... the mare with the mysterious swelling udder

Note - This page, which will have more infomation, and links about all the other things we tried, is still under construction. It's also the really long version of the story. If you'd like the shorter, completed version, click here.

As of June 2001 we think we have the mystery solved. Sabrina has been diagnosed with EPSM, which answers a whole collection of questions, and offers hope for a better future for her. Here's her story...

How I Came to be Sabrina's Human

Sabrina is my first horse. I bought her after a very short search (she's the only horse I looked at) in November, 1997. I meant to find a 12-15 year old Quarter Horse gelding - the been-there, done-that sort - but when I met Sabrina I could see she was just perfect. She was only 7 at the time, but quiet and sweet natured - and gorgeous!. She'd go anywhere - past dogs, alongside busy roads, through deep leaves... She sidepassed around a puddle I pointed her at (it was a cold day, and a cold puddle), and I gave her credit for being smart enough to not step in it when she could obviously go around. She's actually fine with going in water, when it makes sense to. She's built for riding bareback, with a broad, flat back, and has beautiful, boingy gaits with natural high action and good speed.

Her former owner is a great guy, who obviously liked her - just had too many horses, and wanted to focus on his full-blooded Friesians, so she had to go. He had used her to pony babies, and for guests to ride on trail rides. She was pretty green, training-wise - but she'd go where you pointed her, and stop when you asked. Good enough for me. When we got back from our test ride Sabrina kicked at her belly a few times. I was a little concerned, but her owner explained that the flies or sweat must make her itchy, 'cause she does that a lot. He also showed me how she likes to be scratched on the neck and shoulders - makes all kinds of faces and contortions over it.

I've never planned to breed her, but noted that her past included one pregnancy which ended full-term in a difficult labor, being hauled to a veterinary hospital, where they had to cut up and remove the dead foal. Very sad, but she was over it now, and it wouldn't affect the trail riding I hoped to do with her. Her owner said it was a bad presentation (position of the foal wasn't right), and the vet doing the pre-purchase exam said that was just bad luck, and didn't mean she couldn't succeed at foaling in the future if I decided to breed her.

She had been saddled and was standing tied when I first met her (hard to catch?), so when I came back for a second look I asked to catch her myself. She was in her pasture, lying in the sun on a chilly morning, and let me walk up to her and halter her while she was lying down. Well, that's easy to catch! The vet checked her over, standing under a tree. He was poking around at her hind feet with hoof testers (a nervous moment for a vet) when a branch broke off the tree and fell near them. She just looked at it and sighed. The vet, who was sure he was going to get stomped by a big, startled horse, said if I didn't buy her, he was going to. I bought her.

Getting to Know Each Other

Our first ride, the weekend after I got her home, was interesting... Sabrina was used to being ridden by a 200 pound guy, an experienced horseman, in a Western saddle and curb bit with 5" shanks, out in the country. Sooo... I hopped on bareback, with Sabrina in an ordinary jointed snaffle bit, no crop, alone, and headed down the road by my house. Except for a 5 minute test ride at her old home, I hadn't ridden bareback in 20 years. At least I had the sense to wear a helmet! We started out doing fine - Sabrina was very calm, and happy to get out. About 4 houses down the road we came upon a group of about 10 teenage boys videotaping each other doing skateboard and bmx bike tricks in the street. I didn't know what Sabrina would think of skateboards (had she ever seen one?), but decided to ride past them like it was no big deal, and hope she followed my cue. She did. No problem with the kids and clattery boards.

We went a ways further - maybe a block - until she decided there was a monster living in a water meter box, and would not go past it, not even on the other side of the road. The good news was that she didn't get upset and throw a fit, she just wouldn't go. OK, fine. We headed for home at a nice walk. About 6 houses away she decided to go visiting, and turned down a neighbor's long driveway. I don't know these people... She was determined to go down to their house! I turned her, kicked, pleaded, but we kept going down the driveway - backward, sideways, in circles... I finally gave up, got off, and walked her home. After a brief stop in the middle of the road (she would not budge), we made it back safely.

Of course, there's nothing to bring all the neighbors out like a horse stopped in the middle of the road! Nobody saw us going out, nicely, and under control, past noisy skateboards, but at least 6 people stopped to talk, gawk, and offer advice after I had to dismount. Even the mail truck had to stop, then go around us on the other side of the road. Yikes.

Lesson Time

It was clear that I needed help, so I called Christi, who'd been our riding instructor (on lesson horses) before I got Sabrina. That first lesson started out with me on Sabrina, trotting away to visit with other horses, while Christi shouted instructions at our backs. LOL It took just that one lesson to get us working together well enough to go off in the intended direction most of the time. At the end of the lesson, after a little bit of trotting, Sabrina was kicking at her belly again. Christi noticed, and when I tried to explain about the itchiness and sweat and flies, but Christi told me it looked more like she was feeling colicky, and asked what I'd been feeding her. Alfalfa - same as her former owner had. Christi suggested I switch to at least half grass hay, and see if that helped. It seemed to, so I stuck with that. We took lessons off and on for a while, working on the basics, and lots of general horse-ownership stuff - what to feed, trailer loading, dealing with scary stuff - just your basic getting along with the horse.

Something Isn't Right

At some point in dealing with Sabrina I had noticed that her udder was sometimes more swollen than other times. She's the only horse I've dealt with regularly, and my human experience says that happens sometimes, so I figured it was just hormones, and didn't worry about it. Eventually though I mentioned it to other horsepeople (on Equine-L - my on-line barn buddies), and they told me that wasn't normal at all for horses. I also noticed a small, hard knot ahead of the right side of her udder. Hmmm. I called the vet, and started keeping an eye on it. My initial concern was that the knot was something nasty. The first vet to look at it poked around a bit. He said it was too far forward to be mammary tissue, and not to worry, "your horse doesn't have cancer". At first I was relieved, and really didn't worry about it. But the swelling continued. It didn't seem to be a big deal, but I kept an eye on it.

More Lessons, and Bareback Yahooing

I didn't have any particular goals with Sabrina - just to have fun, treat her well, and see what we turn out to be good at - team penning, trails, dressage, whatever. We tried a few little fun shows, and discovered that we are definitely not cut out for Western pleasure (slow!). I thought a foundation in dressage would be useful, no matter what, so we took a few lessons with a very good local instructor. Sabrina hated lessons. I thought it was just that she was out of shape, and because of the hot weather, but she'd coast to a stop every so often. Especially from a walk - trotting seemed easier for her - but it was like she lost all of her momentum at the walk. Of course, the instructor told me to keep her going, and not let her get away with that - a horse shouldn't just stop, unless you ask them to. Sabrina was pretty emphatic about it, putting on a good show of being "too tired to go another step" when she shouldn't have been. We kept lessons short and easy, but I did take to carrying a crop, to keep her from being so "pokey". The odd thing was that she is really an enthusiastic horse - she likes to trot, and really moves out - even if you don't ask her to! I thought it was just she hated "ring work" - some horses do. For more on this discovery, you can read about that day. We gave up on doing lessons, and committed in early 1999 to a "summer of yahooing bareback". No rings, no lessons, just fun.

Itchiest Horse Ever?

Sabrina loves to be scratched. Lots of horses do - especially all the Morgans I've met. She'll approach me sideways wanting her back scratched (this is how I trained her to come get me off trailer fenders, fences, and rocks, for getting on bareback). On trails, she'll seek out just the right scratchy plant, and walk back and forth over it, scratching her belly on it. After lessons and rides she's always been desperate to roll - that's part of our deal - as soon as we're done working, I pull her saddle and let her roll. She'll even roll in-hand, if we're not in a fenced area. I figured it was just the way she is, and tried to help her any way I could (rubbing her belly with towels, washing her after rides, letting her roll whenever there was a safe place).

Click here to read a post to E-L from January 2000 detailing her behavior during and after a fairly vigorous trail ride.

Starting to Notice Patterns

In an effort to figure out what was up with this udder swelling problem, I started keeping track of when it happened. I had already figured out that it happened after work, especially if there was stress involved, but sometimes we wouldn't do anything, and she'd swell up anyway, and other times I'd work her a bit (like, trying to get her to swell up so the vet could see), and she wouldn't swell at all.

So I started keeping track. It happened with a saddle, and bareback (no pad), so it wasn't a girth thing. It happened with trailer rides, and when I rode her around the neighborhood. It happened with riding, and with hand walking, and with just turnout. Sometimes it didn't happen, which made things hard to figure out. Sometimes she'd just swell up (maybe running around the pen when I wasn't looking?). I took her off each kind of feed and treat one at a time - no change. Stopped using fly spray. Tried exercising, and not exercising. Tried cold hosing, warm towels, various ointments, massage... No definite pattern. It seemed worse with exercise or excitement (a big spook, or snorty trail ride), and worse in hot weather - but not every time.

The vets gave me some big huge horse pills to try. I would have had to have given them some hours before riding. I still have them. I never was able to try them because I couldn't get her to swell up consistently, so wouldn't have been able to see if they worked.

Swelling Something Awful

We thought maybe just walking would be OK. Some friends kindly went with us for a ride at just a walk, on flat ground, down a river valley. (Ever try to find folks willing to go for a slow, boring ride? I owe them one!) We went a little longer than I intended - about 2-1/2 hours. Sabrina was clearly annoyed - kicking at her belly, stopping, looking at her flanks... I got off and walked with her a few times. She enjoyed parts of the ride - getting out, looking around - but something wasn't right. She was exhausted when we got back - even the stable owner commented that she looked winded. I washed her and cold-hosed her right then (it was a hot day), and again later that day, but she swelled up worse than ever - before or since. Her udder was swollen to the size of about half a football, and the swelling continued all down the insides of her legs - bumpy-looking, like the surface of a brain, not smooth. Very strange. She was uncomfortable and swollen for several days - decreasing with time.

Ruling out enteroliths - my post to E-L from July 2000.

Biopsy of The Lump

Trying to Break Up The Lump

On the assumption that the lump was blocking lymphatic drainage, and causing a sort of lymphangitis/lymphedema problem, I took her to a "Equine Sports Therapist" for cold laser therapy. The vets had seen some good results with laser therapy for soft tissue injuries, and breaking up old scar tissue, so we gave it a try. It's non-invasive, non-painful, and aside from spending a few months in the mountains Sabrina wasn't put out at all by it. Alas, it did not help. We also tried ultrasound treatments, and Nitric Oxide. Nothing.

While she was there she got ticked off at the mare in the next pen and kicked out, injuring a tendon - the fun never ends. So now she's back home, and I'm trying an herbal "liver cleansing" concoction. We're definitely into the "if it couldn't hurt, give it a try" things. I had forgotten about your Coumarin cream!

Consulting an Animal Communicator - What the Heck, It Couldn't Hurt...

Check Ligament Injury and Rehabilitation

Here's a post to Equine-L from May 1st, 2001

Having a Surgeon Take a Look

Biopsy for EPSM

Links to information that could help others whose mares have trouble with their udders:

Avocados and Mastitis in Goats

San Diego Equine Sports Therapy - Dana Meier

Cold Laser Therapy

NitrOxide and Nitric Oxide

Lymphedema

Mastitis

Rural Heritage site Dr. Beth Valentine, the veterinary patholist leading the charge for horses with EPSM.

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