Does anyone know what a "Skin tag" is??

Hi Everyone

Ive just got my new filly (today) and she had like a scab like sore under her forelock, i just got home and recieved an email from the previous owner saying she had forgot to mention about the "skin tag" under her forelock? Ive never heard of this has anyone else???? If you have please let me know some more info???? Thanks

Ive never really heard of it so I cant really help you out.. but I know chance has something that kinda sounds like what ur filly had hmm im interested in the responses now

I've never heard of them on horses just people. I know its gross but I get them occasionally and used to have the Dr. remove them. Now I just use a razor and sort of shave them off myself They are similar to a wart and aren't really a health risk.
I'm sure they are the same in horses.


I just found this on http://pet.justanswer.com


"Warts and Sarcoids have confused lay horse people and Vets alike for many years. Even the professional horse people can be unsure. The Papilloma Virus that causes warts generally seen on the face and ears sof horses, tends to be in young horses. However, they are not limited to the face or ears and can some times appear on the body itself. Normally, they will resolve in 6-9 months. If the horses immune system has been unable to beat this, they this will continue to be occurring. Upping the quality of feeed, adding coat condtioning suppliments and keep the brushes and halters etc cleaned with lysol will help. These are contagious. A professional Vet familiar with freezing or laser can do this for you. High Performance Horses in the US on the Grand Prix do it all the time. However, have you Vet check these to be sure that they are not Sarcoids. I don't think they are, because these tend to break open and ulcerate. That is a completely different problem."

This is from the Merck Veterinary Manual:

"In horses, small, scattered papillomas develop on the nose, lips, eyelids, distal legs, penis, vulva, mammary glands, and inner surfaces of the pinnae, often secondary to mild abrasions. They can be a herd problem, especially when young horses are kept together, but regress in a few months, as a foal’s immune system matures. When they develop in older horses, they often persist for >1 yr. So-called aural plaques are also thought to be a flat form of papilloma (verruca planum). Equine papillomas are disfiguring but benign. They need to be distinguished from verrucous equine sarcoid ( Soft-tissue Sarcomas). "

My Rocket use to have these. There's actually a product (The name is slipping my mind right now) that will get rid of these. He had a large one above his ear. My vet had them tested to make sure they were not malignant. After they were diagnosed benign, he would just slice them off. (Twitched of course)BUT I let him do it...I'd never do it!

Apparently it's very common!

Hm, that's weird. I also have only heard of people getting those 'tags' & never heard of a horse getting it.
Very interesting, Vida! :)

Skin tags are just what they sound like, a small piece of skin that sticks out like a little tag. They may be grey or white and appear to be just like the normal skin though protruding rather than laying flat and they generally are nothing to worry about. However, a lesion that is scabby or oozing isn't what would generally be termed a "skin tag" and are something that should be assessed by your vet.

Thanks everyone for your help! It doesnt seem to be bothering her. But thanks for the info~!!!

I'm new here, but skin tags are very common where cloths rub on a certain place on the body for humans. Sometimes animals get there where contact of there skin is made with another surface. My great dane has them on his chest, between his front legs. When they are small I just pull them off and apply some styptic powder to stop the bleeding (they will stop on there own as well) But the big ones need to be removed surgically. I just leave them there as they won't kill him. They are just weird to look at and it looks like one large nipple hanging off the middle of his chest. He has a lot of weight sitting on the bottom of that rib cage though.

I'm sure any mammal could get them but I myself haven't seen them on a horse yet.

I know my stallion has what they call aural plaques inside his ears. They are not noticable from any sort of distance, you actually have to look inside his ears to notice them, but they are just a cosmetic thing. I never noticed them when I bought him as he already had a winter coay when I got him and his ears were really fuzzy. When I noticed them the next spring I had the vet look at him and he told me that was what they were (I thought that was what they were but his were not white like the medical books say they should be, his are black as he is a bay and the inside of his ears are black). The vet never could figure out why his did not turn white as every other horse he had seen had turned white. They have never gotten any worse then they were when I first noticed them and he is now a 5 year old and I notced them when he was a yearling. I know my vet said they could cut these off the insides of his ear like a skin tag but they would just keep coming back where they were cut off so I decided to just leave them alone, they never have hurt his show career. If it truly is a skin tag, I would have your vet look at it and see what they think, but sometimes they can be cut off and never come back and sometimes they will keep coming back no matter what you do to them.

Sorry for another post but I forgot to say that a friend of mine has a yearling colt that had a sking tag on his ear. It started out small and started to grow over a short period of time, She had the vet out and he did the whole cancer test because they thought it was originally a tumor and then when that came back as negative he just cut it off and never has had a problem with it coming back since then.