Papillomas in Horses

Papillomas can appear overnight on your horses skin. But theres no need to sound the alarm if you find grayish or skincolored bumps on the nose of your young horse. Papillomas may look unsightly but they shouldnt cause excessive worry and are more of a nuisance especially when you want your horse to be well turned out for the ring.
What Are Papillomas?
Papillomas refer to small gray irregular bumps on your horses skin that look like warts. Some smaller warts called baby warts are also sometimes referred to as teenage acne in the horse world. They are most commonly seen on a horses nostrils and muzzle or on thinlyhaired areas of its body such as the eyelids or front legs.

Symptoms of Papillomas in Horses
Viral papilloma can pop up quite suddenly. One day your horse seems fine and upon further inspection you find strange bumps that seem to spread easily and almost overnight. Here are the two obvious symptoms of papillomas in horses.
CauliflowerLike Bumps
A whole region on your horse may look encrusted with clusters of unattractive cauliflowerlike bumps that are small flattened or raised ovals with a somewhat hardened and sometimes crusty surface. These bumps can show up on the face ears legs and genitals.
Cracked and Bleeding Skin
Its also not unusual for the skin to crack and bleed or for papilloma warts to break off in areas that are mobile like on the lips and nose. Some horse owners believe that once they bleed and scab the warts will go away faster. However any open wound must be closely monitored to prevent infection.
Causes of Papillomas 
Similar to the warts humans contract horse papillomas are caused by the equine papillomavirus a herpes virus resulting in a viral infection 1 When papillomas are present on the ears they are called aural plaques. These flaky crusty parts