Protein bumps or what?

[Chestnut_Mare1]

Have spoken with the Vet and he is coming on Tuesday.

Mare has very hard round bumps on her back. 3 on one side and a cluster on the other side. They are about the size of an eraser on the end of a pencil. Really hard and round. I can’t move them around under the skin. They seem to be part of the skin. Beside but not near the spine and the cluster on one side where the saddle sits.

The bumps showed up one day and have not gotten bigger or smaller and they don’t hurt. Saddle fitter said it may be from the saddle rocking but some of the bumps are not in the saddle area. She suggested a sheepskin pad. I have a new saddle that is amazing and am using the sheepskin.

Mare has had a week off due to a hoof abscess and the bumps have not changed at all. Hair around the cluster of bumps is turning white. The bumps are not scabby or peeling, the skin on and around looks totally normal.

Anyone have experience with these types of bumps and know what they are?

[Scribbler]

My coach attributes them to poor saddle fit. Maresy had one once, I got a better fitting saddle, but bump didn’t go away until she had a 6 week pasture holiday. Hasn’t returned. I think they are sebum and hair follicle related.

[Chestnut_Mare1]

Thanks Scribbler. I’m worried about the large cluster that is under the saddle. The bumps have joined and formed on the size of a Canandian Toonie! The vets in my area are lovely but very young and have not seen all there is to see yet, so I’m worried they are going to want to cut it out.

[candyappy]

A picture would be good.

[SonnysMom]

My horse just showed up with them recently. On Sunday almost 2 weeks ago he had 3 on one side and 2 on the other. On Tues he had about 5 or 6 or one side and 10-13 on the other. My saddle fitter/massage therapist was out Friday and had never seen anything like it. My trainer had no idea. They don’t seem to bother him. They are all under the saddle also. The number had not increased between Tuesday and the following Sunday.

I did not clip the 1/2 pad area under his saddle but he is body clipped everywhere else but his legs. He has been blanketed/clipped since second to last week in October so I doubt bug bites and it has been really too cold for bugs in this area.

I will admit they vaguely remind me of bumps that a friend’s horse had on her back. The problem is that was 29 years ago so my memory may not be correct. I also only got to check them out before the vet was there. The vet said they were a parasite that was under the skin. He gave the owner a topical treatment with one of the ingredients being DMSO. I do not know the other one. I only know I was not allowed to handle/apply the medicine or touch the mare’s back since I was of child bearing age. But this was also summer time not winter. I have no idea what the drug was or what the parasite was.

[theresak]

My horse gets them on and off - they are little deposits of cells (I can’t remember if my vet said calcium or fat) that harden. A lot of them will dissipate over time but some will be permanent. If you palpate and they are not painful, they are not an issue. The only time he does something about them is if it’s a halter horse.

I found that when I stopped using bleach on my saddle pads, their occurrence decreased quite a bit. You could try swapping out saddle pads and the detergents you are using and see what happens. I think they can also be more likely when a horse is growing in a new coat (so spring and late summer/fall).

[Chestnut_Mare1]

I would get pictures, but without feeling, they are very hard to see under her winter hair. They appeared this fall way after bugs were gone. They don’t bother the horse but I just hate knowing there is something that could potentially cause problems. Plus, they are just unsightly on my beautiful girl.

SonnysMom, has a vet looked at your horse’s yet? I read online that the bumps can be injected with something every few weeks and that some will go away.

[Scribbler]

I wouldn’t let the vet start cutting. That would cause more problems than it would fix.

[Marla_100]

A friend’s youngish mare, 3 or 4 yrs. old, got some bumps on her back but she hadn’t ever had a saddle on yet. I
searched online and yes, there is an insect that is involved. It’s been a few years and I can’t remember what it was
called but there was information online that described the bumps. Not sure if it was habronema or something else.
But it was definitely insect/larva related. Maybe do a google search.

[Scribbler]

That’s true, last summer we had some insect bites that hardened up like that. Out of town insects we don’t usually see. They didn’t turn out to be parasites and went away eventually.

[eclipse]

My guy has one, vet said it was a collagen bump and if it didn’t go away he could inject with (I think) steroid solution. It seems to come back after clipping and go away in the summer, doesn’t bother him and saddle fits great so we just leave it.

[sheltona01]

Below is a link to what I think you are talking about. I do get asked about them as a saddle fitter.

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[meaty_ogre]

Without a picture I can’t say for sure, but I did see something last year that sounds like what you’re describing that turned out to be a barley allergy or sensitivity. In fact, some people refer to them as “barley bumps”. If you google you can find several pictures for comparison. The horse that I saw it in was a 2 year old who had been switched from a growth formula to a different feed that contained barley. It started out with a few eraser-sized bumps, and then more popped up. They did disappear after barley was removed from the diet.