Abscess drained.. but now a huge hole with sole exposed

Hoof_Prints

Hoof_Prints

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Ok so my farrier and vet said I could ride my horse within a few days of the abscess being totally drained- as far as I can tell, for the past week it has been totally drained as nothing has come out, he is trotting up sound and has no pain response to the area.

But he has a huge hole in his sole where it was dug out. The abscess actually burst at the heel so this was unneeded but you can press the squishy bit of the foot, and I am very reluctant to ride him with it like this! but I can imagine it will take a long time to grow over.

He is back on 24/7 turnout but wears a dry poultice all the time as I don't want anything touching it. This is fine for chilling in the field but of course will not stand up to any ridden work! so what can I do?

:) thanks for reading
 
Ask your farrier to shoe for one cycle with a sole plate between his foot and the shoe.

If he doesn't wear shoes, the horse not the farrier :D, use boots.
 
Thanks for the replies!
He is barefoot (and nail holes finally grown out! ) so reluctant to shoe :p but will have a look in to the other options- any recommendations for hoof boots? think it would be worth investing in a pair anyway with barefoot horses- just incase. I did ride him today by packing the hole full of some animalintex that I had left and sudocreme.

Unfortunately the skin is very red and sore above the heel due to wearing a high poultice :( So have covered it in this pink barrier cream I was recommended and turned him out in a (believe it or not!) dry field that we had resting :) So hopefully all will be ok.. the hole is huuge though and it does look horrific to see exposed sole underneath.
 
Watch the hole - I had one once who grew proud flesh out through the hole. It was wierd and made him very lame, but it was easy to cure by the vet cutting out the lump and packing the hole with copper sulphate. If it looks like it's getting more fleshy, not less, you may have the same problem.
 
cptrayes said:
Watch the hole - I had one once who grew proud flesh out through the hole. It was wierd and made him very lame, but it was easy to cure by the vet cutting out the lump and packing the hole with copper sulphate. If it looks like it's getting more fleshy, not less, you may have the same problem.
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Thanks for the warning , I am keeping a close eye on it but will look specifically for this now. Would be a nightmare for him to go lame again after all this trouble ! I was told surgical spirit hardens the skin so I was putting this on it to make it tougher on the surface
 
My horse has had a big hole dug in his hoof to check for an abscess 2 weeks ago, turned out to be a nail in his laminae ( luckily his shoe came off) he also had a chunk of wall cut out to take away The pinch/ pain from the bruising.

I've had him out firstly with a poultice and Eqwelli, then a cavello hoof boot, it's stayed on fab even in the thick mud. I just pop a piece of animalintex over the hole and a bit of vet wrap to hold it on and put the boot Over. stops it getting too mucky and cushions it too. I also spray his hoof with alamycin.


Thankfully shoe went back on today and horse much better! X
 
We plug holes after an abcess. Cotton wool covered in Stockholm tar. Very very sticky and stays in very well!!
Basically you plug so nothing else gets in. But be careful that there is nothing lingering in the hole (ie. any remainder infection!) as otherwise can't get out. Have you tried hot tubbing the foot?
 
Miramis- glad to hear it all went well :)

I now have a picture of the hole, cant tell you how lovely it is to see him prancing around the field pain-free! Never seen a horse so lame when he had it.

picture.php


And the sore skin :( ! it was smothered in the pink antibacterial gloop but it seems to have just stuck to all the mud.
picture.php
 
victoria1980x said:
We had a abscess hole in the exact same spot, how have you been managing the hole?
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So far I've just been packing it with cotton wool soaked in surgical spirit, and now with a bit of sudocreme (as mentioned on here!) on the underside. It does stay in very well as his weight packs it down. Originally the whole lot was fully poulticed and wrapped up in a layer of animal intex, vetwrap, a section of a feedbag, then loads of duck tape! I then did this but dry when it had fully drained . Since sore skin developed and he's been in a dry field I ditched the poultice 'welly-boot' and just packed the hole.

I'm just now looking at hoof boots so I can ride him properly :)
 
I kept my boy stabled for two weeks with turnout in the areana, any form of poultice boot came off in the field, after two weeks I crossed my fingers and turned him out during day, washed it, and sprayed with vet s purple spray [terramycin I think it is, not the stuff you buy in feed shops], twice a day. He had a light , dry poultice on every day so I could see the pus.
I think Cavallo boots are much safer.
 
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