abcess in hoof!!

[oliviacharley]

Honestly - another problem -if my horse hasnt had it!!
Im wondering what peoples views are on this...?
He had one in his front hoof and this is now the rear...the front one I didnt even notice as I had been cleaning his feet due to seedy toe anyhow and he had not been lame or shown soreness!!
He went lame last week - gave him two days of bute ( had some left over due to him pulling his pelvis muscles in may!!) and cooling gel on the leg - also stabled him over night.

He was alot better, but after farrier came today said he had an abcess in his back hoof!! - only clear solution was coming out of the crack when he pushed on it and he said to leave it as it seemed ok really and he had fought off the other one without me even knowing...

I think I should be at least cleaning it with something...? The farrier mentioned if it gets worse to call him and he would come and dig it out....!!
I cant afford for him to become lame if I know I can do something to prevent that problem now!!

He has seedy toe in his front hoof and I religiously clean all his feet daily...does seedy toe sometimes create abcesses...? Also is it a reoccuring thing....does wet ground cause the problem or something missing in his diet...he is on biotin and has kevin bacon oil on his feet to help keep them moisturised...I look after my horses better than I do myself!!
any suggestions would be great as I have a 10 mile ride in two weeks!!

 

[AmyMay]

Forget your 10 mile ride, unless the horse comes sound and the abcess has gone. Yes, this awful ground is just great for feet problems.

You should possibly steer clear of the bute too, as this can sometimes be a contra indication to abcess, and rather than dampening it down - you want it to come out.

Are you poulticing??

Have you had some advice from your vet??

Is he on a balanced diet??

 

[saskia295]

I think I would be poulticing it, have you been doing that?

A tip someone at the yard gave me once was to use nappies over the hoof to keep it dry. How she came up witht hat one I have no idea!

 

[Rachmeister]

I agree with AmyMay - the wet ground does not help with horses prone to abcesses and seedy toe indicates a weakness which means abcesses are more likely. When my little pony had two abcesses last spring when it was very wet, the vet located the abcess and burst it to stop it seeping out over the coronet band (not good). The after care was quite traditional but worked a treat. He was on box rest on a very nice deep and clean bed for a week. Twice daily he had "tubbing" which meant making the pony stand in a clean rubber feed skip full of warm to hot water with a handful of epsom salts for 10 minutes (that's a lot of fun, not!) then pack the hoof with more epsom salts, cover with animalintex held on by gaffer tape, topped off with binding the whole hoof up with vetrap. I did this for 5 or 6 days and he was fine after that, though brought back into work slowly. The pony took about three days to learn how to take the vetrap off with his teeth so we had to get creative after that.

Hope this helps.

 

[oliviacharley]

Lovely thanks everyone - this is a fresh abcess and the farrier did not seem to cut it out - he said to leave it and see how it gets on....good idea about the nappies and the masking tape...:0)
He is on spillers nuts, vit and mins, biotin as well as garlic powder - he has feed once a day.

This year my horses have had really issue with their feet and its good to hear that it could be due to the weather!! Phew

 

[Donkeymad]

I have just had to deal with yet another abscess, I'm getting quite an expert. I am always told to administer Bute, so I would not stop that. Normally mine are kept out as this keeps the circulation going which will help expel the pus. Also, I usually hot tub twice daily, or poulticing is equally as good.
Also apply some antibacterial product to the 'crack' whenever you treat the hoof.