Not pigeon fever either......

Doesn't sound like Strangles at all. Strangles is very messy. Their throats are so sore they can hardly eat, the glands get huge and then 'ripen', burst and drain - lots of pus. My vet (not the one I have now) gave me a syringe and an antiseptic solution that I had to use to wash them out. I had to use warm water (this was in below freezing weather) and paper towels to wash off the 'gunk' that had drained and dried into the hair and also to soften the area that had closed off. Then I would squirt the solution into the holes to wash out the pus. I did that morning and evening for I can't remember how long as others would come up. I wore gloves and put all my paper towels in plastic bags for disposal at my home and also made a bleach water solution to disinfect the area where I did the treatments. We put corn oil in his grain to try to help with calories and also to try and ease his throat. His body condition got so bad that I'm sure I would have been turned in for abuse if someone had seen him. He was infected by a 'carrier' that came into the barn and 7 of the 8 horses that had been there originally got it. I would almost think that he had a bug bite of some kind.

My former neigbors had such a big herd, they didn't even quarentine.  A baby had it once that I remember and they left him in with the herd.
 
Did it drain when you cleaned it? Maybe hot compresses? Maybe it was just an owie.

Did it drain when you cleaned it?

My question, too.  My Hubby's old saddle horse had worked in a camp all summer before we got him in the fall.  He originally came from out west somewhere.  It is pretty common for these horses to get strangles.  A lot of people medicate but stop when the symptoms subside instead of going the full course with the antibiotics.  With some horses, as with our Dexter, months later they can abscess and drain.  He had a healthy appetite when we got him but one day in the winter I noticed he seemed to have more life.  Instead of walking along with me, he jogged.  I put my hand under his jaw and came up with a hand full of pus.  His recovery was total after that.  We kept it clean and he ate and drank normally.  A  horsewoman told me that partial medication can drive the nasty stuff in deep to come out later.  They seem to recover nicely if it runs its course.  Of course, if the horse is really sick, calling the vet is a must.  It seems to hit the very young and the very old the hardest if it is their first exposure to it.


Hope he recovers nicely.  I have always been told the cause can live in the ground for a long time, just waiting to reinfect.  Kathi's suggestion to dispose of the 'medical waste' properly and to clean up the treatment area is good.

Vet friend came out and said it is not strangles   She thinks it is pigeon fever or dryland distemper so drew some blood and sent it off to Davis for analysis.  The lump never really oozed, was just raw so we cleaned it and treated it with Vetricyn.  He looks great, acts fine.
 
Thanks for all the advice.  We sprayed bleach/water on all the pole corral rails and around the edges of the mangers and such to kill the bacteria.

I don't know if you remember but I posted a pic here taken of Zag's chest. DaneHaven said pidgeon fever right away. I guess they'd seen several cases with the drought last year. I found that spot on him the day I wanted to try the dressage saddle out. I knew he was acting a little squirrelly when I was brushing him, then I found the spot on him. I wasn't sure what it was but thought, Just put the saddle on, walk him down the road and see how the saddle feels. That boy must have been hallucinating cuz he was doing dressage moves all the way down the road. I seriously thought I might eat asphalt that day. I'm sure it must have been impressive to see if only that was his natural way of moving. What's that prancing? Piaffe? Whatever... and sidepassing all the way home. Lord have mercy! He was three handsful!! I felt bad when I realized he was sick. AND I felt so grateful that he's such a good boy normally cuz I'd hate to have to deal with that on every ride!! 

Hoping to get the results back from Davis on the blood test today.  It said 8 days and it will be today.... His bump has really gotten smaller and is scabbed up and dry now.  He is doing well, never had any other symptoms.
 
His arthritis has flared up again.... he was wringing his tail and crow hopping at Pony Club last Saturday when he had to canter to the the left and would cross-fire in the rear.  He has just a slight difference in the rear, not a true limp but definitely a difference.  Sigh..... To the right, he was his normal self.
 
 

Do you know any horse yoga? [] Maybe you can work on his alignment yourself. Okay, maybe Kelly can.  Also, was wondering if Kelly has thought about Jewel any more now that Jewel is getting edgamacated. [] Has she ridden her with the trainer there ever? That's so much horse there, it would be hard to replace her, wouldn't it?

Bloodwork came back, no pigeon fever either..... no one else has anything strange going on so who knows!  Infected salivary gland?  Guess this one will be an obviously non-contagious, unknown abcess.......

No, Kelly is really happy with where she is on Tahoe right now.  Their dressage is really coming along and he is jumping 2' 9" consistently now.
 
I want to get on Jewel!!  It is sad to let her go but really, she is bred to do so much more than we will ever do.....  Kind of like we're Target and she's Neiman-Marcus or something like that!  You are welcome to come out and try her out!!

Hmm. I didn't think it sounded like Pigeon Fever, either (but then I'm not a vet, just a long-time horse owner). Probably like Connie (?) said, and owie that got infected. One of those horse-life mysteries. Glad he's better.