Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

At 08:49 PM 10/1/2004, Julie Fuller wrote:
> I've done some surfing, and I'm pretty sure its cancer.  And for the most 
> part, information says he'll die of old age before cancer.  But... If it 
> metastisizes, he'll go pretty quick.  And what I want to know is 
> this:  Has anyone actually experienced this?  What can you tell me?
> How will I know if it's "gone bad"?

What you describe sounds like what my Froggie had.  He had a lump for years 
and years on the inner thigh, high up.  Nothing every happened with it, so 
I just watched it.  It was, in the beginning, about the size of a dime in 
diameter and stuck up maybe half that height.  I can't tell you when he 
developed it, but I'd guess in his early to mid teens.

Froggie died last summer at 30 years old.  He had developed more of those 
lumps in the last half year of his life, and the original one was now the 
size of a quarter.  It went the way it often does - he started losing 
weight rapidly.  I'd say he did that for a month to 6 weeks before he 
died.  Then he was in pain for two days - sort of a non-specific gut pain - 
and died during the second night.

I couldn't tell you if your horse's being out of breath and sweating is a 
symptom of anything since I wasn't riding Froggie any more and he didn't do 
anything even vaguely resembling work.  I would consider having a lump 
biopsied.  It doesn't have to be cancer, Froggie's lumps weren't biopsied 
and he might not have had cancer either.

________________________________
   Lif Strand      fasterhorses.com
           Quemado NM USA
High Country Rider:  An endurance rider's journal
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