Is that your nose or are you eating a banana?

I had the vet out to see Max today.

When he was about four years old, very soon after he became mine, a bump developed slightly above his left nostril. We suspected that he'd been stung by a wasp (the yard he was at was rife with the angry buzzers that summer). The bump never went down.

When I moved to my current yard in Spring the next year, I asked the vet in attendance for flu jabs to have a look, and he told me it was a benign cyst, purely a cosmetic matter and that I shouldn't worry about it.

So I didn't. I kept an eye on it though, and noticed that sometimes it seemed to have grown a little. Every now and again I'd feel inside his nostril too, where there was also a little bump, but basically nothing changed. Until this past weekend.

I thought it looked bigger again, that bump. I put my fingers up Max's nose for a feel (no, he certainly did NOT like that) and was shocked to feel a bump the size of a golf ball, which felt like it was full of liquid.

Hence today's vet visit. I wanted to know if the change was sinister, if I should be doing something about it, if it was going to interfere with Max's breathing, if he was going to need it drained or worse still, an operation to remove it.

So today, after an almost sleepless night of worry, I have learned about atheromatous cysts, because that is what Max has.

This was not caused by a wasp sting; Max was born with it. They generally don't show themselves until the horse is about four years old, and then in about another four years, they become quite a bit more noticeable. Max is a textbook case.

The cyst forms in the false nostril and as it is made up of skin cells, they keep multiplying to produce more skin cells, so the lump keeps growing. It is painless, harmless and will not now or ever obstruct Max's breathing or turn into something nasty.

So we talked about options. Yes, I could have it surgically removed, and no, it wouldn't grow back. If I don't have it surgically removed, it will continue to grow and Max will eventually have quite a large lump on his face. It won't bother him, it will just be there looking lumpy.

Horses are quite tricky with general anaesthetic, and an operation of this kind would require GA. Standing under sedation would not be favoured by any surgeon because of the location; you really need the horse to keep his head perfectly still while the operation is taking place.

Draining the cyst is not an option and could just make matters worse: "Bacteria would love the chance to get into a spot like that!" my vet said.

So we talked, I considered that if an operation was going to happen at all, it would be better to do it while Max is young and fit, but there still is the risk of general anaesthetic. For something life-threatening, or a condition that will probably cause future health issues (like the operation Max had in 2008)then the risk is worth it. But is it worth it for this?

So I asked my vet "What would you do if Max was your horse?"

He smiled and said, "You know if you look at most vet's horses, you'll see all kinds of weird and wonderful lumps, bumps and minor complaints that aren't interfering with the horse's quality of life, so they are left alone. If Max was my horse, I'd do nothing at all. I'd call it his 'special lump'."

That is exactly what I am going to do: Nothing.

Max is healthy, he's safe and he will always be my lovely horse no matter how bulbous his nose gets.