Re occurring hoof abcesses.

[jhoward]

Pony, 14.2 tradition cob. 16yo. Been used as a low-level general pony. Has been fat at times, but action taken to get the weight off.
Always sound until a couple of years ago when he had a hoof abccess in a front.


2 years later he has had an access in on front or another most of the time, he has had...

Several farrier visits, digging out, re hoof balancing, shoes pads, all been tried.

Vet visits (vet and farrier also spoke)
He has had xrays of the fronts all good no pedal bone movement.
He has just been tested for cushions and ems all clear.

Where do we go from here as he currently has a back hoof full of puss.

Somethings got to be causing this but every one is at a loss.

He overall management has always been in out for a few hours due to weight, there has been times his stable could of been dryer, less grass eaten etc.

 

[Arzada]

Is this all in the same environment? We had abscesses at only one yard and never at others.

 

[ycbm]

My advice would be to cut out all added sugar, fed reduced carb feeds and if you don't already, feed copper and zinc or a supplement with high levels of copper and zinc. I've not had an abscess on my yard for the many years that I have been doing this, but I had plenty before that.

 

[paddy555]

TRH test for cushings. My cushings horse had many abscesses until he was treated. He was tested negative on ACTH twice. We trialled prascend. He responded and didn't have any more abscesses. Other alternative is TRH to try and establish cushings. 16yo is the classic time to me.

Over the years on around 23 or so horses I have fed sugar, no sugar, supplements, no supplements and every other way of horse keeping. I have had 2 abscesses. One due to blackthorn (we found the thorn) and one due to a nail.

 

[TPO]

I had one like this, loong story

Nothing worked. He had surgeries, "barefoot" diet and every hoof treatment that you could think of.

Part of the issue was a previosuly broken pelvis causing uneven load bearing behind and made it even harder.

Ultimately what helped the most was taking over myself and stopping vets and farriers dig at all. At one point there was a track from the back of the heel bulb and the middle of the frog it was so well established.

I kept hooves clean with sole cleanse and used field paste at least once a day. Movement with boots and pads when not in having an episode.

His xrays were all clear too. Vets removed some tissue during surgery but they still came back.

Shoes and pads were the worst for him. So much so I removed them myself.

I kept his bed immaculately clean. At the yard he was on he was in overnight year round. After his surgeries he was in for 13 and 10wks respectively. I used boots during the day to stop him standing in dung and mucked out 2-3x a day. My days during box rest were 4.30am-11pm and not fun at all!

 

[AandK]

My now 24yo has had recurring abscesses, the thing that put a stop to them (he also tested negative for cushings) was adding a good spec mineral balancer (I use Equivita) and going for a low sugar/carb diet.

 

[Pinkvboots]

My mare had a reoccurring abscess in front hoof but she did have cushings but only got a positive test on 3rd try, she did become lame on that leg at one point and x rays were done and her pedal bone was infected so she had an operation to remove the infected bone.

I would say maybe have the strim cushings test and keep an eye on it as the recovery from the pedal bone infection is long and not particularly nice.

 

[jhoward]

No diffe

Is this all in the same environment? We had abscesses at only one yard and never at others.

No different 3 different yards in total.

Thanks all funny enough I've been googling and found some information about zinc etc.

He has definitely been on over grazed fields and poor quality hay, in winter some chaff but that's it.

 

[Bonnie Allie]

I feel your pain. I have two like this as well. One elderly that has always had challenging feet But abscess recurs in same hoof same spot every time. One that just randomly gets abscesses in all different places.

Horse #1 solved it by keeping her hoof really clean by using sole cleanse (red horse product), iodine and packing area with hoof stuff which is magic. On wet or muddy days hoof gets covered with a little rubber hoof boot. So far so good.

Horse #2 tried everything - had vet, farrier, cushings test etc. Still kept recurring. Our horses are on diets done by a professional equine nutritionalist so asked her. She put this horse on a gut supplement - which I rolled my eyes at (powders and potions shouldn’t be required if the horses nutrition is correct right - after all that’s what I’m paying this woman for). It changed everything. Abscesses stopped. Her theory was horse may have had an inflamed hind gut which made her immune compromised so that her body couldn’t fight infection well.

Not sure I believe the theory for horse #2 as there is no evidence but if it stopped the abcesses I’ll keep feeding it.

Benefit of all these abscesses is I am the queen of spotting one brewing and can treat it before the horse is hopping lame.

 

[bouncing_ball]

I feel

Benefit of all these abscesses is I am the queen of spotting one brewing and can treat it before the horse is hopping lame.

how do you treat a brewing abscess? I’ve only ever managed to encourage to burst and drain. But never without the hopping lame stage.

 

[jhoward]

The whole gut/vitamin makes sense as that is some thing he would of lacked for many years as the owner has always been tight on grass/hay hard feed has only ever been a handful of chaff when others got fed.

I was linking it to sugars, abcess, treated, sound, pony goes out on grass a couple of weeks later it starts up again, but actually I think I've thought it wrong, the fact he's sound, goes out, walks about, gets ridden abcess again...its just pushing through what's quietly brewing.

I don't suppose any one knows about blood tests for low vit/mins ?

 

[Bonnie Allie]

how do you treat a brewing abscess? I’ve only ever managed to encourage to burst and drain. But never without the hopping lame stage.

The infection begins early and the horse won’t be uneven yet but not quite right. If you walk along a tarmac road or concrete surface you can hear it. One footfall will be different to the others.

I hot tub it with iodine and Epsom salts, then scrub the sole, hoof wall and you find the tell tale dark black line or black dot where it’s exit point will be if it does become a full blown abscess. If appropriate (and it’s not always), I use a hoof knife to par it back but I’m talking very slightly, not a full on dig like vet and farrier do. I just try to get rid of the black soft bit.

Then either poultice (hot) or if I’ve managed to get the black stuff sorted, fill the crevice or small hole with hoof stuff (red horse product) as it’s antibacterial and it never goes to full blown abscess.

 

[Bonnie Allie]

Oh and I should add, get yourself a set of hoof testers. My husband tells me I suffer from imagination at times and a hoof tester will tell you if you are right when you think there is an abscess brewing.