Abscess help please, at a loss

a kind of magic

a kind of magic

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Our home bred yearling has been suffering with recurring abscesses in all 4 feet since October last year. The whole episode is under veterinary and farrier observation.

Each time he goes lame it seems to be a different foot, each time it is dealt with accordingly and he goes sound...until the next time. The longest he has been sound is about 9 weeks, which was just now (lame this afternoon).

Both his parents have excellent feet and always have done (owned them both since they were 3 months old too), he has regular hoof trims every 8 weeks (although is often seen more often due to the blooming abscesses!) and we check his feet daily.

Diet wise he is currently on not a lot of grass because of the rain we have had to save the summer fields a bit longer but is having ad-lib good quality haylage and a mineral lick, and has been back on a stud balancer about a week so time will tell. Apart from his feet he looks good, is growing well and has a shiny coat. When the episodes started he was on the full recommended amount of stud cubes mixed with Fast Fibre. Until the last 2 weeks the fields have actually been very dry so it's not like he was constantly stood in wet or mud.

Farrier is coming back out tomorrow to check the most recent abscess, I wanted to ask here for any suggestions as to things we may have all missed as to what is causing it. Vet and farrier are baffled and have both suggested the next step will be x-rays which will be organised as soon as our baby is born as I don't fancy a trip to the vet being nearly 40 weeks pregnant!

Any suggestions welcomed, I am just popping out to see my midwife so will be back shortly in case I've missed any information. Thank you :)
 
you need to xray as she may have a cyst in her feet that is causing the problem. I have a horse who had a terrible abscess. I have done loads of research and have some to the conclusion that it can be caused by a mineral deficiancy (sp?) worth getting your fields and haylage checked and speaking to a profesional to see if there is anything you can do on on that front too?????
 
a kind of magic said:
Our home bred yearling has been suffering with recurring abscesses in all 4 feet since October last year. The whole episode is under veterinary and farrier observation.

Each time he goes lame it seems to be a different foot, each time it is dealt with accordingly and he goes sound...until the next time. The longest he has been sound is about 9 weeks, which was just now (lame this afternoon).

Both his parents have excellent feet and always have done (owned them both since they were 3 months old too), he has regular hoof trims every 8 weeks (although is often seen more often due to the blooming abscesses!) and we check his feet daily.

Diet wise he is currently on not a lot of grass because of the rain we have had to save the summer fields a bit longer but is having ad-lib good quality haylage and a mineral lick, and has been back on a stud balancer about a week so time will tell. Apart from his feet he looks good, is growing well and has a shiny coat. When the episodes started he was on the full recommended amount of stud cubes mixed with Fast Fibre. Until the last 2 weeks the fields have actually been very dry so it's not like he was constantly stood in wet or mud.

Farrier is coming back out tomorrow to check the most recent abscess, I wanted to ask here for any suggestions as to things we may have all missed as to what is causing it. Vet and farrier are baffled and have both suggested the next step will be x-rays which will be organised as soon as our baby is born as I don't fancy a trip to the vet being nearly 40 weeks pregnant!

Any suggestions welcomed, I am just popping out to see my midwife so will be back shortly in case I've missed any information. Thank you :)
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Cant the vet come to you, mines ? got portable x ray equipment, or get someone to take him as abcessess are extremely painful, especially if theyre recurring
 
I feel your pain as Im going through the same with my lad. He's been hopping with one in his hind hoof since Sunday - its just started to erupt now but he's been on 3 legs before it burst out. Prior to this he had one in front. My other horse has now come out in sympathy and he's also lame but not as bad.I can't really give you any more advice as I'm sure you are doing everything you should be such as poulticing. What I would say though is I've been recommend some homeopathic stuff called Hepar Sulph - don't know if its a coincidence or not but when I tried it a few weeks ago it cleared the one in front up a treat and there has been a massive improvement in the past 48 hours of using it again.
 
I know someone whose horse was lame on and off for 6 years or so.. They did forage and mineral analysis, found he was seriously lacking in some things and was accordingly managed.. From what she says, he's been clear a couple years and is out of shoes and working now too..

Might be worth looking at along with everybody else's suggestions.. I'm currently looking into it with one of mine..
 
Does anyone have any names for forage analysis? It would be three separate fields within 3 miles of each other and the haylage that would need doing.

The vet has a portable x-ray but apparently it's not powerful enough and therefore they prefer for us to take him to the surgery. I would like to take him ASAP but I need to be able to handle him safely on and off the lorry and at the surgery which I just can't at the moment. I will make a few phone calls tomorrow to different surgeries and see if another vet in the area has better equipment.

They've only just suggested x-rays, not sure why it took this long but I was only going by what they told me, we have been very lucky up to now in that 12 years of owning horses we've only ever had to deal with one straight forward abscess. When he gets these abscesses he isn't actually that lame, it was only the initial abscess that made him three legged. :confused:

Dancingkris- I'm willing to try anything so will look into the homeopathic treatment, thank you. :)

Amandap-looking at that link and I'm definitely going to look into that as it is a very similar case to ours. Thank you for that link.
 
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