Hoof seperating from heel bulb (pics)

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Beatrice5

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IMG]http://i984.photobucket.com/albums/ae322/amandacowley1505/willowsfoot.jpg[/IMG]

Well after doing my mud fever hibi wash I not discover another nasty :( poor chap.

I assume he had an abscess that has burst out but am happy to be corrected.

He was lame Sunday so I brought them home to use the corral monday morning and he walked home fine where as sunday he looked very sorry. ( we have been away at mother in laws funeral last week so someone else was looking after beasts)

This crack wasn't noticeable until this morning when I spotted it immediately so I assume it must have broken out sunday but still be opening up or I would have spotted it when hosing feet mon and tues etc.

So what happens now? He isn't lame in walk haven't asked for trot as it looks horrid just walked him around the corral.

Have hibi scrubbed legs and purple foot sprayed and am awaiting farrier and vet to return calls - hopefully this evening.

Would appreciate advice from those who have been through similar and what I can expect healing wise and how to manage him and not let any dirt etc get in. We don't have stables only a shelter and a stoned corral.

He is ridden lightly by myself and my 6 yr old but I am assuming he'll be off work for quite a while.
 
willowsfoot.jpg
 
Yup, that will be an abscess exit, I have seen a few pop out at that point. There will be a split in the hoof that will grow down over the next month or so. When it reaches the ground, the horse will probaby lose a chunk of wall, but in my experience this doesn't cause any problems.

For now, flush out with warm saline (boil kettle, dissolve as much salt as you can in the boiled water, allow to cool a bit, wash out the hole) and keep it dry if you can, Last one like that I had was last winter, when it never stopped raining and horse lives out, so it wasn't really possible to keep it dry - we just washed it out every day for about a week.
It grew down looking like this... (horse is trained to rest hoof for
cleaning and dressing ;-)).

Horse was only off work for three or four days... he was totally sound once it had burst out.


Photo0020.jpg
 
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So he was lame on Sunday but sound on Monday and he didn't have the hole on Sunday. I would think that it would be a abscess hole as that fits with the lameness. The holes can be very hard to spot when they first burst, but become more visible after a few days IME. It should just grow out with no trouble although you might get a flappy bit that breaks off, or possibly needs trimming.

Here's a photo with abscess holes circled.
100_2232-1.jpg


Same hoof later (link because it's a big photo).
http://i194.photobucket.com/albums/z87/kij_pictures/100_2327.jpg
Note how the hoof below the hole at the heel has broken away. The hole at the quarter can still be seen approx half way down the hoof.
 
BrightBay you are my saviour :D

That is such a relief I have been worried sick waiting for the vet or farrier to return my call. I had visions of his foot peeling off :( and no foot no horse going around in my head! Have done a hibi wash today but will dissolve salt as insrtucted tomorrow morning and do daily.

Will be hard to keep dry but I can keep him on the stone corral - how long would you suggest ? As said he appears sound pottering around munching hay. If I put dry gamgee and vet wrap then gaffer tape could he go out on a clean fresh field ?
 
Yes I agree it must have been present Monday but as they were in a muddy field it wasn't obv although I do wash off dailiy but didn't go over thoroughly as he was sound again so put it down to maybe he was lame due to a tweak from the deep ground.

Bless him poor chap.
 
Beatrice5 said:
BrightBay you are my saviour :D

That is such a relief I have been worried sick waiting for the vet or farrier to return my call. I had visions of his foot peeling off :( and no foot no horse going around in my head! Have done a hibi wash today but will dissolve salt as insrtucted tomorrow morning and do daily.

Will be hard to keep dry but I can keep him on the stone corral - how long would you suggest ? As said he appears sound pottering around munching hay. If I put dry gamgee and vet wrap then gaffer tape could he go out on a clean fresh field ?
Click to expand...


No, no, it looks alarming but nothing drops off! I did find it was quite tender to touch for a few days, but you would kind of expect that :D. If you can cover it, you can turn out as normal. I didn't bother, and nothing awful happened, but pus did come out for a few days, so if you can find a way of getting a bit of poultice over it that woud probably be good. You will be amazed how quickly it heals!

The next interesting part is when it has grown right down... sometimes a whole chunk of sole comes off at the heel and you can see the track where the abscess burrowed around the heel before coming out (sorry, I get fascinated by these gory things). It is by far my preferred abscess type - we had to have one dug out by the vet during the summer, and you have a nasty hole in the sole to pack and protect for ages, where the heel and coronet band ones just sort themselves out with minimal intervention,
 
Don't panic! Looks way worse than it is, my horse had exactly the same in same place. Eventually the split grew own and the top layer of frog sloughed off. It was all fine healthy frog underneath though. Just spray with something antibacterial to prevent any nasties getting hold inside but otherwise work as usual.

Good way to think of it is like if you were to have a large blister - once its burst that skin over the top is dead, doesn't hurt and will eventually just peel off leaving no issues.
 
my horse did this last year it was scary as you cant imagine it ever healing!

in the end his frog fell off, none of the hoof wall came away though.
 
Gruesome but great pics - Thank you again for digging them out. It gives me hope. As another poster said it feels like it will never heal - think I will give him some time off until I can bear to ride him without worrying.

Friend coming tomorrow to help put a dry dressing on and vet wrap him so he can go and and stuff his face for a few hours :D
 
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