelding has a jaw lump that developed very recently. It’s higher up than your horse’s (cheek area) just off center of where a strangles lump would be. Size of an apricot now.

Vet is concerned as it might be a lymph node swelling = tumor etc.
Or he got a splinter rubbing his head on a fence board. We’re watching it + waiting for bloodwork to come back.

Can’t offer an idea on your horse but we’re both in the same mystery boat.

[OceansAway]

Is your horse’s soft or hard? I did consider lymph node but this is almost certainly more bony in nature. There isn’t anything soft about it. I hate mystery boats! It sets my anxiety off so badly. I hope it’s something fairly simple for your guy!

[PNWjumper]

Very normal for a horse at that age. I think one of my first posts here was ~15 years ago asking the same question: Mystery lump on jaw…ideas? - Horse Care - Chronicle Forums

In my case, the lump did go away and was almost certainly a teething eruption bump.

Had the same thing happen to an older mare I had (~10yo) and had multiple vets out to x-ray it (the first vet showed her x-rays to the senior vet at the clinic who decided she was incompetent and he came out to do it - free of charge - to effectively “check” her work, and then came to exactly the same conclusion that actually he couldn’t pinpoint anything either other than the fact that it wasn’t a bony growth). Ultimately they decided that she must have whacked her jaw on something and it was sore, but there was absolutely nothing in the x-ray that caused concern. A few years later she still has the bump (which feels like a little “handle” on her jaw bone), but it’s cold and doesn’t cause any discomfort.

[danacat]

Soft not bony.

[MapleFarm]

My horse had facial swelling the other day - kind of a long oval where her top teeth are. I started to panic but then looked back at my photo album that I use to chronicle my horse health drama… And one or both of mine have had something similar (different shapes, different sides, different locations - one year similar to where you are seeing a bump) every single year since I got them in March-April. The first year I had the vet ultrasound it and just spent lots of money to find nothing. I have no idea what plant it is, or if it’s just shedding season so they stick their heads in weird places, but mine seem to get weird face stuff this time of year.

So, I suggest if it isn’t hot or growing (take photos daily and a journal with notes), and your horse seems ok (even take a temp? Check breath smell etc as well), then I wouldn’t panic for a few days. Mine all went down within 5 days. Personally, I would go ahead and get on your vet’s schedule, as you can always cancel if it resolves.