When he was 25 my gelding developed a small lesion on his belly. It looked like a pea with wrinkled black skin. Neither our retired or new vet had ever seen one. The new vet removed it with very large margins, as you do in people with skin cancer.
It was diagnosed as a cutaneous hemangiosarcoma - very unusual in horses. It was tested at 2 labs. The vet and I thought the diagnosis at the first one was somewhat tentative. We sent it to MIchigan State’s lab and they confirmed the Dx with a more thorough discussion. The vet also consulted an oncolocy specialist at Colorado State (her alma mater) who said that since it was confined to the cutaneous (skin) tissue it was most likely gone forever but I should keep an eye on the area. I couldn’t find any signs of it other than the scar when he had his summer coat. We had to put him down for a knee problem when he was 28, but there were so signs of any additional sarcomas or sarcoids.
Sarcomas aren’t seen much in horses. My retired vet was in practice for 50 years in Maine and never saw one. It is worth doing some online research. If they are inside the body in an organ, for instance, they can metasticize and become fatal. If they are confined to the skin and haven’t invaded the muscle, as in my gelding, they don’t have a way to metasticize to other areas.
This is the type of lesion that I would not fool around with. It is a type of malignancy. I wouldn’t try a sequence of treatment options. Most vets probably have never seen one. If it can be removed and sent to a lab it should be done as soon as possible. I was fortunante I was dealing with a growth confined to the skin. It could have been something much worse.