Foot / laminitis experts help please?

[cornwallexracers]

Just after some advice or reassurance please! I got a new horse a couple of months back who'd previously had laminitis a couple of years back but had been sound ever since. Anyway, i've been riding him now for about 7 weeks building him up gradually as he wasn't 100% fit and the ground here compared to where he was before is very stony. I've been managing him carefully out at night with a muzzle, low sugar diet, good supplement etc etc.
On wednesday he came in and didn't look right so trotted him up and he was lame on his right fore, digital pulse raised in that foot and slight swelling around the fetlock. Vet came out had a look and said not lami, most likely a bruise or abcess, get farrier to look. Farrier came out said heat on the inside of the right hoof most likely infection, bruise or abcess brewing but soak in epsom salts twice a day to see if we can draw anything out as it wasn't close enough for him to dig around at.
Horse then seemed a bit better nearly 100% in walk, bit sore on a turn and lame but not drastic in trot and seemes to be improving, but he came in this morning back to how he started.
So called the vet out this afternoon and a different one came out. He had a look at his foot, took pulses, felt hooves said heat where farrier said it was and slight dent on coronet band on the inside of the hoof, its an abcess.
Then he had a scratch about on the sole and said he's got bruising on the sole on the inside of the hoof, it could be bad bruising as he has thin soles and combined with him not being used to walking on stony ground it could make him lame.
Then he stood back ummed and ahhed for a bit had a prod again and said if he was a bit too lame for bruising and not lame enough for an abcess, and although he only has strong dp in the right fore leg and heat and reacted to testers on the inside of the right fore he wasn't going to rule out that its not lami.
So now he's on box rest for 10 days and then see where we are in terms of soundness which is fine his welfare comes first obviously.
I just thought I'd get some of your opinions. I've never had a lami horse before (or ever dealt with bruising and only seen 1 abcess which made the horse so lame it was on three legs!) So im totally out of my depth with feet issues, but i thought there was always symptoms in 2 or 4 feet to some degree with lami? Plus i've been so careful with his management to try avoid it and read so much when deciding to take him on, and now i feel like a terrible horse owner as I'm not having much luck at the moment.

Does it seem likely to you guys, or would the bruising/abcess seem more plausable?

Hot chocolate and carrot cake for getting this far!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

It is very wise to treat the lameness as laminitis, even if it is just to rule it out. It could still be an abscess, they can rumble on for ages with the horse only being slightly lame. I've certainly had some atypical abscess presentations with my horses.

 

[xgemmax]

Could well be an abscess, I've known horses to be on and off lame for weeks then fine once the abscess has burst. Mine also had an abscess a few months back and didn't know until it had burst and wasn't lame at all. I guess different horses deal with them differently!

 

[mandwhy]

It sounds like one of those accesses that could take a while but best be on the safe side, I would say 2 feet is more normal yes, I think I would carry on tubbing it.

 

[NZJenny]

It sounds like an abscess to me too. They are the biggest pain in the proverbial! Abscess's find their own way out, they come and go and can take weeks to work themselves out. Horse can be marginally lame, three legged lame, lame just on a circle one way, lame on hard ground or lame on soft ground etc, etc. It all depends on where the abscess is located in the hoof and which way it is travelling. I'm sure they were sent from hell to drive owners to despair!

However, I am a fan of movement when it comes to getting them to progress. Movement = circulation and I have found it helps progress the abscess. I never force the movement on the horse, but turn them out and let them find their own level of comfort.

And yes, I would expect laminitis to affect all feet (but is always more obvious in the front) rather than just the one. However in the healing, you can quite often get abcessing in one hoof and not the other.

 

[Chichi]

You have already been given good advice. It sounds like an abscess brewing, it can take a while to burst. If your horse has had laminitis before it makes sense to consider laminitis as a possibility again even if it looks like you have been managing your horse very carefully. I do agree that movement is usually better even if the horse has an abscess and as long as he is happy to walk around a bit but obviously if laminitis is suspected movement is not good. So annoying isn't it?
There is also a strong link between laminitis and abscesses.
If you haven't done so already check the laminitis site as there is lots of helpful stuff on there. I am also in the process of learning as much as possible about laminitis, IR, Ems and everything else as my horse has had many abscesses over the past 18 months and it cannot only be the wet weather everybody is blaming.
Good luck, I hope your horse recovers soon.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

And yes, I would expect laminitis to affect all feet (but is always more obvious in the front) rather than just the one. However in the healing, you can quite often get abcessing in one hoof and not the other.

You know I mentioned my horses and atypical presentation - well one of them got strong pulses in the hinds only (also stood with the hinds further under the tummy than normal), which went away after 24 hours off grass. So was treated as laminitic and was restricted RE grazing from then on. The Vet thought that it was laminitis too.

 

[Chichi]

You know I mentioned my horses and atypical presentation - well one of them got strong pulses in the hinds only (also stood with the hinds further under the tummy than normal), which went away after 24 hours off grass. So was treated as laminitic and was restricted RE grazing from then on. The Vet thought that it was laminitis too.

Faracat, how did you restrict the grazing (apart from temporary box rest)? I am having problems at my yard, they do not want my horse to be muzzled as it did cause a bit of disruption when I did it a couple of weeks ago. So I am having him now out for a few hours during the day and I go at lunch time to bring him in but that means quite a long time in the stable and also if I cannot make it he stays out longer as the yard doesn't want to commit to bringing him in early!

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I'm not on a livery yard so it is easier for me. I popped her in the sand school with a friend and put down stable mats by the fence and tied haynets there (I was worried about sand colic, so wanted to keep the dropped hay off the sand). Within 24 hours she was standing normally with no bounding pulses. After two weeks in the school, I started to turn her out for 1/2 an hour. I had fenced off my hay feeder area (hardcore) and a small grazing area in the field, with electric tape. I moved the fence out slightly each day, but not enough so that they left the hay. Eventually she was out 24/7 again but I still restricted the grazing so they still ate hay from the hay feeder.