how long can a horse have an abscess before being detected

Impossible to say as you wouldn't know until the horse went lame ! I think it would be days or at the most weeks and not months or years.
 
jackbox said:
title say's it all really

how long could a horse have an abscess before showing signs of it?
could it be months, years?
Click to expand...

I once took off a shoe and found an active abscess underneath it at the toe. The horse was not lame. A friend had a mare which had been niggly but not outright lame on a hind, easy to miss, which broke out as an abscess after several months.Another friend had a horse go lame and come sound several times over the course of two months before he went lame and stayed lame, and an abscess was found. I've also had several horses suddenly pop at the coronet or heel with no lameness at all until the day they break, if then. So, definitely months, and some are not easy to spot, especially if they keep making more room for themselves.

Why the question?
 
I know someone who had a horse that was not right and was having treatment for a back problem, including a stay at a rehab yard (no idea if the vet was involved). Still not right after all that and owner was watching it struggling in the field and was deciding on PTS.

Farrier was out to shoe another horse and the owner asked him to look at her "off" horse. He picked up one hind hoof, trimmed it and discovered an abcess. Picked up the other hind hoof, trimmed it and discovered an abscess. Poor horse.
As far as I know it recovered and was fine afterwards.
 
ycbm said:
I once took off a shoe and found an active abscess underneath it at the toe. The horse was not lame. A friend had a mare which had been niggly but not outright lame on a hind, easy to miss, which broke out as an abscess after several months.Another friend had a horse go lame and come sound several times over the course of two months before he went lame and stayed lame, and an abscess was found. I've also had several horses suddenly pop at the coronet or heel with no lameness at all until the day they break, if then. So, definitely months, and some are not easy to spot, especially if they keep making more room for themselves.

Why the question?
Click to expand...

Me too - young horse on and off mildly lame when seen turning in the paddock - months later an abscess popped out the coronet - of course two days after the expense of having the foot Xrayed.

Sometimes they go so lame so suddenly you think they must have broken something.
 
My mare had an abscess the vet thought had been there months, it was absolutely rotten and he really had to dig to get it! one day she just hobbled up the field and went NWB. she'd been fine until then.

I also had one with my gelding that the vet thought was an abscess but then decided after hoof testing it was something more sinister niggling underneath, he said to see how it goes and then we would need scans if no better. he improved but was still lame for 6-7 weeks , then it burst and he was fine ! vet said it was probably something in the white line that kept moving around
 
My last abscess experience was horse resting hind leg after work. No lameness whatsoever - found the abscess track in her toe when we trimmed.

I swear they are sent by the dark side of the force to test owners to the max!
 
Oh yes they can take months and turn out to be an expensive misdiagnosis, that's what happen to me.
1st time after visits, nerve blocks, injections, vet said to bring her in for nav bursa injection, not long after that an abscess blew and she came sound, 6mths later she stood on a stone caught in hoof boot, at the time I did not think anything, just called the vet, he said bring her down for another injection.. I had other ideas..poulticed for 5 days agressively and out it popped, that took about 2 months, the first one took 8mths. She is stubborn and so are her abscesses lol! Good luck
 
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