Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Gray Mare

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The other day I drove south to clean a few stalls and ride a couple horses for the Old Cowboy. Sheza has developed sarcoids over the past few months, however, and one of them was beneath where the saddle sits. Up until now, I'd continued to ride, as it really didn't seem to be irritating her, and it was quite small.

Now, some of you may be asking what a sarcoid is. I'd heard of them for the first time a few years ago, but had never had a first hand encounter until now. There are several forms of sarcoids, but in short, they are skin tumors on horses, often benign, and somewhat common (or so says the Wiki page I found.)

Not only are there several forms of sarcoids, there also appear to be several ways and thoughts on how to treat them, from freezing to treating with a chemo agent or tying them off with a rubberband.

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The sarcoids on Sheza are nodular sarcoids; firm lumps that raise up like warts. Two are small, but the one on her side had begun to grow and was now about the size of a fingertip. I'd discussed with Curt the best way to remove them. He had me don a pair of rubber gloves and handed me a cream which was a chemo agent. Before starting, he shaved the area around the nodules for easier application.

I'd have taken a photo, but for two things. One, my hands were wearing gloves and full of cream. Two, the battery was dead on my camera because I was smart enough to not notice that I'd bumped it into the 'on' position when putting it into my truck.

In any case, riding is currently out of the question. Curt believes it should only be 4-5 days before the one on her side has disappeared, but the cream needs to be applied daily until that time. It's rather disappointing to not be riding this girl, as she challenges me in ways my own horses do not. She's a great teacher for me.

But while I wait for her to heal, we'll have some super model fun (shhhh....don't tell Tika!)

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10 comments:

Paint Girl said...

So sorry to hear she has sarcoids. My sister has been dealing with a sarcoid on her horse's face for a couple years now. She uses XXtera, it goes away then comes back about 6 months to a year later. Sarcoids are very interesting.
Hopefully it clears up soon so you can get back to riding! She is beautiful!

cheyenne jones said...

I have a "thing" for Greys! Dont know why, just do. Sarcoids? Yes they are very common, can be quite ugly too. Pleased to here the treatment is going ok.

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you're using the Xtera creme. Dawn had a large flat sarcoid, a little nodular (apparently they come in several types), on her neck over her jugular vein, and it was getting larger and not in a position for any surgery, so we used Xtera. That was a couple of years ago, and so far (crosses fingers) it hasn't come back.

nikki said...

Do you know what kind of cream you guys used? Sweetie has sarcoids to. She had one behind her ear where the bridle sat, one inside her ear, and one on her belly towards her back legs. We had the vet do surgery on the one behind her ear but it came back so we treated it with Xterra (and also did the one inside the ear) and neither have come back. We didn't have any side effects to the cream either so that was a plus. We will be treating the one on her belly when it warms up a bit.

The gray is a beautiful mare and makes a great model. I still like the Tika model tho, she is so expressive!

strivingforsavvy said...

If the cream does not work I want to let you know what got rid of my horse's sarcoids. My vet gave me XXterra gel. You apply it for 4 days and the sarcoid disappears. It can be used without gloves and does not bother normal skin. The sarcoid becomes agitated so it is best to do it when there are not a lot of flies around. Oh, now I see someone else has mentioned it!

Crystal said...

Hmm my Gypsy mare has a sardoid on her eyelid. it hasnt gottne bigger or anything since I had her and we are just leaving it. It looks kinda ugly but not sure I would want to put cream on that close to the eye.

Tracey said...

I wish I remembered the name of the cream, but it wasn't XXtera. He's used it in the past, and yes, the sarcoid did grow back.

We'd also talked about freezing it off, but since the cream was at hand, that's what we used :)

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

I've used Xterra on both sarcoids and melanomas, and sometimes it took two rounds, but the only kind I couldn't get rid of all together was a cauliflower-like sarcoid on the ear. I didn't want to keep applying the Xterra to such a sensitive and thin area as the ear.

FZA said...

sigh, my old partner in crime, or white devil as I liked to call him had a sarcoid right on his eyelid. It didn't do much harm, but it was terribly ugly. Treatment was risky because of how close it was to the eye. So the poor vain fellow had to have a wart on his eye. Don't worry, though, he still thought he was the most beautiful thing in thee world.

Shirley said...

Love those photos. Don't tell
Tika.