# Funky dents in horses neck/shoulder



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

So my friend got this mare at an auction and she is being boarded here for a couple months. She is a mustang. Not sure from where yet, since we havent clipped her brand. She has these strange dents where her neck meets her shoulders. I am curious if anyone has any ideas on what they are from. The left side is worse then the right, and there is no hair on the deepest part. They are deeper then it looks in the pic. Very strange looking, you can put your hand in them. Other then being a little spooky she is a good mare.


----------



## Minelson (Oct 16, 2007)

My guess would be an old injury....like she got stuck in something that caused a deep laceration on both sides


----------



## Lisa in WA (Oct 11, 2004)

I wonder if they are some kind of funky, bilateral prophet's thumbmarks.


----------



## wolffeathers (Dec 20, 2010)

They look really deep to be prophet's thumbmarks, I had a mare(and my gelding now) that both have/had them and they were really the size of thumbs. Not that nature won't throw us those oddballs every now and then. 

I wonder if she ran into something at got stuck at the shoulders, like running through a sharp headgate?

Fenix has chunks missing on both side of her neck higher up, I imagine it's where over the years stallions have taking their share of skin. But that looks like a weird place for a stallion bite.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

I wonder if she got hung up in some wire in the past.


----------



## tinknal (May 21, 2004)

BTW, nice lookin horse for a 'stanger.


----------



## TroutRiver (Nov 26, 2010)

I almost took a rescue mare a few years back that had marks similar to that. I was told that she had a run-in with a barbed wire fence that cut her shoulder very badly. The wound had healed up completely by the time I saw her, but she still had deep scars, very similar to that picture.


----------



## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I know that BLM uses crushes to doctor wild caught mustangs- maybe she tried to squeeze her shoulder through something like that. Anyway I've never seen anything like that on both sides.


----------



## oregon woodsmok (Dec 19, 2010)

It's a sweeney.


----------



## CIW (Oct 2, 2007)

Those horses are kept in feedlots. They reach between bars when they eat. Over time reaching for food bruses the tissues on the neck and sometimes the chest. In turn they break down, leaving an indentation.
Similar effects happen to a horse that is worked in an ill fitting collar.
Sometimes they will also have scabbed or capped knees from running up against the concrete feedbbunk that the bars stick out of.


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

CIW I bet thats what it is. The deeper side is hairless in the middle. She has alot of white scars and thought if it was an injury then that one would be white too, but, probably not if its from being done for an extended time.


----------



## lasergrl (Nov 24, 2007)

oregon woodsmok said:


> It's a sweeney.


Just looked this up, looks like thats possible too.

This mare is very sound, can a sweeney leave marks without the lameness?


----------



## Irish Pixie (May 14, 2002)

Sweeney causes atrophy because of damage to the suprascapular nerve. As time progresses the horse can lose the range of motion to allow full extention of the limb, there can also be instability within the joint itself because of the muscle atrophy. Is there a shortening of her stride on that side? She may not be lame over this but there could be a shortening of the stride.

I'm not positive that this is sweeney shoulder, can you have a Vet out to exam the horse for a definitive diagnosis? He or she may be able to tell if fairly recent or an old injury and I think (I've never had contact with a horse with Sweeney shoulder but I have read about it) the earlier the treatment the less damage.

I just reread the OP and Sweeney is rarely seen on both sides so a Vet is your best bet.


----------



## where I want to (Oct 28, 2008)

I have never seen sweeny but I thought it effected the should muscles and this seems to be the large group of neck muscles that have a dent. Really interested in hearing if there is that diagnosis.


----------



## mayfair (May 7, 2006)

Could be from an old kick. I have one with a good sized dent from being kicked.


----------



## Maddiequus (Nov 4, 2003)

2nd mayfair - my TB gelding got clocked really hard one time and has a divet in his neck forever. Doesn't affect him at all, just looks ugly.


----------

