Could I Have Your Hoof Abcess Stories Please?

[Maeshowe]

Hi - my 17hh TB went down with a fore hoof abcess on Sunday and I am interested in others experiences with hoof abcesses - length of time to heal, secondary damage through pus break outs above the hoof, things to watch out for etc etc?

My story is that it started "leaking" out his heel as soon as the vet left so I wet poulticed it with Animalintex and the abcess then broke out on the front of his coronet band above where the crack in his foot is (long story - stood on own foot two years ago, almost healed but not quite sealed - also where infection got in!)

5 days on, no pus but lots of nice bright red blood! Vet says not to worry, its a good thing and just pressure bandage until it heals. He's turned out during the day and in at night and is on antibios till Sunday. He's 90% sound and is happy in himself

 

[Skhosu]

Just took our ponio to the vet after five weeks from suspected abcess.
It had formed hard stuff because it hadn't come out (despite being poulticed!) and the vet had to cut all that away. He is now allowed out etc. and is to have shoes back on and worked and to see what he's like in 2 weeks.
He has been quite sore on it. A little gunge perhaps on the poultice, but nothing else!
Yours sounds more straightforward hthough!

 

[threeponies]

My Shetland has just had an op for Quittor last Thursday, this is where the pus from an abcess starts to mineralise in the foot. He has had the infected cartilage cut away and the ineralised stuff taken out. He was lame for 2 weeks with no pus on the poultice before it was investigated further.

 

[hussar]

My 16yo Arab just spent a week in vet hospital after two weeks of vet coming out to debride proud flesh etc on frog abscess didn't do the trick. Basically he'd trodden on something that had gone up through the frog into the laminar tissue, and it needed excavated to drain properly. He spent a week in a boot on limited turnout but is now right as rain. Whole thing took four weeks.

 

[Natalie_H]

Hi - My 15.2HH TB went lame Friday before last. Thought he had slipped over in the field, so waited over the weekend. He was no worse by Monday, but not much better either, so called the vet out. He said it was definitely in the foot & possibly an abscess. He has awful hooves, so I called the farrier out to remove the shoe. He found the abscess & we poulticed & put him away that night. He was okay on Friday, but went absolutely hopping lame on the Saturday - I mean seriously no weight on the foot & horse in clear discomfort & distress. Vet came out & found secondary pocket of pus in the foot (it popped & hissed when he found it!) By the next morning he was sound - poulticed for 3 days & on Tuesday the farrier came back up, said it looked pretty good & put his shoe back on, plus filled the hole with a gel. He seems fine - but I am keeping a careful eye on him - farrier says if he goes lame again, he's probably got dirt in it again somehow - keeping fingers & toes crossed as we have our first test on Sunday.

 

[sj_xc_hannah_]

my TB mare has gone lame with an absess today

so we have pultised it up and i hope it will heal as fast as most of yours have other wise i am stuffed for a team comp soon.

 

[Natalie_H]

It is probably no consolation, but my farrier says there are a lot of them about at the minute due to the change in weather. I do hope she recovers quickly for your comp! If poulticed correctly, vet says you should see a noticeable improvement within 12-24 hours. Good luck!

 

[Jemayni]

My pony had one earlier this year he went lame on the tues, was drained on the wed, poulticed until the sunday, shoe back on, on the tuesday, competed on the following sunday!

 

[MagicMelon]

One of mine usually gets 2 a year on average as he had very severe laminitis as a youngster (not had it since, but left him prone to absesses / bruised soles etc.). We've had the 2 come out of his coronet band which took ages to burst through. He does seem to get them quite high in his hoof so the farrier cant always reach them (in which case we just poultice and it takes its course and finally brakes out). But there is nothing better than when the farrier find the puss pocket and it all oozes out.....! You can almost see the pony go sigh with relief! And instantly they are 80% less lame straight away! I hate the smell though. And that wet hoof smell they get when you have to poultice for a few days - yeuch.

 

[Zebedee]

Where would you like me to start? I have a three year old filly who has had two really severe abcesses in her front feet. I've just had a three year old with a gravel which erupted on the heel. That sounds pretty much the same as yours, and my 22yr old broodmare is now almost sound and ready to start anti -bi's. The thing to remember is that not all gravels form abcesses, and if you give anti- bi's to early they will inhibit the progress of the infection, and increase the chances of an abcess forming. This is what happened to one of the fillies as a weanling. She had a cold & was put on the anti-bi's for that, but then developed a gravel which in turn abcessed big time!
My big 6yr old had to spend 10 days in the vets at the beginning of the year after a very high quittor developed ABOVE the coronary band. The initial gravel had formed last Autumn, and as far as we were concerned had come & gone. Then one day I noticed he was a little lame in the field, realised it was most likely something in his foot, and within five days he had a huge lump that looked horribly like a sarcoid appear. Luckily it wasn't, but still had to be removed & cleaned up under a G.A. same as one of the previous posters has already mentioned (Glad I'm not the only one!)
Most of the time my farrier is able to deal with foot infections,and once he has found the problem the vet will let us have the necessary drugs without having to visit.
I have seen a post on this forum which advised leaving it alone "& something minging will pop out without the farrier making a mess" ! I'm afraid I can't endorse this particular view!
Please feel free to PM me if you'd like any further details (oh yes there's more!)

 

[Sparklet]

My friends horse has complications with gravel in that the pus travelled upwards towards the pedal bone - she was lucky and after over a month of treatment he was okay. Another friend had to have her horse destroyed because his pedal bone became infected.

Until then I was already relieved when severe non weight bearing lameness was diagnosed as an abcess and in the majority of cases it clears up pretty quickly but can become quite severe. I am not not quite so relieved and quicker to call the vet to get treatment.

 

[Maeshowe]

Eep! All sounds scary - am I right in thinking that most of your abcesses have been caused by injuries through the sole or bottom of the hoof. Wallace's appear to be through his crack (top to bottom from the coronet band) and the pus has broken through right above here. The vet advised me not to remove his shoe just because the damage done with the crack would far outweigh the abcess.

I think the abcess is clear now - been poulticed twice daily since Sunday and antibios since then too, but I think the nightmare is keeping the wound clean and dry enough to heal but not to reinfect.

 

[Salcey]

Hi, our boy had an abcess last winter, he's unshod and small pieces of gravel had embedded into his white line area. It wasn't noticed even though he has his feet picked out twice a day. Endend up hopping lame, took a while to clear up, hot poulticed for two days then dry poulticed for another 3 days about a week later it errupted on the other side of his foot so needed vet and antibiotics, apparently it had travelled around his white line according to the vet. Kept turning him out everyday but held on poultices with half a ton of duck tape on his foot. Then when clear flushed the hole with peroxide and used keratex hoof putty to plug the hole. Its been fine ever since, but he now has his feet scrubbed with a brush twice a day not just picked out, that way it removes the small pieces of gravel.

 

[Fiona]

Our grey mare had a 'classical' abcess as a 4yo after she had gone without a back shoe for a few days. Nearly non weight bearing on that leg. It was in the white line, and as soon as vet burst it, and made a v shaped hole in the hoof wall she was fine, didn't even need poulticed, and shoe was put on again within a few days.

TB mare has had 3 punctures into her sole which have needed poulticing and enlarging of the hole by vet to let any pus out, she has never been lame with any of them, as were picked up almost immediately, and pressure has not had chance to build up.

Ben of course is quite perfect, and has never had any.

Fiona

Fiona

 

[Gingernags]

My mare went horribly lame as a 2 year old with no obvious sign of why - no injuries or foot bruising. Vet was baffled, no signs of abscess but she couldn't even move around the stable, had to have hay and water right next to each other. We were poulticing her just in case but nothing was happening.

We even had her nerve blocked to find it. Vet told me on Christmas eve that it was either a really deep seated abscess that we couldn't find, or a broken bone in her foot in which case we were looking at PTS.

I've never been as pleased to see stinky pus as a Christmas present when it broke out from her coronet band on Christmas day!

All cleared up in a week though she did get a hole in her hoof that gradually grew out.

 

[Seahorse]

A few years ago now my young horse had pus in his foot that went so deep that the vet or farrier couldn't cut deep enough to get it all out.
He had his foot tubbed and poulticed twice a day for weeks and still nothing came out. he ended up with a temp of 103 and septacemia and was nearly taken to Liphook as he was so poorly.
The farrier had one last dig about and managed to find it and the most pus I have ever seen literally squirted out of his foot. Loads of it!
It was poulticed for another week or so and then the farrier put a pad and a shoe on and he could go out again. He made a full recovery

 

[Patricksmum]

My horse developed a high abcess after laminitis last year, & it took nearly a year for him to come sound. I think this was because the foot was so damaged where the pus came out from the coronet band, & it just hurt to walk on. Now fine & back in work (& he is 22!)

 

[hearty]

My horse Hearty shod his front right shoe two weeks ago yesterday, farrier couldn't find any puncture wound so re shod him however he was lame so cold hosed and bandaged him. He had swollen feltlock...hot. Afetr a week swelling had gone, but he was still lame. Called vet...gravel so hot poulticed with animalintex twice a day. 5 days on ,he had improved but found him limping this morning ..badly, so getting farrier to delve a little deeper today as puss still coming out. Upsetting but your stories are heartening! Thanks!

 

[kick_On]

i would strongly recommend, that you need to talk to your vets and farrier as you'll need corrective shoeing to help with problem, once sorted infection out you'll problaby need a bridge made for hoof by farrier, to keep crack stable as hoof grows down.
In my case i don't not turn horse out as i was very lucky to have yard for horse to stand on during day. I would strong advise not to turn out and walk in hand if you have not yard to stand horse on.
I would also be very careful about over wet poultices, and asap go back to dry poultices. Keep stable as clean as possible. Nappies/carpet tape make excellent poultice boots.
Just remember aswell good balence diet and may be something like 'farrier formula' to help hoof growth.
fingers cross, it does get better promise

 

[Kezza]

removed both hind shoes (he had it in the corner, up by the heel), vet scraped hole out a bit, packed it with soaked cotton wool, put a poultice boot on, gave him bute and turned him out wearing the boot, it was one of those rubber ones. He was sound in about 3 days and the farrier came to put putty in the hole about 5 days later and I started riding again. We were lucky I think. I was amazed at how lame it made him when it first happened though, removing the shoe helped immediately to ease the pain I think as he walked better as soon as it was removed. I think the turnout helped to drain it quicker as well. I just changed the pultice within it every night and morning.

 

[Spot1]

Hi Maeshowe. A few thoughts.

Hoof abscesses are quite common. Deep infection can be quite nasty but fortunately the vast majority of infection is relatively straight forward. Horses will show lameness varying from slight to being unable to put the foot to the ground. there may be heat in the affected foot and you may find a pronounced pulse. TIMING The sooner it is treated the better. Call your farrier. If the horse is shod they will take the shoe off locate and drain the abscess. Your farrier should advise if veterinary assistance is needed. DRAINAGE A good drain is crucial. TREATMENT Tubbing the foot in hot salt water for about 15 mins. Hot poultice. Repeat twice a day for two days. Then dry dressing. It should be clean by then. Re shoe if needed, may be a pad. THINGS I DONT LIKE Badly fitted poultice boots, watch out for any soreness. Antibiotics, in my experience they seem to "dry up the puss" without getting rid of it, leading to a reinfection.

If an abscess is left untreated the puss can find its own drain. Solar abscesses will track out to the white line, then run around to the heels. Abscesses in the wall will track up to the coronary band and break out there. For these cases and also deep infections Call a vet.

If in doubt get professional advice.