If you are a horse owner chances are you have had your share of bumps and welts…Oh I’m not talking about on you I’m talking about your horse  …Hi this is  Jeff Keane and I’ll be right back after the break with one form of swelling you will want  to take seriously. Horses, like people,  get hives and bug bites but there is a disease that has moved into the West from California that can take a  terrible toll on your horse. Here’s Susan Allen with information on  pigeon fever. Jeff the only thing pigeon fever has in common with birds is that the swelling it causes looks like the breast of a pigeon. It actually is a bacteria that lives in the soil and because it likes a cooler, dryer climate in our area it is more prevalent in the  fall . No one knows how this bacteria is transferred,  there is speculation that  house and horn fly’s carry  it from horse to horse, and so can we if don’t sanitize our hands and equipment after contact with a sick animal. Sadly there is no vaccine just treatment. It can get ugly, and serious. Over forty percent of horses that come down with the internal form of the disease die.  A horse contracts it though skin membranes and it might   take weeks before it exhibits itself in swelling, fever, depression, weight loss or lameness. Now there are three ways it can appear:  An external abbess typically in the peck   muscles internally in the lymph nodes making it hard to diagnose, and in the lower limbs sometimes causing permanent leg  damage. If  your horse shows pigeon fever symptoms  contact  your vet  as soon as possible .I’m Jeff Keane.