Hoof Abcess

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faith123

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My mare went lame last week and the vet sai abcess - poulticed 5 days and nothing came out at all but still really lame.

Farrier was out yesterday and he has found the site and visable puss so started poulticing again but this morning the poultice was clean (horse is still very lame on this foot). Is this normal?

First abcess I have had to deal with!

Horse is currently in as field are super muddy but I have ordered a turnout boot so hopefully I will be able to get her out for a few hours as day as she is a bit of a stress head!

Any advice welcome please!
 
Depends on where the abscess is within the hoof. It's a bit like a splinter - sometimes you can't feel them.....sometimes you feel like your finger is about to explode.

It's good that the farrier found puss but if it's been more than a week, I would want the vet to take a look just to be safe. I had one (the only one my old boy ever had, touch wood) grumble on and eventually start affecting the coffin bone :mad:.

The movement is great at moving things along.

Hopefully it's just a one off - but otherwise review the diet as this has been often found to make a difference.
 
my boy was still lame for a couple of days after being poluticed and I never really noticed anything coming out when I changed the poultice every day! so just keep up with it make sure it's as clean as you can get it!

I had my boy out the whole time and it was over easter when it didn't stop raining for weeks and the fields were really wet and muddy! but I just used a canvass booty thing from robinsons and that seemed to help!

I made sure that I put 4 layers of tape on rather than just 2, just in case he got the boot off, so it was nice a strong and didn't get ripped open!
 
Ours took just over a week then bam, straight out the bottom, heel and coronet! We had trimmer back to reassess and he cautioned patience and lo and behold there it was!
We've also had one sit and fester for months after vet intervention so make your own judgements up on that!
 
I had the vet out first as I didnt realise the lameness was in the foot so he found a tender bit of her hoof and made a small drainage hole.

The farrier openened this up more yesterday and found some puss and said to hot poultice for 5 days then then dry for 2 and he will come back out on Wednesday.

I suppose I expected to take the poultice off this morning and for it to be gunky and yuk - and was disappointed that it wasnt! And wanted to know if this was normal?!

Im going to wait for my boot to arrive and then she can go out for a few hours and just come in at night hopefully - she does have a big stable so can move around abit in there.
 
My poultice came off clean for every day up to the day it burst. I didn't believe my trimmer, but followed what he said and it blew then.
My trimmer didn't dig however, as we both are against digging for abscesses.

Are you tubbing too? And is your poultice hot enough? My trimmer said movement helps to get it to pop too - my mare went into a small paddock daily if dry enough (which it was in april....)
 
I will persist then!

Horrible things :( I hate seeing her in pain and it obviously hurts!

I will try and get her out, our fields are a mixture of clay soil to hold the water and gravel/grit at the gateways so get into small cracks (which is probably what caused it in the first place!)
 
It's certainly what did with mine I think. We are on very wet ground really, coupled with bad balance and wide open white lines, the little bacteria gits couldn't wait to get in.

I would persist. Because mine didn't blow in the first place, it festered for months we think until it took the whole sole off!
 
they can have more than one at a time-phone and speak to your farrier, if she is still lame he may come out sooner to re-open then whole, once the pressure is released you would expect them to be more comfortable.

i dont understand why you would not dig for an abcess, can you explain the reasoning?
 
I will try the poultice a bit hotter!

I have got some epson salts so I will start tubbing her foot as well to see if that helps - just worry about getting her foot too wet/soft.
 
jools123 said:
they can have more than one at a time-phone and speak to your farrier, if she is still lame he may come out sooner to re-open then whole, once the pressure is released you would expect them to be more comfortable.

i dont understand why you would not dig for an abcess, can you explain the reasoning?
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The farrier only came out yesterday afternoon, she is only tender in one place on the hoof which is where he has opened up the hole............. I may be being impatient and wanting lots of gunk now lol!
 
faith123 said:
The farrier only came out yesterday afternoon, she is only tender in one place on the hoof which is where he has opened up the hole............. I may be being impatient and wanting lots of gunk now lol!
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How deep is the hole? When my horse had his last abscess my farrier dug it out, and it make a sound like when you open up a bottle of fizzy water, and then all the puss/gunk came out, and I just poulticed for the next few days
 
It is in the edge of the hoof wall pretty much where the abcess seems to be so he has taken as much off as he can - there was a decent amount of puss that came out when he did that.

She is a wimpy TB as well and she hasnt had a shoe on either...... so this is probably contributing the the "ouch it hurts!) - she is better walking but hops when moving over/turning around bless her
 
Aw, I'd just keep poulticing it. Is she turned out with a poultice on? :)

Hopefully it wont be long till she is feeling better :)
 
StormBlade said:
Aw, I'd just keep poulticing it. Is she turned out with a poultice on? :)

Hopefully it wont be long till she is feeling better :)
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Thank you :)

She is in at the moment - the farrier didnt want any dirt getting in there if it got wet/poultice came off.

I have ordered a boot to go on top of my poultice (which I use tons of duct tape) just in case so she can go out as soon as I have got that.

Fingers crossed - she has just come back in to work..... as in last monday and she went lame with it the next day ;) they know!
 
faith123 said:
Thank you :)

She is in at the moment - the farrier didnt want any dirt getting in there if it got wet/poultice came off.

I have ordered a boot to go on top of my poultice (which I use tons of duct tape) just in case so she can go out as soon as I have got that.

Fingers crossed - she has just come back in to work..... as in last monday and she went lame with it the next day ;) they know!
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Aw fair enough, sounds like a plan. I'm sure she'll be back to normal in a few days! Haha, they do indeed, horses are far too clever sometimes :p
 
This is probably controversial but...

Having had a mare who's had a lot of abscesses, I can honestly say that the best thing to do is to leave it alone. Don't let the Vet or Farrier dig at it, no poultice and don't box rest. The abscesses that popped on their own healed so fast, the ones that were dug and messed about with went on and on for ages. Obviously if it is possibly turning sinister, then X-ray to see what's going on.

It was the Vet and the Farrier who suggested to me that we left her alone, in fact their advice was 'don't look at her' as she hobbled about the field (was quite hard advice to follow) and she recovered so much quicker from that particular abscess.
 
Not sure if this will help you but I always stand the abcessed foot in a bucket of salted water as hot as the horse will stand for as long as they will stand. Thought this would be impossible with my mare as she is figity at the best of times but it must relieve the pain as she puts her foot in herself now and will stand until the water goes cold especially if she has a hay net. She has had a least 33 abcesses but that is another story and the first few would take well over a week to pop but the last one she had popped in 2 days and she was then completely sound. Just to say the abcesses have been over the last 10 years or so. it was my vet who suggested the hot water on about the 3rd or 4th abcess so have done this ever since.
 
Faracat said:
This is probably controversial but...

Having had a mare who's had a lot of abscesses, I can honestly say that the best thing to do is to leave it alone. Don't let the Vet or Farrier dig at it, no poultice and don't box rest. The abscesses that popped on their own healed so fast, the ones that were dug and messed about with went on and on for ages. Obviously if it is possibly turning sinister, then X-ray to see what's going on.

It was the Vet and the Farrier who suggested to me that we left her alone, in fact their advice was 'don't look at her' as she hobbled about the field (was quite hard advice to follow) and she recovered so much quicker from that particular abscess.
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Kind of similar in a sense to how my trimmer and I feel about digging. Unless you're 100% on where and you can keep it 100% clean, I feel creating a whopping hole in the foot only asks for more issues. I preferred mine to burst with hot therapy and movement and we're a lot further ahead then we were in Nov when we let a vet at it ;)
 
I will try tubbing it tonight in epson salts - Im going to try and get her out for a bit as well but our fields are really wet so dont want any risk of a poultice coming off.

I hate seeing her so sore though :( she went lame Tuesday last week, vet came out wednesday, took shoe off and opened up a tiny drainage hole and we poulticed until sunday but with no difference, still very sore. Farrier out on Wednesday and he opened up the drainage hole more and found puss so currently she is in and hot poulticed twice a day but still not much coming out and still sore (mainly on moving over etc rather than walking). Will give it to wednesday when the farrier is back out and see where we are then!

horrible things!
 
tubbing it sounds like a good idea

i would never let a vet dig out and abcess i would always get my farrier to do it, same with removing shoes-i would rather do it myself than let a vet loose they always seem to make feet worse rather than better!
 
jools123 said:
tubbing it sounds like a good idea

i would never let a vet dig out and abcess i would always get my farrier to do it, same with removing shoes-i would rather do it myself than let a vet loose they always seem to make feet worse rather than better!
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It was my farrier who dug it out properly :) he did make a comment that the vet hadnt dont much which was unusual ;)
 
the last vet i saw dig out a foot abcess had blood peeing all over the place but no puss (oh all the kids were screaming), farrier came next day did lots of swearing when he looked at it then swiftly found the abcess and released it.

not my horse, vet or farrier may i add:)
 
jools123 said:
the last vet i saw dig out a foot abcess had blood peeing all over the place but no puss (oh all the kids were screaming), farrier came next day did lots of swearing when he looked at it then swiftly found the abcess and released it.

not my horse, vet or farrier may i add:)
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Ouchy!!

Im so paranoid with feet - they are important afterall!
 
i would never let a vet dig out and abcess i would always get my farrier to do it,
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It really is better (if possible) to let the pressure build up so that the abscess goes upwards and bursts out at the coronet. Don't dig at the sole at all.
 
Faracat said:
It really is better (if possible) to let the pressure build up so that the abscess goes upwards and bursts out at the coronet. Don't dig at the sole at all.
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This happens with my mare most of the time when she has an abcess but my farrier says its a bad thing as it affects the growth of the new hoof?
 
Crugeran Celt said:
This happens with my mare most of the time when she has an abcess but my farrier says its a bad thing as it affects the growth of the new hoof?
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Untrue.

Grrrrrah! It makes me so mad - the rubbish that qualified 'experts' spout. :mad:

Here's one of my mare's many abscesses growing out (all her problems were caused by a sub-standard farrier in the first place BTW).

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It had burst at the coronet and she was instantly sound on it and was able to stay out with her mates the whole time. The hoof is actually better above the abscess as she's growing out the rubbish and growing a new hoof capsule at the correct angle. You can see how the under-run heel will become less under-run as the new hoof grows down.
 
Agreed, my mare's abscess burst everywhere - heel, coronet and sole. And the new horn forming above the coronet site is completely sound :)
 
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