vet or farrier for abcess

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freshy

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Horse was very lame so had farrier out as i suspected abcess and sure enough he found one on the toe under shoe and dug it out a bit. Horse was much improved for a couple of days and foot was poulticed for few days and kept him in as weather was so yuk. He is now back out but getting more and more lame and tonight he was severely lame again. The foot is boiling hot esp round the coronet band. What should i do?? Vet or farrier?? I am presuming it hasn't been dug out deep enough but poor horse is so crippled
 
It's about to burst at the coronet band. Don't panic, it will heal again fine even if you get quite a large crack in the hoof.

When it goes at the top, squirt hydrogen peroxed at 3% dilution down the hole twice daily for a week and then daily until the crack is grown well down the hoof.

They heal fine. Don't blame your farrier, it had aleady tracked too far up to stop it, probably. Your vet can't do anything, antibiotics are a no-no unless an abscess is open and draining, and at that point they are usually totally unnecessary.

Here's one of mine. The horse evented a few weeks later:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5ieuA4Wy_ig/UK-7YfAFZ2I/AAAAAAAAA8A/DkNO3YZPOlM/s1600/0017.JPG


Poultice it tonight if you can with something warm and wet to weaken it and make it easier to break out. But it will pop of it's own accord, most likely overnight or tomorrow if there is that much heat, even if you can't.
 
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If you press on the coronet - where it is hot - does it hurt the horse?

If 'yes', then it sounds like the abscess is about to burst at the coronet band probably in the next 24hrs. Don't worry as this is a good thing as once it's burst your horse will feel much better. The hole will grow out with the hoof, so no need to worry about that either.

If the abscess doesn't burst and the horse's leg starts to swell, then you need to call your Vet.

I generally call the Farrier for abscesses, although most pop on their own within 48hours of me noticing any lameness and don't need digging out (both my Vet and Farrier prefer it when they pop by themselves and the horse does recover quicker if they pop IME). However, as I said earlier - if the leg swells get the Vet.
 
Well he is a bit snatchy if i push it round there. Round that bit and top of frog has gone black like.its rotting away. Really don't want to get vet out if they can't do anything but i am concerned about his level of lameness. He will weight bare when standing still but he is so lame he can't walk really. Also, this has been going on for 3 weeks now and farrier has been out twice.
 
freshy said:
Okay just seen your pic cyptres but my horses heat is.coming from the back not the front of the hoof??
Click to expand...


OK, well it's possibly tracked to the heel bulb then. That's not unusual. It may take a tad longer to eat through the heel bulb, and you'll have a complete underrun sole if it tracked there from the toe. The alternative might be that the excessive weight he's put on his heels from not wanting to stand on a sore toe has bruised his heels or even caused a heel abscess.

Still not a cause for too much worry. Poultice the heel as well as the toe, wait and see if a blister or an obviously soggy bit about the size of the end of a finger tip comes up on the heel tomorrow and if it does and doesn't pop, get your vet to lance it open. (you could do it yourself but you need to be very unsqueamish and I suspect it's technically illegal to, even though it won't draw blood if it's ready to pop). If it does go there, treat it with hydrogen peroxide exactly the same way as I already suggested. I'm doing it to one of mine right now :)

If it doesn't pop, I'd call your farrier out again if you are concerned about how lame your horse is. If you could bear it, and I understand why some people can't, I would let him hobble until Tuesday and then call the farrier.

As Amymay says, if the leg starts to fill and feels at all hard, call the vet. A little soft/squashy filling is pretty normal.


Here's one at the heel for you :D :

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-m56BiXyAduc/UK-7XSl5tpI/AAAAAAAAA78/EIy0Veg5aq8/s640/0016.JPG

This horse was sound when that photo was taken.
 
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OP - do as CPT says - she's pretty expert in these abscess situations......she diagnosed mine via PM after my vets had missed it for months even with x-rays and nerve blocks! The Hydrogen Peroxide is great and mine seems to have cleared up well - just don't do what I did and throw the bottle on the floor.....it fizzes like a chemistry experiment does just before it goes "bang"! :D
 
Poulticing here too..... Farrier to come and dig! Warm water and Epsom, nappies, swimming pants etc and very bright pink vet wrap!
 
Holly Hocks said:
OP - do as CPT says - she's pretty expert in these abscess situations......she diagnosed mine via PM after my vets had missed it for months even with x-rays and nerve blocks! The Hydrogen Peroxide is great and mine seems to have cleared up well - just don't do what I did and throw the bottle on the floor.....it fizzes like a chemistry experiment does just before it goes "bang"! :D
Click to expand...

Ooh don't say that :D It's illegal for a non-vet to "diagnose" a horse. It's just that what you described to me was absolutely spot on for a long term brewing abscess. There are so many people, seemingly including your vets :D, who don't realise that they can be perfectly sound one day, crippled the next and then go sound again as the abscess eats itself more space, and that can go on for quite a long time.

Ah yes, don't throw the HP on your own clothes, either - nice blond spots. And if you are going to show this summer, don't let it run over the legs unless they are white - you'll get a fetching blond streak :D

But the fizz is real fun! And that's what it does inside the foot, fizzes and releases oxygen. The bugs that cause the problems are mostly shy little devils and they won't reproduce in the presence of oxygen, which is why it works so well.
 
Just read the full thread properly, and it does sound like its tracked back, id go with CPT and Amy May, poultice and wait but if leg gets hot and hard get vet?
The horse has possibly had more than one brewing
 
Personally having just had one that went on for weeks,and tracked everywhere but didn't 'burst' anywhere I would get the vet.

I know I wish I had done so earlier instead of digging about and poulticing like i was in training to make it an olympic sport:rolleyes::o

My lad's abscess was 'not straight forward' though as the vet put it,so maybe that was why was so difficult to shift.

Probably wouldn't do any harm to poultice for a couple of days and see if anything comes out,but if he's still very lame and nothing has happened with the abscess by then call to the vet might be the way to go.

I would have the farrier/trimmer in the very early stages,and if appeared straight forward,but if it dragged on or wasn't easy to locate or deep seated I would get the vet,simply as farriers are limited as to what they can do and how far in they can dig,and quite honestly after my recent experience I would prefer just to get to the bottom of it so to speak than take the wait and see approach.
 
I agree with Devonlass as far as not leaving it for too long goes, but as this story shows, digging it out is not always successful. This abscess has been dug out and it has not resolved it. That somtimes happens when they are dug out before they are fully mature and ready to go.

I understand anybody who wants the vet or farrier to take responsibility for a severely lame horse, but it's not as easy as saying that digging it out as a first resort will actually resolve things.
 
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