Poulticing a foot

M

Mary Poppins

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About 8 weeks ago, my boy developed an abcess in his front foot a week after being shod. Farrier took the shoe off, I poulticed his foot and the vet gave my boy antibiotics. He was shod last week (he has heartbar shoes on) and now he has developed an abcess in the other foot. I haven't asked the farrier to take his shoe off, I have been treating it with the shoe on. Is it ok to do that, or do I need to have his shoe taken off? Do you think it's coincidence this has happened twice, or could it be something the farrier is not doing right? I'm not a farrier so always take on board what he says, but getting a bit fed up with it now and feel so sorry for my boy.

What do you all think?
 
Depends where the abcess is. If it is beneath the shoe, you could probably get at it by hot tubbing, but will struggle with a poultice.

Have you got to the seat of the abcess? Can you take the shoe off yourself?

It may not be your farrier that is causing the problem - it could be that because this foot has taken the strain whilst he was lame on the other foreleg that an abcess has developed.

If your farrier has a good reputation then I would give him a call and have a chat to him about it.
 
Hi do you know for sure that its an abcess? I think you should let your farrier know so he can check and hopefully release any infection. Most likely the shoe will need to come off. I am not sure why you think the abcesses are the farriers fault. Are you just not happy with his work in general?
 
Bertthefestivefrog said:
Depends where the abcess is. If it is beneath the shoe, you could probably get at it by hot tubbing, but will struggle with a poultice.

Have you got to the seat of the abcess? Can you take the shoe off yourself?

It may not be your farrier that is causing the problem - it could be that because this foot has taken the strain whilst he was lame on the other foreleg that an abcess has developed.

If your farrier has a good reputation then I would give him a call and have a chat to him about it.
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WSS!!
 
I would get your farrier out to have a look, they normally take the shoe off to start with.. The abcesses could be caused by the farrier or it can be if a horse has quite soft soles & tread on stones or anything in the field/riding that cause an infection..has he always been one to get abcesses or is it only since this farrier has shod him?
 
I would ask the farrier to come out and release the abcess, if he can find it. He will then decide if the shoe needs to come off or not. On the whole farriers are better at finding abcesses than vets are, so are the ones to sort this out.
 
call your farrier and get him take the shoe off and have a look. if abcess tub, wet poultice for 3 days dry poultice for another 2 to 3 days then you should be able to pack it and get shoe back on. antibiotics for a foot abcess do calm it down and shut it up short term but they tend to come back as dont fully drain. unfortunately it is the time of year for foot abcesses. mud up old nail holes, soft to hard going, dry to wet and back again etc. and as your horse already wears heartbars she obviously doesnt have the best feet. your farrier should find the problem and give you the best treatment and timescale for getting the shoe back on.
 
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