Possible Abscess - Experiences please

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Amo

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Hi guys, after some advice lease (again)

My TB has been lame on and off for just over two weeks now and starting to lose the will.

Bit of background so please bear with me. First Friday am he was shod, all seemed fine as per normal and was turned out. In the afternoon I brought him in to see the Physio (other on-going rear lameness issues) and when I trotted him up for her he was lame on his front left, she tested him with her hoof testers and couldn't find a sensitive spot so we assumed nail bind, called farrier who agreed and came out next day. Trotted him up for the farrier and he was pretty lame, removed the shoe, tested again and again couldn't find a sensitive spot, reattached shoe but quite loose and agreed to bute and box rest for a couple of days and keep an eye on him. After 3 days he was completely sound and turned out again (Tuesday)
The next Friday farrier called down to check him and was happy, as was I. As he had been in all day waiting for the farrier I thought I would stick him in the indoor school for a run around, on the way he spooked and straight after was stood with his front leg in the air like he was in severe pain, could hardly get him to move on it. Eventually he got better and better, to the point where after about an hour he was walking on it, although slightly lame. I spoke to vet who advised another round of bute and box rest and if no better on Monday he would come out. Improvement was made but as we didn't know what exactly had happened decided to keep him in until the Saturday and then turn out.
All went well until Sunday night, came in slightly lame in walk and pretty lame (5/10) in trot, his hoof, and mainly on his coronary band was HOT. Monday morning it had cooled down slightly and he was sound in walk but still lame in trot, spoke to the Farrier who arranged to come today.

This morning farrier turns up, horse is pretty much sound with no heat in hoof. He has dug around as much as he can and can still find nothing, no reaction at all from hoof testers. Next course of action is shoe has been removed completely and I am to hot tub him every day with Epsom salts and Farrier will come back out again Friday. If nothing has erupted then vet. Just to point out that my vet is happy with this approach at the moment as he knows my farrier really well.

If you have made it this far then mince pies and mulled wine all round :D

Has anyone else experienced this and did it turn out to be an abscess? It seems to me to be going on too long for an abscess now, I am used to them going lame and within a day or so the abscess erupting or at least being able to pin point the actual area of problem, starting to stress out :(
 
Yes, & it was an abcess, that just kept flaring up & fading away again. Have you tried poulticing, not just soles but over nail holes too? If he was freshly shod when he went out, & like everywhere your field has some mud patches, its possible there's something in the nail holes. And re the heat, not long ago daughters pony came in with a bit of metal in her sole, so we knew straight off where the infection was. And even though not sound at first, at no point did she have any heat. Only pain response was if you pressed the minor bruising around it, & that was only first 24 hrs. If we hadn't have known the cause, no way would hoof testers have shown anything up re the abcess.
 
Yes, my boy has an abscess currently.
I went to ride him a couple of weeks ago, sound in walk then lame in trot. Jumped off and he had a bute and box rest for 24 hours. Next day trotted him up and he was sound so turned out. Didn't ride during the week as I don't have the time but same thing happened the following weekend. When I turned out again he had lost a shoe so the farrier came out a couple of days later, meanwhile he was kept in due to the weather. Farrier noticed a very small abscess but shod anyway. He then had first poultice on last friday but haven't seen him since but will hopefully find him sound tomorrow.
I'd get the vet out if its been going on this long but doesn't sound too bad, hope he is ok! :)
 
my youngster and my shettie have both had abscess's but when the farrier came to dig them out he found the puss in them both! my youngster had one earlier in the year when the weather was horribly wet and he got a reinfection from the mud getting in but just had to keep it packed well and it didn't come back again

but he was dog lame one day, sound the next day and really lame again the 3rd! shettie was really lame in walk and trot but looked sound in gallop while i was trying to catch him!!
 
Yes, several times! One time I thought it had to be somethig more sinister as neither farrier (who is normally v good with these things) nor vet could find anything. Eventually the farrier DID find that it was indeed an abscess but this took 5 weeks in total! Mine was not very very lame, just not right. However, mine can suffer form footiness just after shoeing so I am used to having to be very careful with him.
To me, the fact that your horse went lame after being shod would certainly point to it being an abscess
 
Yes same thing happened to me week, her hoof was quite hot and was the coronet band, rang farrier he tested hoof and was very sensitive on outer edge, so he dug a hole but no pus just blood was a bit smelly though, I hot poulticed it until sunday, now she has it covered and putting surgical spirit on it and putting shoe on tomorrow.

I would hot poultice it for at least 2 days if his dug a hole it may work its way out, then put iodine or surgical spirit on it, heard of quite a few horses having them lately, has been very wet which can cause them, your horse could have just badly bruised his sole from a sharp stone or something, my mare has very sensitive soles as do thoroughbreds.
 
Thanks guys, feeling a bit better about it all now.

I trust both my farrier and vet 100% but have had so many problems with him since I have had him (starting to think I am jinxed) and was stressing that we had another problem to deal with, abscess I can just about cope with.

I hot tubbed him tonight (after a few spilled buckets) and will do twice a day moving forward, farrier doesn't want me to poultice as well as his feet are already quite soft so he wants the hooves to be able to dry out in between. Fingers crossed this will encourage whatever is hiding to make an appearance.
 
I'm where you are now! Lame horse for two weeks - one hot hoof. Vet been out and can't find anything so basically told me to hot tub it for a couple more weeks before next step of x-rays. So bloody frustrating!
 
Holly Hocks - Out of interest how are you hot tubbing ie Are you using Epsom Salts or something different? If Epsom how much are you using? It is the one question I didn't ask the farrier :)
 
Yes me too, pony never went truely abscess lame and was over 3 weeks before it came out,with no problem when hoof testers used either. There's a poultice my vet gave me that isn't wet, it's like a gel and a boot. Expensive but worth it in these situations. I'll find the name and let you know (be interesting to see if anyone has used them and what they think), hope it sorts itself soon!
 
Yes me too, pony never went truely abscess lame and was over 3 weeks before it came out,with no problem when hoof testers used either. There's a poultice my vet gave me that isn't wet, it's like a gel and a boot. Expensive but worth it in these situations. I'll find the name and let you know (be interesting to see if anyone has used them and what they think), hope it sorts itself soon!
 
Lovescobs said:
Yes me too, pony never went truely abscess lame and was over 3 weeks before it came out,with no problem when hoof testers used either. There's a poultice my vet gave me that isn't wet, it's like a gel and a boot. Expensive but worth it in these situations. I'll find the name and let you know (be interesting to see if anyone has used them and what they think), hope it sorts itself soon!
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Be great if you can find the name :)
 
Amo said:
Holly Hocks - Out of interest how are you hot tubbing ie Are you using Epsom Salts or something different? If Epsom how much are you using? It is the one question I didn't ask the farrier :)
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Hi Amo
I'm just using hot water with normal table salt - I just tip it in - don't really take much notice of how much I use. I haven't been poulticing as vet told me not to, but I think I am going to put a dry poultice on after tubbing just to give a bit of comfort....
 
I have a mare who has had a couple of abscesses this yer that took a while to come out. Is the gel you are talking about called Magic Cushion? We used this with a pad over but you can also pack the foot with Magic Cushion and vet wrap over it. It is anti bacterial and anti inflammatory and often used for accesses.
 
I had an abscess that rumbled away for months - in fact close to 4/5 months. At no point did vet pick up on an abscess (of course maybe it wasn't there at that point) anyway. My farrier wasn't keen to dig as there was no telling exactly where it was - because of no reaction to testers etc...

We poulticed and tubbed for 7 days until we thought there was nothing there, but my farrier was determined it was and told us to wait... then a huge abscess burst from heel, coronet and ended up in my mare dropping the entire sole.
She's now back in work and doing fantastic!
 
The one I used that my vet recommended is the Decron foot poultice kit, it's gel, pad, boot (felt and Velcro) and vet wrap. U get 2 treatments per pack. Couldn't tell u if it worked as my Mare turned out to have an infected leg! (The day after shoeing and presented like typical nailbind!) but I think my vets uses it as standard now.
 
One week of no shoe and hot tubbing and still nothing has made an appearance. Farrier has been out again and we have decided to put is shoe back on and turn him back out, hopefully movement will help force it out.

Have the vet booked for Tuesday for a follow up to his rear end lameness and to do his teeth so will add his front to the list as well, hopefully he will be able to shed some light on the problem or at least reassure me he believes it is still an abscess and nothing more sinister.

Anyone else doing any better and getting their abscesses to break?
 
Please be careful - I followed my vet's advice with a very stubborn abscess. It just wouldn't come out. By the time I wised up and got a second opinion it had tracked upwards and infected his tendon sheath.
 
sychnant said:
Please be careful - I followed my vet's advice with a very stubborn abscess. It just wouldn't come out. By the time I wised up and got a second opinion it had tracked upwards and infected his tendon sheath.
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Thanks for the warning, will discuss in depth with the vet. Can't cope with anymore problems, he has had one thing after another for the last 18 months seems like one step forward two steps back. I might see if I can arrange for the farrier to be there at the same time, between them they must be able to come up with a plan of attack.
 
Amo said:
One week of no shoe and hot tubbing and still nothing has made an appearance. Farrier has been out again and we have decided to put is shoe back on and turn him back out, hopefully movement will help force it out.

Have the vet booked for Tuesday for a follow up to his rear end lameness and to do his teeth so will add his front to the list as well, hopefully he will be able to shed some light on the problem or at least reassure me he believes it is still an abscess and nothing more sinister.

Anyone else doing any better and getting their abscesses to break?
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I'm still with you Amo! Not getting anywhere. I thought something had come out on the poultice yesterday as it was a bit stinky when I took it off, but the mud from the field had got in as well (my poultices are wicked - I can get them to stay on in fetlock deep mud!) so not sure if the smell was just sweaty frog....had someone else have a sniff and she thought just sweaty frog as well, although my other friend was gagging a bit....just brought her in today and took the poultice off but she is still walking lame. Going back later to put just a dry poultice on for comfort as the hot tubbing and hot poulticing doesnt seem to be doing anything. :( she is getting booked in for x-rays next week....I'm not convinced this is just an abscess now...
 
Frustrating isn't it, I am forever smelling not just the poultice but his actual foot and all around the coronet band hoping for a hint of something, anyone watching me must think I am a complete loon lol

Funny thing is, for the last few days he has been pretty much sound and the heat has disappeared bar a tiny amount which if I wasn’t so OCD about checking I probably wouldn’t even notice. Can’t wait for vet to come out tomorrow.
 
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