Wierd place on horses stomach

My daughters 25 year old mare has a swollen spot on her belly. It's not that her belly is swollen, it is literally a small raised area. There is one right behind her front leg and one a little farther up. They are pretty big around...like maybe the size of the bottom of a can of drink and stand up about a centimeter. Wish I had my camera with me because it's really hard to describe. The horse is moving and eating normally. The places did not get any worse this evening. I made the decision to just keep an eye on them and watch for any other problems. There are some at my barn that feel that I should go ahead and call the vet. Neither of us have had experience with this kind of thing though, so what do you guys think?

A horse where we board had that, and it was an insect bite that had gotten infected and needed to be drained. It eventually resolved, but only after being lanced.

A friend of mine has a Morgan/Percheron cross that gets welts this time of year. They look like what you just described. She has to have a shot for allergies, actually he just took her yesterday, and he clips the places down to the skin(it helps the air get to them and they dry up quicker). This is the third year this has happened. She is always in the same field so it's something that either grows late or changes as it begins to go dormant. With the shot and the clipping it goes away in a couple days.

Thank you both for your responses. My first thoughts where maybe a reaction from a bug bite (not an infection, but more like a welt or something), or maybe a kick from another horse (but it doesn't look like that kind of injury to me). Then the other people at my barn say they think I need to call the vet out. I blew them off, but later got worried about it.

LCharon- Did the horse show any other signs of infection?

Trailqueen-this is our first year of ownership with this horse, so I have no idea what her history is. Never thought of allergies. If it is allergies and it doesn't get any worse or she doesn't have any other problems, shouldn't it be ok to just leave it alone?

Just judging from my feelings on it and your responses, it sounds like I did the right thing by not having the vet out. Wheew...I feel better. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind getting the vet out when it is necessary! It's just that unless it's an emergency, I'd rather have the vet out during their regular business hours (and skip the high-priced emergency call).

There were no other signs of infection. At first the vet thought it was a kick, but it was just a big bag of pus, sitting under the skin. He lanced it with the needle off of a syringe (no syringe attached) and it gave off a couple cups of serum (I think he actually called it a seroma) and put the horse on antibiotics. It took a couple weeks to resolve, and it wsa right where the girth goes so the horse was out of commission for a while.

My horse gets one of those every summer. Its from him getting irritated with the flies and kicking himself. I wouldn't worry too much about it, almost all of the horses at the ranch have them. If it doesnt get better when the weather starts to turn colder I would probably get him checked. Hope that helped!

My boy gets them from bug bites/bee stings throughout the summer. We knew it was a bee sting the first time because he acted like a lunatic suddenly running over to me in a panic and dropping to the ground rubbing that shoulder, running, dropping and rubbing that shoulder into the ground again. I eventually had to settle him down and pull the stinger out. Poor guy :( the funniest part was he couldn't seem to understand why it was still attacking him when he was hiding behind me since I was supposed to protect him. For a stallion he can sure be a big baby!

It sounds like a hive to me too. I would just keep an eye on it and if it gets worse or starts spreading, then call the vet. Someday it probably wouldn't hurt to have an allergy panel run on her so that you will know what she is allergic to and can avoid it whenever possible.

Thanks everyone for the advice. Sounds like it's safe just to keep an eye on it. I will for sure get an allergy panel done on her if it turns out to be a reoccurring thing.

Poco, poor guy!

I would at least clip the places down to the skin. They go away faster that way. And if they don't, you'll know your probably dealing with something else.