Recurring abscess nightmare!

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janinek1981

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LONG post sorry but would really appreciate your comments.

From googling to high heaven I have found quite a few posts about hoof abscesses but it was a year or so ago and I wondered if anyone has stumbled upon any miracle "cures"
My mare has had approximately 6 in the past year (a few popping up in the same place as the abscess before and so Im clearly not getting everything out!)
She is 5 years old and has hardly been ridden because of this and im at my wits end! She is a thoroughbred with a bit of Irish in her and she has been shod all round since December. (She was only broken over the winter) I think the shoes have helped a bit because the last abscess my farrier thinks was the result of a stone getting wedged and causing a crack and so at least I have a reason for the problems lately!
I don't mind poulticing like mad and being patient but my problem is that I have never once removed a poultice and seen a big lump of pus that I always hope to find.. I can never get it to come out! I manage to get it far enough down the hoof for the farrier to chop away but it always takes weeks, usually months and my poor mare is sick of it.
Ive been told she has excellent feet (ironically!), they are very thick and strong but that this is the problem as nothing every comes out without several farrier visits, weeks of poulticing, and the odd heart attack that its actually not an abscess.. which it has always ended up being.
She comes in absolutely hopping lame and very often has swelling down her leg.
Ive tried Epsom salt soaks, ichthamol and other drawing agents but nothing drags the stuff out.
This time I was a little unsure as to whether it was definitely a hoof problem and so Ive kept her in just in case it was a pulled tendon or something - id rather poultice her and stick her out to get the blood flow going for an abscess but sisnt want her to make anything worse should it be a tweak.
Any ideas?
Also Ive read about people doing soil/grass analysis and finding that their grazing is deficient in certain minerals which can cause abscesses. Anyone had this experience?
My hope is that this time its a recurrence of the same abscess and that she will not have too many problems in the future but I need to get this one out and its not budging!!
 
The last two have been in the same foot, but I think this is a recurrence from a crack caused by a stone (I remember digging one out just before she came in lame the first time)
The few before were in different feet.
 
i know she is only 5 and generally Cushings is often occurs in teens and later but one of our horses got persistant abscesses over 6 months 4 or 5 abscesses one lasting months and running under the sole
The farrier suggested testing for Cushings (he is 21 years old Anglo Arab)
He had a reading of 202 normal is around 30 .
The vet started him on prascend one tablet a day 8 weeks later his reading is 30 and no more abcesses
He had absolutely NO other symptoms never had laminitis had a beautiful fine coat and good muscle tone .The vet actually said he would be staggered if he can back with a high reading as he looked nothing like a Cushings horse.
Cushings can cause persistant infections and problems with the white line.
Read more at http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?700072-Hoof-Abcesses#f6LMBq6cTbjolL8e.99
 
Found this in a veterinary journal it appears Cushings can occur in younger horses .The test is a simple blood test and the results come back in about 5 days .It wasn't expensive and I did it because I thought it would at least rule out Cushings and I could get to the bottom of the persistant abcesses.
Equine Cushing's Disease -

Equine Cushing’s Disease is a hormonal disease of older horses caused by a benign growth of the pituitary gland at the base of the brain. These horses generally are around 20 years of age but the disease has been recorded in horses as young as seven years old.

In my horse with Cushings the abscesses also tended not to burst out only 2 of the 5/6 did the others rumbled around and after weeks and poulticing gradually disappeared .The vet commented (before the Cushings test)that he really expected them to break out with a huge amount of pus because he really was so uncomfortable but it just didn't happen they under ran the sole and eventually just disappeared with very little ever on the poultice.
I was reluctant to test ( as he seemed to have no other symptoms)
 
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Might be worth looking at the minerals - Forageplus are very knowledgeable and approachable, started by Sarah who was a hoof care professional. Worth talking to them, certainly there might be a magnesium deficiency contributing to poor white line/horn quality.
 
Do you feed alfalfa?

After a very similar problem, I had a hunch it was alfalfa and stopped it. She is now on just grass, no minerals or any other hard feed or supplements and we have great feet...
 
it might be worth trying Clean Trax, you will need to buy a poultice boot from them if you don't already have one. If you put Clean Trax Uk into google you will find the supplier. If you use the boot have some electrical tape handy as I had to tape the boot around the leg as it was the wrong size ( too short) for my 17.1hh. I followed the instructions for a severe infection and the horse was sound 1.5 hours later, no recurrence.
 
Thanks so much for replying - Will definitely look into Cushings.
I actually considered doing an analysis of forage with ForagePlus.. read about it the other day. Her feet LOOK in great condition, which is echoed by our farrier but it cant hurt to rule out a deficiency.
I feed a small amount of chaff.. pretty much as a treat as she is a good doer, I did think maybe it was the molasses not helping as its an inflammatory but to be honest I feed more in the winter and she doesn't really go lame in the winter.
Clean Trax.. Im about to google my life away! Thank you, sounds great.
 
The thing I would worry about is that given the horse has had two abcesses in the same foot I would worry about infection. That's what my vet said when he thought my horse might have another abcess only 6 weeks after the other one. That that's not right. And something else might be going on
 
I'm not an expert but in my experience summer abscesses are normally because of too much sugar. Zara used to get a couple every spring until I started keeping her in during the day and turned out overnight until the end of June. A horse belonging to a friend of mine had four abscesses within six weeks and then went down with laminitis. He didn't get anymore once he was kept in and the following year she brought him in during the day too and he didn't get any that year either.
 
Mitchyden said:
I'm not an expert but in my experience summer abscesses are normally because of too much sugar. Zara used to get a couple every spring until I started keeping her in during the day and turned out overnight until the end of June. A horse belonging to a friend of mine had four abscesses within six weeks and then went down with laminitis. He didn't get anymore once he was kept in and the following year she brought him in during the day too and he didn't get any that year either.
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This. And something else to try is keratex nailhole disinfectant - i use that on any cracks or little stone holes. Great stuff as it goes right into the crack.
 
Hello, sorry to hear this :-(. I can sympathise!! Mine has had six or seven in the past year too. I also can't quite account for them, but at least four have been because of a specific problem in his front hoof (VERY long story). Anyway - for a while i was in same situation and searching for probably cause of so many. Like you my horse has very good strong feet.

Many people recommended Forage Plus - this was going to be my next port of call. Apparently it's literally amazing (though quite expensive I think).
I do find that when I regularly bleach and/or put hoof disinfectant on then that helps (I think)? And just iodine any actual cracks.
Shoeing - mine was barefoot and vet/farrier think the shoeing should help (expect the barefoot community will disagree but each to their own).

I'd be really interested to hear if you find a cause? Not sure I'm totally sorted with mine but he seems maybe better since shod.....
 
A friend of mine has a horse who was having persistent and horrible abscesses. He was regularly treated by the vet and farrier but they just kept coming back, always in the same place.

She then was told about something called Purple Mush which she had to get from America. Since she used this she has not looked back and he has been sound and not one abscess. Google it and see what you think.
 
What does your vet say? Couldn't see any mention of veterinary input from your post, only the farrier. Know farrier is often first port of call for abcesses but I would be working with my vet to get to the root of it.
 
My horse had 4 abscesses in one winter her foot had a crack in the front that just would not go, I eventually had it X rayed and she had an infection in the pedal bone she also tested positive for cushings shortly afterwards, might be worth speaking to your vet about it being a possibility.
 
Nicnac said:
What does your vet say? Couldn't see any mention of veterinary input from your post, only the farrier. Know farrier is often first port of call for abcesses but I would be working with my vet to get to the root of it.
Click to expand...

The last time I called the vet out he told me to get her knee xrayed. I asked him what made him think it was a lameness from anywhere other than her hoof when she went sound every time a bit of hoof was chopped out.. he couldn't answer but told me to xray leg. I didn't get xrays. Partly because I thought it was a load of rubbish and partly because the time before that that id called the vets they misdiagnosed a broken splint bone. Needless to say Ive lost faith in vets and thankfully I went against their last two lots of advice.
Shame really - I remember a time when I believed a vets word was gospel!
 
Pinkvboots said:
My horse had 4 abscesses in one winter her foot had a crack in the front that just would not go, I eventually had it X rayed and she had an infection in the pedal bone she also tested positive for cushings shortly afterwards, might be worth speaking to your vet about it being a possibility.
Click to expand...

Ive had a few people mention cushings and so I might just look into this.. still think shes a bit young, youngest recorded cushings is in a 7 year old, shes 5 but Im not ruling anything out
 
Thanks everyone.
My main concern at the moment is getting the infection out of her foot. Ive had a read up on Cleantrax - and ordered some. Not heard of Purple Mush but Ill read up on that too!

I definitely think you're onto something with the sugar thing Mitchyden. It would make sense. We seem to have chubbies all year round on our grass but obviously more so in the spring, and the horses act like complete idiots from about the end of March to June each year which Im fairly sure is down to sugar levels!
She always seemed to get an abscess after a week or so of the typical British "rain one day, sun the next" weather. I thought maybe it made her hooves swell and contract and caused problems that way but actually that kind of weather is great for making the spring grass shoot up so maybe that's the reason!
 
Morgan123 said:
Hello, sorry to hear this :-(. I can sympathise!! Mine has had six or seven in the past year too. I also can't quite account for them, but at least four have been because of a specific problem in his front hoof (VERY long story). Anyway - for a while i was in same situation and searching for probably cause of so many. Like you my horse has very good strong feet.

Many people recommended Forage Plus - this was going to be my next port of call. Apparently it's literally amazing (though quite expensive I think).
I do find that when I regularly bleach and/or put hoof disinfectant on then that helps (I think)? And just iodine any actual cracks.
Shoeing - mine was barefoot and vet/farrier think the shoeing should help (expect the barefoot community will disagree but each to their own).

I'd be really interested to hear if you find a cause? Not sure I'm totally sorted with mine but he seems maybe better since shod.....
Click to expand...

Gutting isn't it!! Everything seems to be expensive this time around!! My Welsh D went lame possibly 3 times ever?? and had one gravel which popped out before I noticed it was there! Swear to god I should have gone down the Native route again!! Instead Im testing my soil and buying ergonomically shaped girths which are more expensive than my old saddle and ergonomically shaped bits worth more than her bridle!! Do you think things get more complicated the more time goes on?
I will be sure to let you know if I make any kind of breakthrough!
 
Is the abscess in the white line? Could the horn over the abscess be removed if it is in the white line? This was done to my mare after she had two abscesses that wouldn't shift and she was instantly sound once it was done as the pressure was gone. It all grew out fine.

100_2174.jpg
 
JillA said:
Might be worth looking at the minerals - Forageplus are very knowledgeable and approachable, started by Sarah who was a hoof care professional. Worth talking to them, certainly there might be a magnesium deficiency contributing to poor white line/horn quality.
Click to expand...

100% this, my now 18yo TB suffered with reoccurring abscesses when I moved to a new yard in 2012, the first two winters we were there were awful.. I did a bit of research and came across the mineral imbalance issue with a lot of UK grazing and it all made sense. Started feeding him minerals in Feb last year, and not one abscess last winter! The winter before he had 4 in total, 3 of which were in the same foot/place and the last one ended up with him having to have a large chunk cut out of his foot in a bid to get rid of it, he also had to stay in for 2 months as the fields were too wet and muddy for him to be able to go back out until the foot had grown back. He was also tested for cushings (as was 17 at the time) but his results came back fine.
 
janinek1981 said:
The last time I called the vet out he told me to get her knee xrayed. I asked him what made him think it was a lameness from anywhere other than her hoof when she went sound every time a bit of hoof was chopped out.. he couldn't answer but told me to xray leg. I didn't get xrays. Partly because I thought it was a load of rubbish and partly because the time before that that id called the vets they misdiagnosed a broken splint bone. Needless to say Ive lost faith in vets and thankfully I went against their last two lots of advice.
Shame really - I remember a time when I believed a vets word was gospel!
Click to expand...

I think you need to find a vet you can trust, you still need one to inject and sign off the passport.
Modern vets will never tell you they are not sure, and none of them can admit to mistakes.

I would start on Pro Hoof if you are not already feeding minerals, plus 25gms salt, then a test for Cushings and if there is any money left, do a forage analysis and if necessary a bespoke mineral. Make sure your sample is representative, this is imperative.
 
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I was once told by my very experienced podiatrist that before you start on any long-term mineral supplementation, consider you detox the liver and kidneys and rule out any other problems. If there is already a high level of toxicity then that will undoubtedly compromise the uptake of any other minerals that might be needed as the liver can store a lot. You could end up making things worse, as indeed is my experience.
 
I feel for you, I have a mare I bred she is TB x Welsh D and I backed her as a four year old then as a six year old she started having problems with abscesses. She had them in all four feet and had over 30 in all. Like you I tried everything but realised that the only relief for her was poulticing and bute. After the first five or six it got a lot easier in that they burst through quicker and healed quicker each time. The vet and farrier came to the conclusion that they were being caused not by stones or grit getting into the hoof but by the hoof actually crumbling from the inside causing the abscess. It was a nightmare for years to be honest and the mare has never been ridden since. She will be 22 next month and has been abscess free for a good few years now and even gets walked out in hand which she loves. She is also bare foot and walks over all sorts of ground now with no problems. I will never ride her again but she will stay with me until the end of her days hopefully abscess free. Good luck with your mare and there is light at the end of the tunnel even if it takes a while. The reason I never rode my mare again was that every time she had been abscess free and I got back on her she got another abscess so just gave up on the riding as I was happy for her to be a field ornament painfree.
 
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