warts

[Irishroots]

I have a coming yearling that has developed tiny warts around her eyes, is there anything you advise to get rid of them? She is going to be shown and don't think warts would be very attractive in the show ring. I had a yearling a few years ago and he developed a couple on his lip, but they went away by themselves.

 

[Nathan Luszcz]

They are the same thing your yearling had, they're called juvenile warts and will go away on their own. DO NOT break them, cut them, squeeze them, or molest them in any way, you'll cause scarring. Just leave them be and they'll go away!

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

Some people believe damaging the wart exposes virus particles to the immune system and a faster resolution, but probably not.

Other horses on the farm are likely carriers. They will stop shedding virus is they are away from naive animals for > 1 year or vaccinate the naive.

Dr Taylor

 

[albahurst]

What is the vaccination?

Just interested in learning- I don't have this problem here.

 

[drmatthewtaylor]

What is the vaccination?

Just interested in learning- I don't have this problem here.

You can use the cattle vaccination, but there is a risk to reaction.

I usually 'harvest' warts on the farm and make the vaccine.

Dr Taylor

 

[kaykay]

Seems like once you get this on your farm it appears the every spring on yearlings or young horses. We got it by bringing in a new horse with it then had it every spring. Then we moved and never had it again.

I did try removing one and making the horse eat it. They did seem to fade rapidly after that but it may have been a coincidence?

 

[Minimor]

We bought a Morgan filly in 1988 and she arrived with warts, which then spread to some of our other young horses, since none of our herd then had been exposed to warts up until then. By early 1989 they'd run their course and we didn't have any more warts, not even on any of the young horses we raised or acquired after that spring. Then last summer we got a new horse that arrived with warts. That was in June--I'm not sure how long he'd had the warts, but I know he didn't have them in his spring photos, so he didn't have them very long. In less than a month they were gone. No one else caught them until last fall--then two of the young ponies had them on their noses. Those soon went away and now I just recently noticed that one other horse had some on his nose. This strain seems to be a short lived one so I'm not concerned--they'll soon run their course & be gone from the farm again.

Depending when your first show is there's a very good chance that these warts will be gone by the time the show rolls around, even if you don't do anything to try and get rid of them. That's the nice things about warts--leave them alone & they'll always go away.