Strangles horses usually show a fever with loss of appetite.  They just
plain don't feel good.  My 3 yr old recently had been in a barn where a
horse had broken with strangles.  She had a fever and didn't eat for a day
(no lymph node swelling) and everybody panicked. They were ready to load
her up on antibiotics and vaccinate her.  I put the kabosh on that really
fast and gave her a couple doses of aconite.  The next day she was fine and
plunked out a beautiful molar cap 3 days later...turns out she was
teething.
Kim Henneman, DVM