Need Hope! Horse had a nail go into his rear hoof

Hal1k1

Hal1k1

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My horse had a 4 inch nail penetrate 2.5 inches into his hoof today. He is being operated on tomorrow. The nail missed his navicular bursa and pedal bone but has penetrated his tendon sheath and possibly the tendon itself. His white cell count is very high but he is at the vets being sedated and given pain relief.

I know the penetration wound is not nice but it is the infection I am worried about. Has anyone had experience with this kind of wound and what was the outcome?
 
Again, no personal experience but I shall keep my fingers crossed for him! What are they doing operation wise, just flushing out the wound or do they need to repair the tendon?

I don't think any of these cases are black and white I am afraid and I think you are probably right about infection getting into the tendon being the major concern. Ones I have heard about before are ones where the nail has damaged the navicular bursa and I think they are more problematic.

Hope all goes well.
 
I actually know 2 horses this has happened to in the last 6 months :(

The 1st since missed the navicular bursae and pricked the DDFT. The horse was X rayed before being transported to hospital with the nail still in it's foot. She was there nearly a month. As far as I know (I wasn't there.... friends horse) there was never an infection. But she was crippled lame. She was at hospital for nearly a month, then came back and one day would be quite good and the next not even putting it to the floor. Was very strange and the vets don't really know why, apparently the prick shouldn't be causing this. (from what I've been told). It is now 4 months on and as far as I know she is still about 1/10ths lame and they don't know what the outcome will be. She has had so many scans and x rays (has gone way over insurance limit).

The 2nd one happened on New Year bank holiday monday. I was there and when vet arrived apparently it only went about 1 inch in and into the frog, and if is to go in anywhere that's a good part of the foot! He also had a high heel wedge on.... Vet removed it, we all held our breath, but he walked away sound!! :) Disinfected it and told us that if it was infected and needed to go to hospital he would be lame within hours so wait and see. We were there for hours and thankfully he was fine :) It was poulticed for a week, then he was given all clear. He was very very lucky!!

I hope your horse is ok. I really think every case is different.
 
He has had his operation and the vets are quietly optimistic about the injury but the big worry is that he already has an infection so they are giving him as much antibiotics and pain relief as they possibly can.

Please keep thinking positively for us.
 
Exactly the same thing happened to my mare some 3yrs ago. She didn't get an infection and started to come back into work very nicely if a touch excited!!!!!! However almost a year after the intial injury, having had 6 months box rest and then another 6 months of very gradually bringing her back into work I felt like she wasn't quite level. Because of the history she had another MRI (about her 10th!!) and unfortunately the tendon had torn just above the original site. She was now still just 6 and was sadly retired.

I truly hope your boy comes good and all I can advise is that he if gets too much on box rest / walking in hand then maybe use sedalin as I did eventually as I'll never be sure if the messing around that my poor mare did, quite understandably whilst doing so much box rest, may not have helped.
 
I had something very similar a few years ago. Came right in the end, although things looked a bit bleak to begin with. One odd thing was our drama queen horse wouldn't/couldn't weight bear properly for 4 weeks, went completely off his food, and put his back out by long term hopping lameness. (quickly and dramatically sorted by our back man and in 2 minutes he started wolfing his hay!)
Now I appreciate his 'drama queen' behaviour because he almost waves at you whatever part of him is ailing! You couldn't describe him as stoic in any way..

Really hope it all goes well for you - sounds as if he is in the right hands.
 
My lad spooked whilst out hacking, whipped round and then went hopping lame. He had a 4 inch piece of rusty old bolt in his hind foot. I hobbled him home and the vet came and pulled it out. He was poulticed for a week and on antibiotics. I, and he, was very lucky in that he never had any infection and was not really lame. I was back riding within 2 weeks. I still have the bolt as I can't believe he didn't do more damage with it.
Fingers crossed for your lad.
 
Hi I just thought I would let you know how we are getting on. My computer has had a motherboard failure hence the late reply Hector is now home and is on 4 weeks box rest. He has been sound on that hoof ever since the operation. He is still on antibiotics and we are just keeping our fingers crossed.

I am having trouble keeping his hoof totally clean though as he is frequently walking through his hoof coverings. We have had to try to let his heels dry out as well so it isn't the easiest injury to deal with.

I am hopeful though that in a couple of weeks time when the vet agrees he will be able to go out with his friends all day and graze to his hearts content.
 
Hope all goes well with his recovery, what a scare for you and for him. Could you make a little boot out of duct tape to go on the bottom of his hoof coverings when he goes out maybe? Just to try to help with the wear and tear. Sorry if you are already doing this, it was something which helped when one of ours had an abcess and we needed to keep the hole clean. The duct tape on top helped keep the dressing clean and stopped him breaking through at the toe.

Red Horse Products do some great products to help with things like this that you may be able to use afterwards to help keep any wound or hole protected as it continues to heal.
 
my horse trod on a nail last year when he was already on box rest after an operation when tied outside his stable whilst it was being mucked out.
Luckily he had not trodden on it too much and it was embedded just over an inch in, so I pulled it out and he was not lame. I did not call the vet ( reading this thread I would now if it happened again ) but did poultice it for a few weeks after.
I had the problems you describe until I purchased a hoof boot one of these from here http://www.thesaddleryshop.co.uk/P/Easyboot_RX_easycare_easyboot_RX_RX_Poultice_Boot-(1080).aspx it was expensive but it really made the difference and now should I need it again I have it.

best wishes for your horse op it is sounding like so far so good
 
I dealt with this last year - not a good outcome with mine but he was a worse case senario

The biggest issue is infection, i can't stress how much (the reason i lost the battle with mine)

Mine had a hospital plate fitted (shaped metal or rigid plastic that is screwed into the shoe)

if you can get a farrier to fit one will make your life alot easier - i cleaned the wound twice daily packed with sterile pads then packed the whole void under the plate with gamergee (SP?!)

then (prehaps ott but i wanted to know that i had done everything possible) bandaged and duct taped the outside of the foot.

years ago my other horse trod on a flint and had a infection problem (won that battle though) when the wound healed over i kept the hosptial plate on until there was a good growth of sole and then packed the hole with keratex putty and a bit of rubber from the school! worked really well.

the one i lost really was worse case and wasn't given good odds by the vets but i wanted to try as he was a baby - there is hope (on the american site horse advice there is a story of a horse that has come back to eventing following similar) sadly i've done this twice now so if you want to PM me feel free :)
 
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