Swollen Face

On the morning of November 15th (Monday) Coco was put out in a field that she was moved into a week ago, she was fine and dandy the around 3:00 she was brought in because I was going to ride at 3:30. When she was brought in she had lots of swelling in guttural pouch, Parotid Salivary Gland, Masseter Muscle, and where the lower jaw angles. The swelling was identical on both sides and in places it was like round swelling not just elevated skin.


The swelling was hard, but it didn't seem to bother her if you pressed it. They started her on 2 grams of bute for three days.
On Tuesday, the swelling was down quite a bit, but was still there and the swelling was larger on her right side.
On Wednesday (the last day of bute), the swelling was back up but not as bad as it was on Monday and the right side was slightly bigger. So I asked them if the swelling was still there on Thursday to call the vet.
Thursday came and the swelling was the same so they called out the vet and the vet was stumped. The vet could find no evidence of infection, but he did find what could be a tick bite. He prescribed Naquazone till for two days, 2 grams of bute for three days, and Deoxycycline till empty. And he said if the swelling was still there by Monday to call again and they would do blood tests.

Now its back. I didn't get to see it today so I don't know how bad it was because I was told by one of the juniors who was going to rider her for me today. Anyone have any ideas on what could be causing this? Its super frustrating and I'm already stressing out over school stuff.

Hi goodcallsenator,
Any news or diagnosis yet?
I'm having a similar problem with my gray.

No, I can't go to the barn today because no one is there so if we go to the barn without permission we can get suspended. My dad is going to go with me to check her tomorrow morning.

you can't go and see your horse if no one is there? That seems ridiculous to me, especially when there is a medical concern, i've never boarded my horses so maybe this is standard, but it seems odd to me

Wow. That's pretty strict! I'd be getting a hold of the BO and have someone there in that case.

I go to boarding school it's an on campus barn sand they have incidents with horses being let out and people riding in the middle of the night and getting thrown
The grooms were there this morning but I had to be at the parade and I don't know when they come back tonight
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I received an email from my trainer yesterday afternoon so here is what she said:

'I was with the vet yesterday (Friday). Coco is not in any pain. The location of the swelling is the salivary glands. We discussed Coco's diet and I mentioned she has recently been put on Regumate. He has seen this in horses that are being feed portions of alfalfa. Coco only eats grass hay.
So he gave her a shot of dexamethazone (dex) and but her on doxycycline(orally) again. She will also have oral dex for a few days. We will continue to monitor Coco.'

So this really doesn't mean a whole lot since they don't know what is causing it and there are so many complications that could come along with this especially depending on what is causing it :/

Hey can you think of anything that was done different before the swelling?? Even anything that is routine like worming.. I'v seen a horse's mouth swell because it had a bad reaction to the wormer and the owners called the manufacturer of the wormer and they said it was a side effect so anything that yo9u can think of will help

She wasn't worked around the time of either swelling the only thing that has changed is regulate (which she has been on before) and the field which I mention before
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*Update*

The vet was back on Thursday because the swelling went back up Wednesday. I wasn't able to be there, but he drew blood and prescribed doxycycline (again ) and I had asked the groom to ask about if the vet thought it would be an allergic reaction but the groom 'forgot' and instead asked about her teeth which have already been checked Anyways when I went to the barn that afternoon I asked one of the trainers (the one that has been less involved with all of this) if she thought it could be an allergic reaction since her field had been changed. She was completely clueless that Coco's field had been changed so we went to talk to the BM and he said it was very possible that it was an allergy and didn't know why the groom hadn't notified her about the changing of fields. My trainer asked them to change her field back and Friday morning the swelling was better. On Saturday we took her home and the swelling was almost completely gone. Coco didn't go out Saturday night (hailing) but Sunday morning there was no more swelling and I have been getting updates by phone from my mom who says her face has continued to be normal. We are still waiting on the blood tests, so unless that shows something we are going to go with it being an allergy. Coco will be home till the first few weeks of January, so if the swelling goes up again we will get our vet out who I trust more than the vet they use at school.

The whole organization and communication at the school barn is really frustrating me. I'm not sure if Coco will be returning to school in January.