Abscess - barefoot or shod?

[Alyth]

Surely the question should by why? As I understand it abcesses are natures way of removing problem material....whether it is a thorn that has worked its way into the body or necrotic material that needs to be removed....and the latter is usually the reason why horses new to barefoot develop abcesses - to remove necrotic material caused by wearing shoes (ok stop screaming!!)....but no 2 cases are identical!! In over 50 years of owning horses I have only come across 2 abcesses!! Shod or barefoot!! One I didn't know about until a horizonal slit appeared in hoof growth!! The other I feel was due to drastic changes in horses living conditions when away at boarding school for starting!! So I do not believe having a horse barefoot causes abcesses.....

 

[cptrayes]

Ok that is fair enough, and I respect your huge amount of knowledge and experience. But why does it always come back to we as owners, are apparently not being diligent enough, be it to do with our mineral balancing, testing of forage or happily unaware that our horse's may have serious health issues that we are blithely unaware of?

It doesn't ALWAYS but it does OFTEN.

What am I supposed to do, not mention things that can help horse welfare and owners because it might upset people who look after their horses absolutely perfectly???

What do you want me to say?

Can you not accept that for very many horse's, given today's methods of keeping horses and the restrictions imposed on horse owners by the fact of a seriously overstocked countryside that is very often over fertilised etc. etc. that even trying barefoot is detrimental to the horse's health and well being and just not a realistic option.

I always have. You obviously have not read my other posts. Start with this thread from years ago:

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=405124

I appreciate your statement that for those who can't do these things, then shoe them. But it can't just be me who perceives that if you FAIL to achieve successful barefoot transition it is entirely your own fault and abscessing, footy horses and a miserable existence is totally avoidable in ALL cases if we just tried harder to get it right. Or took the trouble to have our horses tested for various health problems that MUST exist if all else is being done, and said horse is still not happy barefoot?

Not it's not just you, there are plenty of people who read stuff that is attempting to help others as a criticism of themselves.

I still don't really feel that my question has been answered in anyway other than the usual mantra. I was hoping for some real scientific reason WHY it causes abscessing in some and not others, but perhaps there isnt an answer as yet?

I think a more important question is where the research is into why some shod and barefoot horses get more abscesses than others.

As for barefoot, it's as plain as the nose on your face, surely? If you take a horse with compromised and weak feet, and take its shoes off in order to strengthen them, then a proportion of those horses will damage their weak feet in the early days of being without shoes, and a proportion of that damage will turn to an abscess.

Some people also make the mistake of doing too much work on difficult surfaces too soon, and cause the abscessing.

The abscess will generally be over and done with rapidly, and the horse can usually continue and develop much better feet than it had in shoes.

One does wonder if we might look back on this era of barefoot enthusiasm and question what some horses were put through in a relentless effort to get them barefoot, no matter what?

I do not see any "relentless effort to get them barefoot" going on anywhere around me. If you do, and you feel the welfare of the horse is being compromised, you should report the owner to the relevant authorities.

I personally think that we will look back on this era and wonder why on earth we used to shoe almost every horse in work. And thank it for reminding us that horses were not supposed to eat food laced liberally with sugar, or cow pastures. And particularly for establising that soft tissue injuries inside the food, which still cause the euthanasia of many horses, can in most cases be cured.


I must say that for someone who said

I really hope my question might result in some useful debate but not mayhem!

your reply to my post seemed to me to be quite strong.

 

[cptrayes]

I was merely hoping that perhaps I would read something on here that would clarify in my mind what the connection is in some horses that can go shod for many, many years, and then start to abscess when taken barefoot. And in some cases continue to abscess from that point in. But no longer abscess when re shod.

I think first of all you would have to establish that the trimmer was doing the right job. Strasser trimming, for example, was well known for causing repeated abscessing.

Then you'd have to look at how carefully the work was built up to allow for the condition of the foot at the time.

But assuming that the trim was perfect, and that the horse did not do too much work, then I'd be looking at what other changes having no shoes on makes.

My personal opinion on this, and it is one I have held for some time but have no evidence for, is that it is due to the increased blood supply in an unshod foot, which will deliver more toxins to the foot simply because there is more of it.

So, let's say we have a horse who in shoes just about copes with his diet (yes, sorry, diet again) and his blood is supplying just under the level of toxins that his feet can cope with.

We take off his shoes and the toxins per hour delivered to the feet go up markedly, and now reach a level where they kill solar corium or laminae, and bingo, you have an abscess. And if you don't change the diet to reduce the toxins in the bloodstream, you will get another and another until you do.

This is also, of course, why so many more barefooters get low grade lamintis (sore soles) than shod horses.

I believe that it is also why we historically routinely shoe three or four year olds. We say they need it because they have come into work and get sore. But the time they are brought into work coincides exactly with the time that their bodies mature and their calorie needs drop right off and their gut starts passing toxins to their feet.

Can you spare us a couple of million for some research Mrsjingle?

 

[amandap]

I have a niggling feeling that somewhere we are missing some knowledge about the tendency for the abscessing to be more 'acceptable' in a barefoot horse. It doesn't sit easy with me that a horse in pain and regularly abscessing is a particularly good thing even if our intentions in trying barefoot are for the horse's long term benefit (in our eyes that is). Reading seems to tell me that it isnt something that just occurs whilst 'transitioning' with a lot of barefoot'ers it does seem to be an ongoing problem.

Just to go back to this point. I don't believe this is true but have read similar myself browsing the net. Abscessing isn't acceptable in a barefoot horse but it happens. Nor it is generally considered a good thing, as I said one school appear to see it this way but ime in UK abscessing is seen as a negative thing and to be avoided by protecting weak feet wherever possible. Boots and pads and keeping to softer or flat, non stony surfaces are the main interventions along with ongoing diet changes to encourage a healthier hoof to grow. Abscessing generally sets the horse back as movement is compromised and of course it can be extremely painful. Why would it be good? The aim is to reduce the amount of internal hoof damage not encourage it.
Yes, a horse just out of shoes might be uncomfortable but any extreme discomfort is usually pretty short lived, if it isn't something is seriously wrong imo.
Mine don't abscess regularly in fact they have been rare and considering the state of one of my mare's hooves a few years ago it's actually a miracle she only had two that I was aware of.

Anyway, I do think mineral status is a big factor in many horses. Stories such as Teddy's on the Forage Plus site and the changes in my lot, since I started feeding a good balancer, which have been dramatic, are leading me to think this. It is only an owners feeling though.
I am beginning to believe long standing mineral depletion/imbalance etc. is one possible major cause of hoof ill health.

I am sorry if this reads as a mantra or a dig it isn't intended that way. What you read on the net isn't always what is happening on the ground.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

I have 3 barefoot, not had an abscess yet. Had one with a bad stone bruise last year and one with thrush this year which is clearing up. None of mine have thrush as bad as nearly all shod horses that I see however, they don't seem to feel it...

But, being in Scotland I have realised that barefoot is difficult in this sort of climate.My vet says they have seen more abscesses this year than any other and when I asked, he said 90% of them were shod-there are simply more shod horses about. I have several friends with a certain breed of native-all their shod ones have had abscesses this winter, my two of the same breed have not.

I have too much grass and a bog-keeping your horse in a bog with leave him with feet fit to cope with a bog, even with bringing them in at night. I will have to boot for a while or maybe for months if we have another summer like last years. But they are comfortable on tarmac, school and field which is all they need in between the hacks that require boots.

 

[Mrs Jingle]

OK, well I do seem to have worded myself rather badly and unwittingly caused offense to some barefooters that have far more knowledge than I have on the whole debate surrounding the pros and cons. For that alone I do apologise sincerely.

But my point still is, given that some shod horses are on the same minerals, supplements, forage and grazing (or not ideally!)etc. and they never abscess when shod, but do when taken barefoot, but no longer do when re shod again.

Surely in these cases there has to be some other reason that can't be put down to diet and management if it is optimum whilst the horse is both shod and unshod?

I imagine that we don't yet have that answer, that lack of knowledge and assumptions about abscessing and actions that are made without truly knowing this does cause me some concern. I guess I just have to conclude, as I don't have the necessary few million requested for research, it will remain an enigma for sometime to come.

Thank you for you comments.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

MrsJingle-I agree that people don't all have the answers but barefoot has come a long way in a short time here in the UK. unfortunately the lack of funding for research and the lack of evidence based vet medicine here means it's going to take longer to get proven answers.

I am a scientist, I don't 'believe' in anything however some of the stuff I was reading a few years back convinced me to give it a go and it coincided with finally having the horses at home and being able to manage them as I wanted.

 

[cptrayes]

But my point still is, given that some shod horses are on the same minerals, supplements, forage and grazing (or not ideally!)etc. and they never abscess when shod, but do when taken barefoot, but no longer do when re shod again.

I have already explained this Mrs Jingle, did you not see my explanation?

 

[HashRouge]

My mare was unshod/ barefoot for a year before she got her first abscess, but then they just kept on coming! I got the vet to test for cushings as I couldn't work out why she suddenly kept on getting them, and she did in fact test positive. I had a little bit of trouble with one that burst shortly before she started the prascend, but then recurred several weeks later - I obviously hadn't been quite as diligent as usual with my poulticing . But other than that she has been abscess free for a while now and *fingers crossed* it's a sign that the prascend has kicked in.

 

[skint1]

Ok that is fair enough, and I respect your huge amount of knowledge and experience. But why does it always come back to we as owners, are apparently not being diligent enough, be it to do with our mineral balancing, testing of forage or happily unaware that our horse's may have serious health issues that we are blithely unaware of?

Can you not accept that for very many horse's, given today's methods of keeping horses and the restrictions imposed on horse owners by the fact of a seriously overstocked countryside that is very often over fertilised etc. etc. that even trying barefoot is detrimental to the horse's health and well being and just not a realistic option.

I appreciate your statement that for those who can't do these things, then shoe them. But it can't just be me who perceives that if you FAIL to achieve successful barefoot transition it is entirely your own fault and abscessing, footy horses and a miserable existence is totally avoidable in ALL cases if we just tried harder to get it right. Or took the trouble to have our horses tested for various health problems that MUST exist if all else is being done, and said horse is still not happy barefoot?

I still don't really feel that my question has been answered in anyway other than the usual mantra. I was hoping for some real scientific reason WHY it causes abscessing in some and not others, but perhaps there isnt an answer as yet? One does wonder if we might look back on this era of barefoot enthusiasm and question what some horses were put through in a relentless effort to get them barefoot, no matter what?

It's not just you, I think the same too, wish I could have said it as articulately.

 

[cptrayes]

It's not just you, I think the same too, wish I could have said it as articulately.

That post was written to me Skint1 and I found it bordeline offensive and it was in parts downright inaccurate. Please read my response to it, which now applies to you to.

 

[skint1]

ok, well excuse me for intruding on your argument, I was just participating in a discussion, not commenting on anyone personally, my fault for not reading to the end of the thread.

 

[Holly Hocks]

On an entirely different note, how long do you think an abscess could "lurk" for before bursting? Cptrayes knows about my horse and the undiagnosed never-ending abscess, but my thought is that it may have been lurking there prior to any symptoms and the only reason I think this is because she was a lovely hack - absolutely fine on the concrete, without boots, striding out, but got her into the school and she was a complete witch - broncing, rearing and generally very unhappy on the soft surface, and I now wonder if the abscess was lurking for longer than the lameness was actually showing.....I'm not at the riding stage again yet, but I'm terrified of taking her back in the school in case it starts....could it have been linked to her behaviour?

 

[Mrs Jingle]

That post was written to me Skint1 and I found it bordeline offensive and it was in parts downright inaccurate. Please read my response to it, which now applies to you to.

My goodness, I hadn't realised just how easily you take offense cptrayes if you feel someone else's opinion isn't the correct one? And no actually, you haven't clarified the situation for me.

I can not agree with you that the difference is all these toxins that have been floating around in the horse's system apparently doing no harm whatsoever, suddenly rush to the horse's hoof when the shoes are removed. Why don't these toxins migrate to other parts of the body that does have a better circulation, if it is returning circulation within the hoof capsule that attracts the toxins?

To be frank you lost me around about the comment where you felt it necessary to explain to me what LGL is! Please don't insult my intelligence or that of approximately 99 per cent of horse owners who will know exactly what LGL is. Talking down to people who are genuinely interested in hearing varying opinions on barefoot really doesn't do anything to maintain your credibility does it?

I think this thread will now be going around in circles and nothing further of enlightenment will be said to help me in my research, so therefore I will step away from the thread now. Thank you again for your time and input.

 

[amandap]

Perhaps we should look at what causes abscesses first to get some idea of why some horses get them and others don't?

Causes I think I know of are:-

Penetration of foreign object aka puncture wound.
Dead/diseased tissue causing local inflammation.
Infection getting in through a compromised hoof capsule.

I imagine the freeing of the hoof mechanism when shoes are removed is a factor.
The hoof is slightly nearer the ground out of shoes.

I have been told that shoes protect the hoof but I still fail to understand how myself. Perhaps someone could explain?

 

[cptrayes]

My goodness, I hadn't realised just how easily you take offense cptrayes if you feel someone else's opinion isn't the correct one?

I have no problem with you stating opinions but you accused me of failing to accept that some people are not in a position to have their horse shoeless, which is completely inaccurate and actually deserves an apology. And since your post was addressed directly to me, I also found your wording confrontational to the point of rudeness.

I can not agree with you that the difference is all these toxins that have been floating around in the horse's system apparently doing no harm whatsoever, suddenly rush to the horse's hoof when the shoes are removed. Why don't these toxins migrate to other parts of the body that does have a better circulation, if it is returning circulation within the hoof capsule that attracts the toxins?

The laminae and solar corium are very sensitive to toxins. A horses gut leaks toxins if it is not quite dealing with its diet, but these do not obviously affect other parts of the body, which is why laminitics only appear to have foot problems and not whole-body issues.

If it takes 10 bits of toxin a minute to damage laminae/corium beyond immediate repair, and the blood supply is carrying 9 bits of toxin a minute, then the feet will be fine.

If you then increase the blood supply by, say, 20 percent, there are nearly 11 bits of toxin minute reaching the laminae and the effects will suddenly be seen.

Put shoes back on, cut the blood supply down again, and the symptoms will disappear.

It doesn't seem like rocket science to me as an explanation of why a shod horse will get more abscesses if you take it barefoot and then less again when you reshoe, which was the question you wanted answering.

To be frank you lost me around about the comment where you felt it necessary to explain to me what LGL is! Please don't insult my intelligence or that of approximately 99 per cent of horse owners who will know exactly what LGL is. Talking down to people who are genuinely interested in hearing varying opinions on barefoot really doesn't do anything to maintain your credibility does it?

I never use acronyms without explaining them. It is a personal bugbear of mine how many experts attempt to maintain their superiority by using terms that others could be expected not to understand.

I think you will find that many people on this forum are unaware what we mean when we use the acronym LGL. It is a term which was coined in the last few years by barefooters, I believe. I am aware of vets and farriers who do not even believe the condition exists. I never use the term LGL, or any other acronym for that matter, without explaining what it is. You are the first person who has ever taken offence.

 

[tallyho!]

Sorry to dredge this from the depths of despair....

However, my filly, who has never been shod in her life, and I, an avid fan of fb and mineral testing and diet and free range horsedoms... Experienced this year an absolute shocker ride of repeated abscessing!

Obviously nothing to do with shoes as she has never worn them.

Has anyone ever thought of iron being a major culprit?

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Probably going to regret this but my horse who I have had for 12 years has never had an abcess shod nor barefoot which he has been now for 17months and has been sound pretty much since the shoes came off, just got more and more comfortable over rutted/rough ground.

So does this mean that all his life I have been feeding him the perfect diet? Perfect grazing?? He has been moved six times in all that time to different soils and pasture, including five years on 'cow' pastures. Never had Lami nor LGL although those looking at his hoofs insist on telling me he has a bout monthly, hes never lame Hes only ever had feel good 30 hoof supp of equimins hoof mender periodically is on nothing now and has been diagnosed as cereal intolerant for ten years of that ownership so have been pretty much on less than 12% starch diet all that time basically fibre only as few feeds have less than that. So sometimes I find all the abcess theories to do with feeding and grazing etc and bit unfounded due to my own experience. Punctures and trauma yes.

My mare got one abcess in the two years I had her, I believe she got it through a puncture in her heelbulb by a thorn after our field bordering hedges were cut. Vet drained it and that was that. Never had another one.

Im not having a dig at anyone at all as I have had alot of BF advice from here occasionally when folk actually reply to my threads and I have learned a fair bit about it in all this time but I dont necessarily agree with everything like all the expensive ways of doing it and all the expensive supps and mins and methods. Ive done it cheaply and it seems efficiently all to the benefit of my horse which at the end of the day is what we are all after happy barefoot sound ponies in the BF camp and the same for those in the Shod camp as a ex member

 

[cptrayes]

Ok that is fair enough, and I respect your huge amount of knowledge and experience. But why does it always come back to we as owners, are apparently not being diligent enough, be it to do with our mineral balancing, testing of forage or happily unaware that our horse's may have serious health issues that we are blithely unaware of?

Can you not accept that for very many horse's, given today's methods of keeping horses and the restrictions imposed on horse owners by the fact of a seriously overstocked countryside that is very often over fertilised etc. etc. that even trying barefoot is detrimental to the horse's health and well being and just not a realistic option.

I appreciate your statement that for those who can't do these things, then shoe them. But it can't just be me who perceives that if you FAIL to achieve successful barefoot transition it is entirely your own fault and abscessing, footy horses and a miserable existence is totally avoidable in ALL cases if we just tried harder to get it right. Or took the trouble to have our horses tested for various health problems that MUST exist if all else is being done, and said horse is still not happy barefoot?

I still don't really feel that my question has been answered in anyway other than the usual mantra. I was hoping for some real scientific reason WHY it causes abscessing in some and not others, but perhaps there isnt an answer as yet? One does wonder if we might look back on this era of barefoot enthusiasm and question what some horses were put through in a relentless effort to get them barefoot, no matter what?

Your perception of failure is just that YOUR perception.

If it is the case that horses on a perfectly balanced diet with a perfect workload and no metabolic disease do not abscess, then how can we say otherwise?

The fact that it is difficult for many owners, especially in a livery yard, to achieve that, neither makes it untrue or the owner a failure.

You said in your opening post that your horse was on a good barefoot diet and turned out. For many horses that is simply not a good barefoot diet and many horses with that much access to grass will have weak white line and therefore abscess.

Don't shoot the messenger!

 

[tallyho!]

Oh yes, I don't know how people manage to do barefoot expensively. Where is the expense? If you think its mineral testing then that just cuts out false economy.

If it is to with trauma then why are some horses more susceptible than others? Is it a metabolic issue? Is it a balance issue? Osteitis maybe?

This filly has rock hard feet, they sound like shoes on Tarmac! I just don't think the white line is as tough as it should be and I am left wondering why...

If your horse can be sound for so long on all types of pasture... Why isn't mine?

She's only 2 so not going down the shoe route but if it continues into her ridden career then, I will do the right thing.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Oh yes, I don't know how people manage to do barefoot expensively. Where is the expense? If you think its mineral testing then that just cuts out false economy.

If it is to with trauma then why are some horses more susceptible than others? Is it a metabolic issue? Is it a balance issue? Osteitis maybe?

This filly has rock hard feet, they sound like shoes on Tarmac! I just don't think the white line is as tough as it should be and I am left wondering why...

If your horse can be sound for so long on all types of pasture... Why isn't mine?

She's only 2 so not going down the shoe route but if it continues into her ridden career then, I will do the right thing.

But thats my point I know I havent done things perfectly over the years, Ive done them my way and what works for my budget. Why has my horse stayed sound?? No idea. Why have I not had to use my boots to ride on all surfaces, No idea. I agree with the clopping on tarmac, my boy sounds shod also When I posted pics of his feet nobody had anything remarkable to say. No Id assume hes not got anything nopbody elses horses dont have

I dont understand how these trials and things can be done when every horse is different and even fields spread over a ten mile square can have different types of soil etc. Also 12 years is a long time to have a horse with no abcesses and hasnt once ever colicked dont you think? Maybe Ive just managed to hit the nail on the head with him but consdering I have changed his diet and feeds many times over the years I doubt it, maybe hes just naturally resistant I have no idea

Hes the horse in my sig so again hes not remarkable in any way shape or form to others lol, even his showname is Mr Cellophane, look right through him, walk right by him, and never know hes there

 

[tallyho!]

Very true... Well, my old boy who was laminitic, when unshod had the best feet. No abscessing whatsoever. I'm just perplexed why my filly is prone...

Maybe it's not a "prone-ness"... Maybe it's a phase of growth and I notice it because I see her daily and she is not in a field growing quietly in a herd. Would I even notice them? Is abscessing just that... A natural healing process and I happen to have caught her during such.a process and over-thunk it....

Questions questions

 

[cptrayes]

For goodness sake guys. EACH HORSE IS AN INDIVIDUAL.

What you can get away with with one will cripple another. Many horses are easy to keep barefoot. Some need absolute perfection in everything.

Having an easy one is not a matter for self congratulation. Having to shoe a difficult one is not a reason to wear a hair shirt.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Very true... Well, my old boy who was laminitic, when unshod had the best feet. No abscessing whatsoever. I'm just perplexed why my filly is prone...

Maybe it's not a "prone-ness"... Maybe it's a phase of growth and I notice it because I see her daily and she is not in a field growing quietly in a herd. Would I even notice them? Is abscessing just that... A natural healing process and I happen to have caught her during such.a process and over-thunk it....

Questions questions

I know its just plain odd. See if I get a call from his loaner mummy tomorrow saying the old beggar has an abcess I will get someone to drive me over there so I can murder him

Its frustrating Id imagine, I had a bay TB mare that just hurt herself constantly, could cause havoc in a secure and perfectly safe stable, then i got another one a bay TBxWB mare safe thing storm in a teacup at every opportunity ( the one that abcessed) so needless to say Im put off for life lol But she was on the same fields as the old one but couldnt do barefoot, same diet (bit more calories via oats or barley) etc but just couldnt hack it so shoes went on. Just bizarre to me.

 

[tallyho!]

For goodness sake guys. EACH HORSE IS AN INDIVIDUAL.

What you can get away with with one will cripple another. Many horses are easy to keep barefoot. Some need absolute perfection in everything.

Having an easy one is not a matter for self congratulation. Having to shoe a difficult one is not a reason to wait a hair shirt.

I know its just plain odd. See if I get a call from his loaner mummy tomorrow saying the old beggar has an abcess I will get someone to drive me over there so I can murder him

Its frustrating Id imagine, I had a bay TB mare that just hurt herself constantly, could cause havoc in a secure and perfectly safe stable, then i got another one a bay TBxWB mare safe thing storm in a teacup at every opportunity ( the one that abcessed) so needless to say Im put off for life lol But she was on the same fields as the old one but couldnt do barefoot, same diet (bit more calories via oats or barley) etc but just couldnt hack it so shoes went on. Just bizarre to me.

Yes your both dead right... I am over thinking it! Thanks for putting me straight guys...

Cpt, what is wait a hair shirt??

 

[cptrayes]

Sorry to dredge this from the depths of despair....

However, my filly, who has never been shod in her life, and I, an avid fan of fb and mineral testing and diet and free range horsedoms... Experienced this year an absolute shocker ride of repeated abscessing!

Obviously nothing to do with shoes as she has never worn them.

Has anyone ever thought of iron being a major culprit?

Errr, well known Tallyho. Excess iron prevents copper absorption, copper is needed to regulate insulin. Poor insulin regulation will cause foot problems like abscesses.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

For goodness sake guys. EACH HORSE IS AN INDIVIDUAL.

What you can get away with with one will cripple another. Many horses are easy to keep barefoot. Some need absolute perfection in everything.

Having an easy one is not a matter for self congratulation. Having to shoe a difficult one is not a reason to wait a hair shirt.

Erm thats actually not what we are discussing as far as I know, we were comparing and actually proving that point which if you read my first reply I actually said

Maybe someone on this thread has annoyed you but neither of us has been having a go so maybe step off a little, sharing experiences is what forums are for are they not???

Chill out CPT

 

[cptrayes]

Cpt, what is wait a hair shirt??

Swype error

Should be wear a hair shirt, meaning beat yourself up.


TH I would be very worried about a horse of two years old with repeated abscesses.

I bought one once and when he matured at seven he exploded into a laminitis which could only be controlled by complete removal from grass.

 

[flaxen tail]

My understanding is some abscesses are caused by bruising to the sole and the blood from the bruise goes off inside the hoof causing poison to build up which needs an escape route it finds the way out which may be the coronet band. It may be when a shod horse has its shoes removed the sole is nearer the ground and bruises hence an abscess occurs also bruising may occur more easily if a horse is on wet ground causing the sole to be softer .

 

[tallyho!]

I feel silly now! Lol!

Yes well, the iron thing, I forgot about that and she is clearly hypersensitive. I can't see why 10 horses out on the same pasture can manage not to abscess and she gets it repeatedly! Need to get reading again... 6 months off having a baby has clearly taken its toll on my brain!

Thanks for the discussion Christmas Kia.