Boggle- USA bound!

Michen said:
Yeh but he’s lame in a straight line now! So it feels a little harsh to do forced exercise?
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Yeah, that is the always annoying element of a suspected abscess. I guess that is why many people turn out too, so they are not forcing exercise, though my vet would call it controlled exercise! Whatever you do, if it IS an abscess, will test your sanity in my experience...blasted things! I hope it resolves quickly - they are horrible.
 
palo1 said:
Yeah, that is the always annoying element of a suspected abscess. I guess that is why many people turn out too, so they are not forcing exercise, though my vet would call it controlled exercise! Whatever you do, if it IS an abscess, will test your sanity in my experience...blasted things! I hope it resolves quickly - they are horrible.
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Gah! In 20 years of horse ownership I've strangely never had one. I've had a very bad bruise, a nail penetration, all of that stuff that involves poulticing but not the abscess itself.

Maybe it will be quite exciting!
 
Hopefully speed things up when your farrier/trimmer comes. Even if it blows before then worth getting them to look. This one blew out the top but they were able to open an exit hole in the sole which helped it fully drain
 
Michen said:
Gah! In 20 years of horse ownership I've strangely never had one. I've had a very bad bruise, a nail penetration, all of that stuff that involves poulticing but not the abscess itself.

Maybe it will be quite exciting!
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My old TB was quite prone to them but when Tali went lame and I got the vet out to assess she presented so oddly. It looked like it was high up in her SI the way she was moving and I was so worried it was something unfixable. It looked awful.
Vet couldn’t find an abscess but just a few days later my farrier popped it. Thank goodness! Tali had actually been nuzzling her affected foot in front of me but I never put 2 and 2 together. (Yes I felt like the worst owner ever once I realised she was trying to tell me it was her foot.)

With Flo it was so obvious it was an abscess but Tali really put me through the wringer. Tali is very sensitive compared to Flo who was pretty hardy for a TB.

I hope it’s a very quickly resolved abscess for Atlas and he’s back to mischief very soon. He is stunning and very grown up looking now.
 
First time I had one with an abscess, I thought he’d blown a tendon/broken a leg. He’d been fine at lunchtime, went back at teatime and was literally on 3 legs. Took me almost half an hour to get him in from field. Usually took a couple of minutes.

Fingers crossed that’s all it is for Atlas.
 
Michen said:
Gah! In 20 years of horse ownership I've strangely never had one. I've had a very bad bruise, a nail penetration, all of that stuff that involves poulticing but not the abscess itself.

Maybe it will be quite exciting!
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You can try banamine? It might be more effective (pro tip for anyone reading you can give it under the tongue you don’t have to give it iv) but I also think as others have mentioned it can slow down the process but other vets mention it can alleviate the pain enough they put full weight and pop it. Hopefully it gets figured soon but it can be a hellish road and sometimes takes a week or two (sometimes a month) to fully pop and resolve
 
My worst abscess was Christmas day morning at 6am with guests due for lunch - literally hopping on 3 legs! My OH learnt how to cook turkey at short notice and has done Xmas lunch ever since. So that was a win 😁

My Appy is currently lame on a hind leg and I thought tying up (she's the pssm one) but I'm wondering abscess with her too as bute is making zero difference and I can't think what would have caused a tie up. Vet on Monday if no improvement but I think I may try a wet poultice. I used to work for a guy who would poultice anything lame for 3 days before phoning the vet. 99% of the time he was right and at least one looked terminal.
 
Michen said:
Cold feet and a little less lame but still lame today on circle. Gah.
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I think it's really hard to work out...abscesses can wax and wane and they can pretend to be other things, and other things can pretend to be abscesses too. It really is a test of sanity but cooler feet is good! Blooming horses...
 
Michen said:
Cold feet and a little less lame but still lame today on circle. Gah.
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One thing to also keep in mind if the weather has been going crazy with super dry then super wet then super dry the path of least resistance is sadly not going to be straight forward and is going to be a drawn out mess as it tries to work its way out so some days may be better. Some worse and it may be a hefty ordeal especially if it’s dry right now so the hooves are nice and tough
 
Have a really good look on the coronet bands as initially mine didn't have an obvious hole more a scabby bit where it was slowly starting to drain.
 
Well that was interesting! No reaction anywhere to hoof testers. But he did have a lot of overgrown bar which my farrier really stripped back (I was a bit eeeeek at that, I had thought you are best to leave it alone..). He did find a couple of wet spots in the frog that he thought could possibly at a push be little abscesses coming out- I’ve never heard of them coming out there is that a thing!? Atlas acted like he was being groomed whilst his feet were done, wiggling his lip! They really do tell a story don’t they. He immediately moved off better. Got his elevation back on a circle and no obviously lameness on the right rein though he does still look less keen on it/less flowy but it’s hard to tell how much of that is lameness or a strength thing.

Regardless he’s going into vet Wednesday anyway as needs papers for his move and I wanted a general check over even before this happened so they can do a little work up whilst there. I will get some radiographs of his feet done so we have a compare for the future too.

Meanwhile here is Pepper with her donut. Shes been doing really good, you wouldn’t think she had major surgery only a week ago!

Hopefully my animals can give me a little break now from drama.



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Michen said:
Well that was interesting! No reaction anywhere to hoof testers. But he did have a lot of overgrown bar which my farrier really stripped back (I was a bit eeeeek at that, I had thought you are best to leave it alone..). He did find a couple of wet spots in the frog that he thought could possibly at a push be little abscesses coming out- I’ve never heard of them coming out there is that a thing!? Atlas acted like he was being groomed whilst his feet were done, wiggling his lip! They really do tell a story don’t they. He immediately moved off better. Got his elevation back on a circle and no obviously lameness on the right rein though he does still look less keen on it/less flowy but it’s hard to tell how much of that is lameness or a strength thing.

Regardless he’s going into vet Wednesday anyway as needs papers for his move and I wanted a general check over even before this happened so they can do a little work up whilst there. I will get some radiographs of his feet done so we have a compare for the future too.

Meanwhile here is Pepper with her donut. Shes been doing really good, you wouldn’t think she had major surgery only a week ago!

Hopefully my animals can give me a little break now from drama.



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That’s really good news. I think I read somewhere that overgrown bars can cause pressure in the foot so hopefully that’s all it was.
I’m not surprised he’s still a bit cautious on it. It may still be a bit tender and need a few days to calm down.
Hopefully now he’s back to just having ‘normal horse’ issues and nothing sinister. (Although after your run of luck I don’t blame you if your mind instantly jumps to worst case scenarios)
 
mini-eventer said:
Mine sometimes gets footy in the summer, when he does he always has overgrown bars, I never know whether it is cause or effect l, but he seems to appreciate having them trimmed
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Thanks that’s good to know!!! I mean the farrier really did strip them right back but Atlas seemed pretty pleased.
 
Michen said:
Thanks that’s good to know!!! I mean the farrier really did strip them right back but Atlas seemed pretty pleased.
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Unfortunately they can have abscesses pop out the frog 🤣 they like to just be weirdos in the feet and have to most obscure issues sadly. But that’s awesome! Overgrown bars can definitely cause soreness. Did they mention anything about thrush? Durasole is my fave for using 3 times a week usually. Also are you coming to the east coast? Or more middle state? It might be worth posting on COTH (chronicle of the horse) for what to expect foot wise/skin wise and the type of farriers/vets to expect for that area. It can be so hit or miss depending on the county you’re in
 
Oh yeah, bars can absolutely cause soreness. I saw a pretty good visual from a hoof dissection about it awhile back.

There are different schools of thought sometimes on what to leave alone or how much to leave.

So glad he's feeling better!
 
Agree that overgrown bars can cause an issue on their own.

My young one had an issue with abscesses breaking out through different parts of his frog. He’d actually injured/sliced deeply through the edge of his frog on a stone and the pus was creating lots of little tunnels. His whole frog had to be cut back quite brutally (but did heal perfectly).
 
Thanks! We are moving to Marin county in the Bay Area.

MoodyFox_13 said:
Unfortunately they can have abscesses pop out the frog 🤣 they like to just be weirdos in the feet and have to most obscure issues sadly. But that’s awesome! Overgrown bars can definitely cause soreness. Did they mention anything about thrush? Durasole is my fave for using 3 times a week usually. Also are you coming to the east coast? Or more middle state? It might be worth posting on COTH (chronicle of the horse) for what to expect foot wise/skin wise and the type of farriers/vets to expect for that area. It can be so hit or miss depending on the county you’re in
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Michen said:
thanks everyone all good things to know!

He looks pretty decent now.

I see trouble ahead though 😈

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The best type of trouble 😍 he will make such a cute eventer! (If that’s what your plans are) also have you ever thought about reaching his mane? With that neck he would look so good! Like a little war pony (I’m biased cause I love a good roaches mane)
 
Coincidence that this just appeared and the hoof bit nearest to it is warm?

It doesn’t seem to have a hole though.. just seems superficial. Unless it could be a tiny hole!?
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Floof had a tendency to blow abscesses out on his heel bulbs. I thought at first they were a form of mud rash/skin irritation but X rays of the hoof that had recurrent issues, due to a broken pedal bone, showed the track marks! The gunk was just taking the path of least resistance. His issues was always caused by bruising whilst barefoot and never got an abscess when shod.
Hope that things are resolved now for Atlas and you’re definitely right to get X-rays for future comparisons. Glad him and Pepper are both on the mend now 🤞🏻
 
Michen said:
Coincidence that this just appeared and the hoof bit nearest to it is warm?

It doesn’t seem to have a hole though.. just seems superficial. Unless it could be a tiny hole!?
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Whenever Pocholo has had an abscess it has popped out there - the yard staff often think it's an overreach (P barely tracks up let alone overreaches 😆). Usually his have popped out before he's even lame, but a couple of years ago he got a sole bruise, rumbling lameness for a few weeks then an abscess popped out similar to your photo.

Fingers crossed that is the answer!!
 
I think you are right about the trouble brewing ahead - that is some serious attitude there!
I learn so much by following these threads - wonderful HHO people :-)
 
Hey all! Atlas went into the vets today. He is as I suspected still a bit lame right fore. Only really responsive to hoof testers across his frogs. The vet reckons a bruise (given he's improving and quickly having been really very lame less than a week ago) or indeed that wound was an abscess that just find of oozed out rather than popped).

I did radiographs anyway and YIKES. He has HUGE sidebones. Not high enough into the "danger area" or the biggest he's seen living a totally normal life but jeez. And worse on one side, which makes sense given I note he lands unevenly which I hadn't noticed until I took some decent slow mo videos, to my naked eye he looked level. The issue is his foot balance actually looks really good. He was, in his younger years, part of a "neglect case" with a whole herd of morgans. I'm not sure how bad this was, but I suspect he didn't receive proper care when he was younger. He does toe in a bit, and my vet says he feels the landing is really conformational and you can't really force it at this point (with Boggle, we used to trim him slightly unlevel when shod to have him land level. When barefoot which he was for good chunks of the year, he did his own thing with his wear). So it's a little tricky as my vet feels given the confo the landing is inevitable. Kinda wish this conformation had been mentioned at the vetting but oh well!

Anyway, the vet was pretty unfussed about the sidebone itself and even thought it was maybe an incidental finding because he wasn't testing sore where you'd expect with a horse with sidebone that was bothering him.

So it's a little rubbish, to have something like that in a 4 year old. But ultimately I'm not looking to compete at a high level or even event, life just isn't like that anymore and the eventing on this side of the USA is so limited unless you trek across the country every other weekend. So maybe not such a big deal and hopefully he will stay sound enough for what I want to do.

It does bother me to just "allow" him to land unlevel though. I'm sure there will be lots of opinions on that! So my plan so far is he will still go to california (vet said he's totally fine to travel), and I'll have him looked at again by a vet there maybe in 6 weeks or so. For now he can just chill.

I'm not going to go down the route of MRI or anything of that nature, I'm hopefully I'll have a totally sound pony in the near future :). In happier news, he is fully neurologically normal.
 
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