CookieCoco
New User
Around a month and a half ago the farrier saw my new pony for the first time. He said he probably had a hoof abscess in the past but that it had healed and had only left a small, shallow hole behind. The pony was fine, not lame. A few weeks after the weather turned pretty bad and it started raining and the field where the horses are kept got filled up with water. A week or two after the start of the bad weather, I noticed after riding (pretty light work) I noticed that my pony's hoof was bleeding from the heel. It was only a drop or so but I called my farrier. He came the next day and said it was probably the hoof abscess which he had mentioned earlier travelled up through the hoof to the heel causing the bleeding. He said that it was nothing to worry about, but to bath it every day in warm soda water and apply a clay which he gave me, to keep dirt from getting into the hoof. I did that for two weeks and gave the pony rest because I was worried for him. He was not lame though. A vet checked shortly after on him and said it should be fine. About a week ago, the abscess seemed to have nearly healed. The hole was certainly closing. But then I noticed that he had mud fever and his heels were soft and white. I started treating him for mud fever, got all the scabs off and kept him clean and dry. The vet also gave him an injection. The treatment seems to be going quite well. He was seeming quite energetic being in the stable for the day so I thought I would take him for walks on the dry roads. In general he was not limping and seems fine. But the heel of the hoof which he has the abscess continues to be white and soft. What's more, the hoof wall there seems to be eroding away. Someone told me that the heels are white and soft probably due to the excessive wet weather. I've put a picture of his heel. Any ideas on what it could be? Could it be that the abscess is still inside and somehow migrating to his heel while its closing on the sole where he got the abscess? He's not lame and seems fine enough. As for his other heels, they were also white and soft in between but now they seem better. This one does not though.
