Of course my gray mare popped a melanoma in her girth area this spring.
By the end of my ride, the saddle and girth had slid back a little (I had it a little more forward than usual) and the melanoma was in contact with the girth.
What are my options? Keep in mind, she’s 20. I don’t want to retire her because of something slightly larger than a pimple, but also options that are $$$$$ or have a very long recovery time aren’t ideal.
Well, that just blows. One of these days I am going to have a serious talk with the genetics gods.
Could you rig some sort of martingale-type arrangement to keep the girth pulled forward? Or, I am betting you you could get a girth made that is concave in the area of the melanoma, but doesn’t compromise too much on the strength of the girth. Does it seem to aggravate the melanoma if the melanoma is in contact with the girth?
As this is COTH, I do believe we need a picture of the whole horse, and at least one anecdote about her general wonderfulness other than the suck melanoma.
Hmm, how could the martingale pull it forward? Maybe a breast collar?
My first thought was to try a mohair string girth. Not sure if that will help.
And per your request:
Jesse is the coolest, easiest horse ever… minus the never-ending gray hairs she gives me. 
Hm. A string girth might be a good shout. I do like sheepskin Mattes girths, but the pressure would still be there.
SharonA1’s idea make me think… Do you know of or have a harness shop near by? They may be able to make you a custom girth or alter one in a way that accommodates this but doesn’t interfere much with the actual integrity of the girth.
Lovely horse by the way!
A leatherworker or shoe-repair expert could cut a crescent-shaped indentation to accommodate.
You guys have me realizing an anatomical girth would probably be forward enough to clear the bump… which is hilarious because I just sold mine on FB Marketplace earlier this year after holding on to it for YEARS.
A breastplate of some sort would keep the girth forward.
My gray mare (who already has melanomas under her tail and on her lips) developed an under-the-skin lump like that, except it is in FRONT of the girth. It first appeard about 10 years ago, and has not grown since then.
Specifically a crescent girth is designed to be a really forward girth groove.
This website has great pictures.
I think the athletico shape is what I want? To keep it forward and cut away from the bump.
My other horse has an extremely forward girth groove. I bought her several anatomical style girths thinking they would be “perfect” for her, but in reality, she hated them. I held on to them for years because they were so nice and pricey, but I finally decided I needed to stop being a pack rat and sell them. This is what I get for trying to reduce clutter. 
TRIGGER WARNING - wound healing pictures below
My late mare had a lymphoma at that exact spot, but it was much larger.
I had it removed, as it literally split open. It never came back, but the recovery was long due to the incision getting infected etc.
Before removal, you can see it right behind the girth:
After removal, healing process:
“Long term” it just had a small scar, never interfered again (in quotes because she was euthanized about 10 months after the removal). She had these lumps all over her and they would come and go at will. This was the only one I had removed. Here’s another, as an example, in a horrible-but-not-quite-as-horrible spot:
With her being 20, the long recovery is my fear. It’s so small and otherwise not bothering her, it seems like kind of a waste to potentially spend months and months recovering from removing a tiny bump of there are other options.
I edited my post, her healing time was a month with pretty severe infection. So it might not be so bad.
A month isn’t bad. I still wouldn’t want to do it until fly season is over, which leaves me looking for options for now.
I’m so sorry about your mare. Beautiful girl. Horses aren’t fair sometimes.
Yes. The underside of my gray mare’s tail is exploding 
. Most are still quite small and like BB’s under the skin. However one is a weird shape and not very mobile when you palpate it. That one is right at the side of the uppermost dock. I will have to get it looked at but there is no way that will heal with her swishing her tail. I don’t think I can swing the $$$ of Oncept and I am not sure how well it works on melanoma in this location. All things I need to find out for sure and pronto. I found her first melanoma on her when she was a 2 yo! We removed it and nothing came back until she was 10-12 (now 22).
Good luck finding a girth.
Susan
If your vet can source it, injecting this with cisplatin might be worth a go. It was unavailable for awhile, so unsure if it’s around now. But at least it’s something that can be done during fly season, and isn’t terribly costly. I don’t think I’d want to just wait on something in this area.
My old grey Arab gelding started getting melanomas at about 12, I think we removed one earlier but I don’t remember exactly. He had them all over his tail and a few other places by the time I put him down a week shy of 35 years old. Cushings is what did him in, not the melanoma. So it may not be anything to panic about if they aren’t blocking anything or getting in her way. Fingers crossed.
No…the largest one is probably quarter sized and sticks up about 1/2 inch. The rest are pencil eraser sized or smaller. What bugs me about the one is that you can’t get your fingers around it like all the others…like it is invading deeper tissue?
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