How long to poultice?

[shadowboy]

Brought boy in from field hopping lame- found a farriers nail in near fore sole! (He's barefoot!) OH pulled it out and was some bleeding. Have hot poulticed. Rang farrier who bless him returned my call at 9pm on a sat night!!! He said to put a dry poultice in in the morning to encourage it to heal. But I forgot to ask how long to keep poulticing and when do I ride? He's actually not lame now the nail is out but obviously will be sore / bruised.

 

[bonny]

alot depends on where in the foot the nail was and how deep it went in. I would keep it poulticed overnight just to keep it clean, it wouldn't do any good in it'self but should help in the morning to see what damage there is.....if it's gone in deep or near the frog then you need a vet to ensure there is no damage internally and no infection.

 

[bonny]

Forgot to say if he's sound in the morning and no soreness then just ride as normal.....no harm done.

 

[LucyPriory]

Brought boy in from field hopping lame- found a farriers nail in near fore sole! (He's barefoot!) OH pulled it out and was some bleeding.

If nail penetrated sole and there was bleeding chances are the solar corium has been at least pricked. You want to avoid this getting infected. I'd keep covered until you are sure the hole has closed.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Brought boy in from field hopping lame- found a farriers nail in near fore sole! (He's barefoot!) OH pulled it out and was some bleeding. Have hot poulticed. Rang farrier who bless him returned my call at 9pm on a sat night!!! He said to put a dry poultice in in the morning to encourage it to heal. But I forgot to ask how long to keep poulticing and when do I ride? He's actually not lame now the nail is out but obviously will be sore / bruised.

I would continue to poultice and then :

tomorrow
I would get vet personally.

You do not know how far its gone. You do not want pedal bone damage or abscess right high in foot.

Having lost my beloved mare to pedal bone infection I would not hesitate

You don't want to be in the situation where its too little to late.

 

[shadowboy]

It didn't go in too deep thank goodness! The nail itself was about a half inch and only half of that went in - so max of a cm the OH said it has only just pricked through the sole.

Annoyingly he's lost two of the poultices so far one by constantly scraping and scraping and the second I'm not sure but today's one has stayed on so far. I will re-poultice tonight. No idea how long to keep going. He's sound and there is no heat as of yet. The hole is invisible now so I can't tell if it has healed!