CONSULTANTS
MANAGEMENT
A disease of old age
Q: I have a friend who lost her older gelding to a strangulated gut. The veterinarian said her horse had developed an internal fatty tumor that wrapped around the horse’s intestines. This came out of the blue: This gelding had been perfectly healthy until two days before, with no signs of illness. He was not overweight.
Since that happened, I’ve been terrified my 24-year-old gelding will develop a similar unseen tumor. Is there any way to keep these from developing? Or detect them before they wrap around a gut? My horse is generally doing well, aside from a little arthritis. I just want to make sure that I am doing everything I can for him. What can I do to prevent this problem?
Name withheld by request
A: Firstly, I am very sorry about your friend’s horse dying from a strangulating lipoma. Sadly, this disease is of growing importance in the equine population as the number of aging horses increases. Your concern for your own horse is understandable, but hopefully I can put your mind at ease.
Strangulating lipoma is of growing importance in the equine population as the number of aging horses increases.
Unfortunately, we do not have a good system or a marker—other than advancing years—for identifying horses that have a pedunculated lipoma (a benign, fatty tumor on a stalk that is capable
