I have a question about this mare and her filly?

Question

1. A filly about 5 or so months old has this bump on the left side of her neck. Its noticeable and when I was running my hand over it there was like 2 veins or cords it felt popping out over it. Any ideas what it could be and if I should call the vet. The bump is a few inches above her shoulder.

2. I also have a 3 yr old mare who someone recently got for me. She isn't halter broke but she has the sweetest temperment. She will stand still while you brush her and comes up to you if you are in the pen. Well I recently was able to put a halter on her and she was calm about it. How can I get her to be lead? Should I use the rope around the butt trick?

Answer 1

1.  Sounds like one of two things.  One is a gland that just is a little inflamed and will go down in time.

The other possibility is that when she had her vaccinations it left a lump.  It may go down in time also.  I wouldn't worry until it gets larger..then call the vet.  The next time you have the vet out have them give it a looksie.  Would I call the vet for it? Nah.

2.  When you have the mare haltered you stand in front of her and apply direct pressure.  If she only leans at first towards you...let the pressure off instantly.

Once she starts leaning towards you with no hesitation you can now keep pressure on until she takes a step to you.  Again let off the pressure once she takes that one little step.

Stepping off to her side and pulling will 'encourage' a foot to move and this gets her to understand what you want.  You want her feet to move and when she moves forward then you let go of the pressure.

Don't go too fast, don't scare her.  Once she is moving (a step or two) and not scared you can now introduce a person to help encourage her from behind to move.

**edit** what jeff said about the circles...that is what I was describing but I do a small step at a time.  I wait for the mind.  Others are fast about it.  Depends on your horse.

Fly spray:  I like Repel X, Fly Sect, Tri Tech, and heard people love Endure.  Too $ now so I make my own and hope they deal with it. :)

Answer 2

We had a weanling come to us with a similar bump. The vet looked at it, told us to tell him if it got any bigger. It eventually (like a year later) scabbed up and FELL OFF!! Totally weird. I still think I would let your vet look at your horse in case it is something serious though.

With your mare, just use trial and error. A lot of them will lead if you turn them to the side to get them started. She's 3 years old. I'm sure she'll get it pretty quickly.

Answer 3

1. the bumb may be an abcess. get it checked out by a vet just in cast.

2. dont try the butt trick. it can ruin a horse. try lunging her, pushing her shoulder not hip.

good luck.

Answer 4

1.  have it checked out by the vet

2.  have someone help you... by this I mean you stand in position to lead the horse, also try to encourage the horse to walk beside you.  At the same time, have your helper encourage the horse holding a lunge whip and walking behind her (not too close, of course)  

The horse will pick this up in no time and you can fire your helper!

Answer 5

1.  There is many possibilties for the bump.  The most frequent cause I found was getting kicked often causes such a knot.  If it is in the muscle it generally disappears after a few weeks.  If on the bone it will develope into a calcium deposit and may or may not ever go away.  Other possibilies range from a cyst to cancer.

2.  Do not use the but trick on a three year old.  Too much chance of them freaking and they are big enough to hurt you just by accident.  People laugh at me and won't believe me but the best way to get such a horse to lead is to attach the halter and rope and then pull the horse sideways in a circle.  I will pull her in 2 to 4 circles in one direction then turn around and pull them in 2 to 4 circles the other direction.  About 80% of the gentle horses will then lead off after that.  Mind you NO ONE can pull a horse if the horse is facing them or pointed away from them, BUT a healthy strong adult can pull a horse sideways because the horse can not balance that way.  The result is it learns immediately to give to the rope.   Sometimes additional circles are needed with the few who do not lead off right away, and I usually have to do a refresher of a circle or two the next two time or two I attach a lead.  If you are taking the horse away from buddies and it is barn sour this method will not always work.

P. S.  The people who laugh usually quit laughing when I lead off the horse the first time it has ever had a rope attached (LOL!)

Answer 6

1) Vet it

2) Put the halter and lead on her. Get some one to walkoff to the side of her butt to engourage her forward with a hand/tap of a cop/flick of a lunge line. If she is a good as you say she might straight up follow you with little pressure from the halter. Good luck

Answer 7

Are you sure that the bump isn't just a bug bit? This time of year almost every horse gets bumps on them or some of them even get hives from the insects. Scratch it and see if the horse reacts to it being an itchy spot. Wait a few days and see what happens. Unless it's huge and painful, I would wait a few days and see what happens. If it's a hive or a bug bit it will go down in a short time.

As for the 3 year old, you will need some help. Get someone who can stand out of kicking range behind her with a dressage or driving whip. If you start pulling on her face, her head will go up in the air and she will go backwards, so the stimulus to move forward needs to come from behind at first until she understands that gentle pressure on the lead and you walking forward means that she should come too. She doesn't understand what a whip is yet so if you use it gently on her hiney to say move forward, I will almost garuntee she will kick (thus, have a long whip to stay out of range and to keep everybody safe). When you use it, use it on the back of the hind leg. If she moves the leg at all, praise her. If she even shifts her weight in the correct direction, praise her. It's going to take, time, persistence, and a heck of a lot of patience.

With a lot of babies people use the rope behind the butt trick, and that's usually ok to do because they can stay out of range of getting kicked and the baby is small enough that it works. It gets harder to go when they get bigger. You can still do it that way, but you have to be very careful that you don't cause them to rear, because if they go up and the rope is pressing on their hind legs, they can go over backwards. You may want three or four people who have experience with young ones to help you initially. Since she is an adult, her flight instincts are fully developed. Babies tend to be a bit easier when they are handled right from the start. You will have to aproach this tactfully, because the potential for you to get hurt is much higher, especially since you aren't sure what to do. A 3 year old was recently donated to us and she didn't know how to lead. She had been doing really well until she was led into a different area, and then she took off and broke my friend's finger, so you really really need to be careful. It will knock your socks off when you see what these animals are really capeable of- even the sweet ones.

Answer 8

well for the first one i would call the vet out and ask about it. like ask her/him if it is something they need to come out and see. and for the second one grab the lead rope in your left hand as if you were going to lead her and then have a long dressage crop in your right hand. so that way is she doesn't like the you are leading her you can just flick the dressage crop by her but to get her to walk again.  well hope i helped Sabrina