# Help with bump on horses back



## Heyoehkah (Jan 25, 2009)

Can anyone help identify the bump on the back of a terrific 12 year old TN walker? If I did this right there should be two attached pictures. Thanks in advance.


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## Ryle (Jul 13, 2007)

Well, it's a lump of some kind--could be trauma, could be parasitic, could be a tumor. Without seeing more than a bump under some hair it's impossible to give you any more information than that. If it were in a particular location or found in certain circumstances someone might be able to lean more towards one possibility or the other but still we aren't vets and can't get our hands on the animal. 

If it's new and/or painful, changing shape/size/texture then you should have your vet take a look at it.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Is it soft or hard? I'd definitely have a vet check it out...Sandie had a soft lump on her side recently and had to have it removed by the vet, then sent to the lab. It turned out, thankfully, to just be a hyper sensitive reaction to a bug bite - but the vet was talking things like cancer or fatty tumors and that's why she wanted to check it out.

So it could be nothing more than a reaction to an insect bite (yes, even this time of year...I live in Ohio where all the bugs have been dead since October, yet Sandie still manages to meet up with possibly the ONLY living spider around and have a reaction to it!!). But it's better safe than sorry with these things, so I'd call the vet to see what he/she thinks.


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## CarolzSassy (Jan 15, 2015)

Just wondering if you ever found out the cause for the lump in the photos above? One of our horses has a lump that looks exactly like that, and I'm trying to find out information. Thanks so much.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

I don't know about the OP's horse, but if I had a horse with a bump on it's spine, especially if the horse is a tad underweight like in the photo, I would check saddle fit. If the saddle "bottoms out" and puts weight directly on the spine you can get a bump like that. Usually it's towards the back end of a western saddle (I don't know about english) because the saddle flattens out and there isn't good spine clearance there. There could also be a little damage to the top of the vertebrae there and you might always need to be careful of saddle fit. I had a friend with an older horse with a bump like that and she always rode in a military style saddle so he had spine clearance in his problem spot.

Just something to look into. I have seen those lumps both soft and hard. Hard lumps are usually damage and don't go away. But sometimes if the saddle fit is a little off on an otherwise normal horse, you can find a soft swelling after a ride. If it's minor, you might be able to use a saddle pad with a channel in it to relieve pressure. This is all assuming it's saddle fit of course.


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## squirrelfood (Mar 29, 2014)

Considering that this post is 6 years old...........................


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