Is it an abcess or something more?

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 March 2010
Messages
5,402
Location
England
Visit site
I brought my old boy in from the field a week last Wednesday, put him to bed fine, he ate and generally seemed fine. Next day, I got there at 6.30am to find him dog lame on his near fore. He seemed able to walk in a straight line, but it's quite a tight turn out of his stable and he could barely make the turn. No heat anywhere in the leg, but something told me it was an abcess. I called my farrier who came out the next day. He also thought it was an abcess, but as he is a TB with crap feet he was not prepared to go in digging. Anyway, there was no improvement over the weekend and on Sunday night I gave him two Danilon as I couldn't bear to see him in pain. I called the vet on Monday - a new vet who seemed really good, who also said that she thought it was an abcess. She had a bit of a dig, but nothing. She poulticed it and said to leave it till the weekend and either get her or the farrier out again. She also gave me a pile of Danilon for him. Anyway, farrier came out again yesterday and pared away a lot of his sole. There was a soft spot, but the farrier wasn't sure if pus, or blood and wasn't prepared to go any further. So I am hot tubbing and poulticing and have taken him off the bute. I have now found heat in the pastern and fetlock area........can heat in these areas be linked to a hoof abcess? Sorry, but none of my horses have had one before, so I'm not sure what to expect or whether this is something more than an abcess....
 
Iv got the same with my lad at the mo, same leg, pottery on turn but fine in a stright line, heat in pastern area. Will watch with interest
 
Thatsmygirl, that's really interesting. If you get to the bottom of it, can you let me know what you find. Mine is lame in trot in a straight line, but not dramatically so, yet doing a turn it looks like he's got a broken leg.......both the vet and the farrier have told me that TB's with abcesses are notoriously difficult to treat as they are reluctant to dig too far as their feet don't grow back very quick. They also said that it can take weeks for them to come out and that it could come out around the coronet band.....I just don't feel convinced. My gut is telling me that it's something more.....
 
If VERY VERY lame, it is either a broken leg or foot abscess. They both look that dramatic!! I am sure it is the latter, very painful and it will need to be cutaway and drained. Pouticed and should be fine in a day or two.
 
pastie2 said:
If VERY VERY lame, it is either a broken leg or foot abscess. They both look that dramatic!! I am sure it is the latter, very painful and it will need to be cutaway and drained. Pouticed and should be fine in a day or two.
Click to expand...

Thanks Pastie. It's definitely not a broken leg - he's had one of those before!! Having had his last bute yesterday morning, the effects will be wearing off soon, so I'll have more of an idea of how lame he is then.
 
Holly Hocks said:
I brought my old boy in from the field a week last Wednesday, put him to bed fine, he ate and generally seemed fine. Next day, I got there at 6.30am to find him dog lame on his near fore. He seemed able to walk in a straight line, but it's quite a tight turn out of his stable and he could barely make the turn. No heat anywhere in the leg, but something told me it was an abcess. I called my farrier who came out the next day. He also thought it was an abcess, but as he is a TB with crap feet he was not prepared to go in digging. Anyway, there was no improvement over the weekend and on Sunday night I gave him two Danilon as I couldn't bear to see him in pain. I called the vet on Monday - a new vet who seemed really good, who also said that she thought it was an abcess. She had a bit of a dig, but nothing. She poulticed it and said to leave it till the weekend and either get her or the farrier out again. She also gave me a pile of Danilon for him. Anyway, farrier came out again yesterday and pared away a lot of his sole. There was a soft spot, but the farrier wasn't sure if pus, or blood and wasn't prepared to go any further. So I am hot tubbing and poulticing and have taken him off the bute. I have now found heat in the pastern and fetlock area........can heat in these areas be linked to a hoof abcess? Sorry, but none of my horses have had one before, so I'm not sure what to expect or whether this is something more than an abcess....
Click to expand...

had tbs for years and know only too well that they are soooo prone to these. Usually it pops out in a few days as you know, in my experience ive poulticed coronet band too to try and get it to go upwards to softest point and break thru. horse on our yard had the same symptoms as your old fella, he was on box rest for literally weeks, she poulticed and poulticed.. nothing came, farrier dug and dug and still nothing, lame on a circle in the school and on the one side of the sole. had xrays, nothing showed, in the end had an mri scan, showed massive bruising to his fetlock area and still dont kow to this day how it was really caused. vets said typical loading injury and he'd been out competeing week before. it could be brusing, he had heat but not piping hot just not normal body temp. have you checked the area to make sure there are no puncture wounds that could be hiding?
 
Chellebean said:
Oh hun, I've got no advice but hugs to you and Rebel! Hope he gets well soon xx
Click to expand...

Thanks Chelle. I think he must have heard me planning to do dressage on him next weekend and planning to do some veteran classes with him at riding club this summer and decided that if he had a self-destruction session then he won't have to go! xx
 
Holly Hocks said:
Thanks Chelle. I think he must have heard me planning to do dressage on him next weekend and planning to do some veteran classes with him at riding club this summer and decided that if he had a self-destruction session then he won't have to go! xx
Click to expand...

Haha he has been talking to Ollie I think :rolleyes:
I'm sure he'll be right as rain soon enough! some updated pics of ollie are in the photo gallery if you haven't already seen them :D
Opps sorry for hijacking the thread
xx
 
emalou2 said:
had tbs for years and know only too well that they are soooo prone to these. Usually it pops out in a few days as you know, in my experience ive poulticed coronet band too to try and get it to go upwards to softest point and break thru. horse on our yard had the same symptoms as your old fella, he was on box rest for literally weeks, she poulticed and poulticed.. nothing came, farrier dug and dug and still nothing, lame on a circle in the school and on the one side of the sole. had xrays, nothing showed, in the end had an mri scan, showed massive bruising to his fetlock area and still dont kow to this day how it was really caused. vets said typical loading injury and he'd been out competeing week before. it could be brusing, he had heat but not piping hot just not normal body temp. have you checked the area to make sure there are no puncture wounds that could be hiding?
Click to expand...

Thanks for this. I did find a very old scab on the front of his fetlock, but it looked like it had been there for ages. I tried to get it off with hot water and then I poulticed it overnight but the scab wouldn't budge, so I assumed it was very old. He's not sensitive to it being touched either, but if you think it could be that, I could try poulticing it again?
 
I will let you know if I get to the bottom off it. Mines a tb as well. Has yours got a strong pulse? In fetlock area? Normally means it's in foot if they have. I'm also worried it's something more and can see £ signs in my eyes from the vets. Bloody horses why do we bother hey
 
presumably your farrier hoof tested?? i've had an abcsess so deep it's come out of the coronet band previously. lost about 1/3 of the hoof wall trying to dig it out.....
 
Holly Hocks said:
Thanks for this. I did find a very old scab on the front of his fetlock, but it looked like it had been there for ages. I tried to get it off with hot water and then I poulticed it overnight but the scab wouldn't budge, so I assumed it was very old. He's not sensitive to it being touched either, but if you think it could be that, I could try poulticing it again?
Click to expand...

worth a go? could of had something go inside and the its scabbed over the top, could be infected within. is there any swelling at all or puffiness?
Im not saying that the following is responsible either but my mare a couple of years ago kept going intermittanly lame, fine in straight lines but nodding like an old dog on the left rein on 20m circle. Got vet out, no heat, really odd. Vets advice was to ride through it.. moved yards a few weeks later and changed farrier, diagnosed mega seedy toe in all 4 feet, worst foot was the one she was lame on and literally scraped out a huge cavity of dead hoof. Trated that with antibac, plugging with cotton wool and general hospital like hoof care! All cleared now, sound as ever. Not saying its this but sometimes its worth bearing in mind with mystery lameness.
 
Hi,
When I first got my TB he had terrible feet. He had really bad seedy toe in 1 front foot, and lost about 2/3 of the hoof wall.

Because of this, he also had recurrent abcesses in that foot. Some of them would flare up in 1 day, and burst out within a couple of hours of poulticing, others would "brew" and he would be lame, with heat, and a strong pulse, and the leg would swell, but then he would get better, then it would flare up again. He also had them burst out at the top of the hoof. Very frustrating.

Eventually he had a massive abscess that took 14 days to drain. He had xrays, as I was sure that it was something really sinister, like an infection in the pedal bone, but it wasn't, and once that abcess drained, he was fine.

Id say, keep poulticing a bit longer, and see if anything does come out of the foot.

Kx
 
suspect it will be an abcess which will need to work its way out either through poulitcing or cutting it out. Poulticing is always preferable as you don't cut away the sole.

In future I would start poulticing from the word go, not wait several days until the vet has seen him. It won't do any harm to poultice and it will accelerate the process if there is an abcess present. It will also reduce the risk of the abcess tracking up and breaking through at the coronet which isn't preferred as can be very troublesome to heal afterwards.

As well as pouticing tubbing may be beneficial to help soften the sole and allow the abcess to break through.
 
There are an awful lot of foot abscesses this year, probably due to the extreme mud most of us are having to put up with.

My old lady, who has never ever had an abcess in the 31 years she has been on this planet suffered one this year for the very first time, she was in extreme pain and on three legs. Poulticing for a few days cleared it up fairly quickly but before the gunk came out she was in agony poor old bird.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top