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  Discussion on Bony lump behind Mare's knee
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Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 - 9:46 pm:

My Diva racemare came in from the field this morning with a small hard bump behind her left front knee. This was not there yesterday. She is not unsound or lame. It does not appear to be edemous, she does not flinch on palpitation. It did not reduce after 5 miles of jogging and 20 minutes of cold water hosing. There is a slight rub mark, but no apparent heat and no cut.

So, my questions are: If she hit her knee on something hard enough to cause the lump would it feel bony and hard. I would have thought if it was a hit it would be soft and fluid filled.

Can an infection cause a hard bony lump that could appear overnight?

Could a bug bite cause this kind of reaction?

I gave her 5cc's of Noquasone paste and did up her knees in a sweat to attempt to get the fluid out, if any.

Would appreciate your comments.

I did read the HA articles on Assessing swellings, but unfortunately for me none of the diagrams showed the exact place of this bump.

This is my road rash mare, so any time I see some weird swelling on her I get suspicious that some sort of infection is making its way to the surface and is related to her accident back in October of 2008.

Most of her other swellings resolved with Nsaids and or antibiotics ( 15 day treatment with SMZ tabs).

Thanks
Rachelle
Member:
mrose

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 30, 2009 - 11:08 pm:

Did you look for bumps on other places on her? We've had some kind of wicked fly/bug this year and my mares that were turned out yesterday came in with several hard knots that were bug bites.

Like you, I'd also wonder about a bit of debris working it's way to the surface. I know such things can take a long time.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 6:06 am:

Sara,

No other bumps on her at all, I checked her from head to toe yesterday as I was putting her away. If it is debris working its way to the surface, that would be ok too. It would explain why she's recently been on the left line finishing her miles, but no one seems to find anything wrong with her when she is examined.

The thing I did not like about this bump is that it did not go down at all after towing and hosing.

I'll know better after I get the bandages off this morning.

Rachelle
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 9:12 am:

Hello rtrotter,
We need a better description of the characteristics and location of your lump to be much help, there are a lot of structures in the back of the knee.

The article describes the important characteristics to help diagnose lumps, bumps, and swellings and understanding these characteristics are important if you don't have a typical lump. Be sure to read the introduction as it contains basic information needed to help with the identification as it remains unclear if this is a lump in or on the skin or if it is under the skin. Also infective lumps, abscesses, are described.
DrO
Member:
mrose

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 9:31 am:

Something working it's way out would remain hard. I hope it's something simple!
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 1, 2009 - 3:04 pm:

I had the vet look at this this morning he did not seem concerned with the knee, but was concerned with her tendon because she acted sore upon palpitation. This also was not there this morning when I pulled off her wraps, I check her legs daily so I know if there was a problem. However, her legs do tend to fill when she stands in her stall and there looked to be some marks right where the bump on her tendon was. Anyway the vet treated her with enzymes and antihistamines thinking it might be an allergic reaction to something and told me to poultice her for the next few days.

We will see how this resolves. It is probably for the best anyway as she has not had any time off for quite a while and I was looking for an excuse to give her a vacation. It looks like she's given herself one.

I'll post an update and if the lump is still there tomorrow, I'll try and get some pictures.
Rachelle
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