Puncture Wound or Abcess?

[Shutterbug]

Brought my boy in from the field on Friday evening, looking forward to riding in the sunshine - gave him a groom and as I was picking out his hind right, he sharply pulled his leg away as if I had hurt him - on closer inspection, I see a trickle of blood on his hoof so give him a wash with the hose and there, just at the side of the pointy end of his frog, is a small hole about 1/4cm wide and half a cm deep. Hes not lame, has no heat in his hoof or leg - in fact he pranced up the road back to the yard when I was bringing him in.

The hole looked a little greeny/yellow gooey but not overly so - YO and I decided to poultice it as it did look like a small abcess that had popped. YO changed the poultice yesterday morning and there was a little pussy drainage so we re-poulticed. Phoned the vet yesterday and explained to him over the phone and he says possible puncture wound, and to pack it with some cotton soaked in Iodine so we have now done that today instead of poulticnig again - when the poultice was removed today the hole was slightly bigger and YO says it was looking a bit raw.

Not sure what I am dealing with here - never had to deal with an abcess or a puncture wound in the past so a little unsure - might get the vet out to look over it - I havent seen it today as Im at work but will be at yard first thing tomorrow.

In the meantime - anyone have any ideas or experienced similiar?

 

[moorman]

If your horse has not got to much sole thickness, which I would have at a guess is the case as there is blood that close to the surface, then you are wanting the new under-sole to do 2 things.
First it must resist the invasion of any bacteria due to the initial damage
Second it must harden off in order to be able to bare weight
If you have necrotic tissue (puss) in-between the old and the new sole as long as the hole is big enough it should drain, the problem with putting a poultice on at this stage can often soften the area too much thus leading to either proud flesh or tissue that is unable to harden.
I agree with your vet about the iodine as long as the area is clean when it is put on.
If you were to feel you needed to poultice again I would recommend a dry one so as to keep the area as hard as possible.
I don’t know if the foot is shod or not but you will find there will be a difference in healing times if a shoe is removed as the expansion and contraction of the hoof can cause added problems.
Nature has worked out a very good system for dealing with these problems and it relies on the owner not impeding them too much.
I am sure it will all come good soon.

 

[SusieT]

Don't understand why you didn't get the vet out in the first place? For the sake of a call out fee..

 

[Shutterbug]

Err because when I spoke to the vet he saw no reason to come out at that point..really if you have nothing useful to contribute why bother eh?

Moorman thank you, you were absolutely spot on. Having hibiscrubbed the entire area and sprayed with iodine and packed with iodine soaked cotton wool as advised by my vet its looking much better and the sole is growing back. He had no lameness or tenderness, no heat or swelling so vet reckons he's trod on something