Do horses get skin tags?
I came back from 3 weeks of Army duty and I swear my 6y/o bay OTTB has roughly 6 “skin tag” like growths/lumps/protrusions spread out over his body. No pattern to them, one near his eye, another on his stifle. Very small, smaller than peppercorn size. No scabby at all, very well attached. They don’t seem to bother him when I poking at them, no other inflammation or swelling around the sites.
They just bother ME!
I think they do, and if they’re in the wrong place like under a girth they can be a problem. I rode a girthy lesson horse and one day I was scratching just behind his off elbow right about where the girth would go, not thinking about it, and found a floppy lump - a tick? so I picked it off with my nails, quick like. He turned his head and looked, and reached out and smelled it, and I looked at it and was horrified to discover I’d pulled off a fleshy tag like thing. Good news was he was somewhat less girthy the next time.
My horse gets these too. I believe in his case they are collagen granuloma:
http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/illnesses_injuries/eqbumps2192/
I’ve just learned to live with them as they don’t seem to bother him.
My grey boy has a bunch of them. My vet said not to worry about them unless they start to bother him.
[QUOTE=Heliodoro;7098044]
Do horses get skin tags?
I came back from 3 weeks of Army duty and I swear my 6y/o bay OTTB has roughly 6 “skin tag” like growths/lumps/protrusions spread out over his body. No pattern to them, one near his eye, another on his stifle. Very small, smaller than peppercorn size. No scabby at all, very well attached. They don’t seem to bother him when I poking at them, no other inflammation or swelling around the sites.
They just bother ME![/QUOTE]
My TB gets these too. He mostly has them on his chest right now. Sometimes I pull them off (which he dislikes) and they bleed, but don’t seem to come back. They do appear to be skin tags. They don’t seem to hurt (unless I pull them off). I’ll probably have my vet peek at them the next time she is out (hopefully not for a while!).
Just make sure it’s not a sarcoid. I am ashamed to say that I did not recognize a sarcoid on my horse (the first I have dealt with) for a year & a half. I thought it was random “skin ick” left over from tick bites - until it started spreading in a perfect circle. I promptly got it surgically removed but I could have dealt with it when it was half the size which made me feel awful. (Nothing induces guilt like an ugly 7" incision that could have been much, much less.) So, learn your lesson from my mistake, and ask your vet if it’s a sarcoid (or compare with pictures on the web of “warty sarcoids” - there are plenty out there.)
[QUOTE=caryledee;7098066]
My horse gets these too. I believe in his case they are collagen granuloma:
http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/illnesses_injuries/eqbumps2192/
I’ve just learned to live with them as they don’t seem to bother him.[/QUOTE]
I think these are different than what the OP is describing. Granulomas occur under the saddle, often associated with uneven saddle pressure. They’re hard, sub-q bumps.
I think the OP is talking about little protrusions, super small, probably the size of a tick or smaller. I’ve noticed them on my TB, but not my Morgans, this past year. Mostly around the head/neck area, but I notice them when I’m holding him for the farrier so I haven’t extensively looked elsewhere. I’ve been leaving them alone.
[QUOTE=morganpony86;7099639]
I think these are different than what the OP is describing. Granulomas occur under the saddle, often associated with uneven saddle pressure. They’re hard, sub-q bumps.[/QUOTE]
From what I understand, saddle pressure is not always the cause. They can occur on other areas as well. My horse has several under the saddle and a couple on his flank. This picture is the closest I could find to what my horse has: http://www.vetstream.com/equis/Content/Disease/dis00950. They started out as bumps (probably insect bites), shrunk, and have ended up white or grayish, very small lesions. A better description:
In horses, the disease has been termed equine eosinophilic granuloma with collagen degeneration,nodular necrobiosis of collagen, and collagenolytic granuloma. The lesions are nodular, nonulcerative, and nonpruritic. They often are found in the saddle, central truncal, and lateral cervical areas and may have a gray-white central core. Older lesions may become mineralized. Both insect bites and trauma have been suggested as etiologies, although the occasional onset during winter in cold climates and in noncontact saddle or tack areas suggests multifactorial causes. Histology reveals multifocal areas of collagen degeneration surrounded by granulomatous inflammation containing eosinophils. Thus, histologically, this lesion is similar to eosinophilic granuloma of cats and dogs.
In horses, solitary lesions may be treated with systemic antibiotics, surgical excision, or sublesional corticosteroid injections. Mineralized lesions require excision. Triamcinolone acetonide (3-5 mg/lesion) or methylprednisolone acetate (5-10 mg/lesion) is effective. No more than 20 mg triamcinolone acetonide should be administered sublesionally because of the potential to induce laminitis. Horses with multiple lesions may be treated with oral prednisone or prednisolone at 1.1 mg/kg, sid, for 2-3 wk. In horses with recurrent lesions, intradermal allergy testing, particularly with insect antigens, is recommended. Hyposensitization and insect control can be palliative in some cases.
Impossible to say if this is what OP’s horse has as “lumps” can mean many things. 
Above Reported.
Weird for SPAM w/o any clickbait, but also odd for a 1st post only vaguely related to topic.
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