Vet to drill a hole in hoof

kerrieberry2

kerrieberry2

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Has anyone else's horse had an abscess which just won't clear up?

I'm currently up to £650 of vet bills for this damn thing. And we now have an appointment on Wednesday for her to go in and have an x-ray and probably a hole drilled into her hoof wall to try and release the pus!

it seems some of pus found its way out of the coronet band, the vet has already dug a huge hole to try and release the rest, she's had antibiotics but it seems to still be there stuck in her hoof :'(

has anyone else had this done before? and how did you manage to keep the hole clean? (I spoke to her previous owner and sounds like when she was a baby she had a similar issue in a different foot)
 
One of mine had an issue with a stubborn abscess that wouldn't resolve with the usual methods. Sadly, when xrayed it was clear there was a bigger problem. It had developed pedal osteitis and he had surgical debridement and a ton of antibiotics. He had a hospital plate which kept his hoof relatively dirt free.

It wasn't a positive outcome in my case but I think it had just taken an age to get to the point of where we knew what was going on and by then it was a little too late.

Good luck! X
 
Apizz2019 said:
One of mine had an issue with a stubborn abscess that wouldn't resolve with the usual methods. Sadly, when xrayed it was clear there was a bigger problem. It had developed pedal osteitis and he had surgical debridement and a ton of antibiotics. He had a hospital plate which kept his hoof relatively dirt free.

It wasn't a positive outcome in my case but I think it had just taken an age to get to the point of where we knew what was going on and by then it was a little too late.

Good luck! X
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Oh blimey that does sound horrible! I'm pretty sure mine is just an abscess as it all started when she stood on a stone and it made a hole in her white line.

funnily enough my gelding was diagnosed with pedal osteitis when he was 4, he's now 15 and its actually been fine, he had remedial shoes for the first year but they made him more and more lame, so at 5 the vet suggested taking the shoes off and letting him self trim and he was sound within 3 weeks and has been since, so I've kept him barefoot since then.

I will report back once my mare has had her xray on Wednesday and will keep everything crossed that its nothing worse.
 
kerrieberry2 said:
Oh blimey that does sound horrible! I'm pretty sure mine is just an abscess as it all started when she stood on a stone and it made a hole in her white line.

funnily enough my gelding was diagnosed with pedal osteitis when he was 4, he's now 15 and its actually been fine, he had remedial shoes for the first year but they made him more and more lame, so at 5 the vet suggested taking the shoes off and letting him self trim and he was sound within 3 weeks and has been since, so I've kept him barefoot since then.

I will report back once my mare has had her xray on Wednesday and will keep everything crossed that its nothing worse.
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Ours was due to the abscess infecting his pedal bone. This was 25 odd years ago and things were, in comparison to now, still quite primitive in many aspects.

I'm sure you will be fine. It sounds like you're on top of it.
 
dottylottie said:
when diva had her keratoma removed it was bandaged for the first couple of weeks, until the tissue underneath had hardened, and then i just sprayed it with iodine every few days. could you pack it with clay, and then stick a poultice boot on for turnout?
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yes this was my plan! she's had a woof wear medial boot on since the abscess started, and I've just ordered 2 more from the black friday sale, but I'm so scared about when it comes time to take it off and let the foot be free! the current hole has been stressing me out enough, let alone a new one!
 
MurphysMinder said:
I would definitely get an x ray done. Our old lad had what we thought was an abscess that got into the bone. He had surgery and was doing ok but sadly like Apizz it didn't turn out well, but he was 32 years old.
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oh yes, they've said they need to x-ray to see where it is anyway! so hopefully its not got in a caused any further damage! how lame was your horse when it got into the bone? as mine has been sound for the last few weeks and I only realised the abscess handn't fully healed when it was frozen last Thursday! then the farrier came out and she was sore when he put some pressure on the hoof wall, where the abscess had burst out from earlier.
 
My horse had a recurrent abcess for 9 months. It had tracked horizontally and wouldn't clear. Eventually he had the hoof resected and that fixed it, although has permanently distorted his white line and there is a small gap I have to keep an eye on.

He has not had a problem since (touches wood frantically!!).

The foot was shod after to hold it and the hole was plugged first with iodine-soaked gauze then cotton wool, really packed in with forceps, and this was changed daily at first, then every other day, then switched to dry gauze. The farrier wanted to seal it with putty, but each time we'd done that with the abcess hole it had flared again, so we left it open till it had nearly grown out. The yard made him a small turn out pen on concrete so he had some movement October - February and honestly he was a spectacularly good patient.
 
kerrieberry2 said:
oh yes, they've said they need to x-ray to see where it is anyway! so hopefully its not got in a caused any further damage! how lame was your horse when it got into the bone? as mine has been sound for the last few weeks and I only realised the abscess handn't fully healed when it was frozen last Thursday! then the farrier came out and she was sore when he put some pressure on the hoof wall, where the abscess had burst out from earlier.
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He was very lame from day one and didn’t improve even though abscess drained a bit , which is why vet went down the x ray route quickly . He did improve after surgery but then deteriorated again and x rays showed the pedal bone had rotated 😢.
 
spotty_pony2 said:
Edited to add - having the hospital plate on meant head still able to be turned out. His was a deep seated abscess and he did recover and returned to normal work.
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This sounds like the dream and what im hoping will happen for us. My horses live out but have a nice shelter but dont want to have to shut her in, if I can help it as she lose her mind when the other go out to graze
 
My friends horse had to have virtually half his hind hoof cut away because of an abscess that had been going on intermittently for 18 months. The abscess had tracked in several places deep inside the foot. The vet said to her she would never have been able to clear it by the usual means. From what I can remember he went out in the day & in at night but she had to do an awful lot of changing dressings and had a poultice type boot over it all to keep it clean, he didn't have a hospital plate put on and it did all recover with no problems.
 
irishdraft said:
My friends horse had to have virtually half his hind hoof cut away because of an abscess that had been going on intermittently for 18 months. The abscess had tracked in several places deep inside the foot. The vet said to her she would never have been able to clear it by the usual means. From what I can remember he went out in the day & in at night but she had to do an awful lot of changing dressings and had a poultice type boot over it all to keep it clean, he didn't have a hospital plate put on and it did all recover with no problems.
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Oh that's amazing and makes me feel better about how long this has been going on. Feeling like a bad mum for thinking she was sound for the last 3 weeks.
 
we had our vet trip yesterday, didn't end up needing a hole drilled in the hoof. it looks like the pus has made its way right to the top of her hoof and got trapped where the previous hole had started to heal!

of course, when we got there and trotted her she was sound, she didn't react to the hoof testers! but as he dug away she started to show signs of pain!

the vet has put an arch in the side of her hoof wall to stop anything getting trapped in there! and I need to rinse it with iodine twice a day until we're sure its completely dried up and then the farrier can fill it for us! I've ordered another 5 woof wear medical boots, so I can swap them over daily, to try and keep the foot clean!

she lives out so mud is our fear! but the farmer came and kindly dug out a muddy ditch area for me yesterday, and put a water pipe in and covered with a load of wood chip, so they can get in and out of their field shelter without splashing through mud now! so that was a massive relief.

obligatory pic from her 10 minute wait for the vet to come back from his dog walk
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kerrieberry2 said:
we had our vet trip yesterday, didn't end up needing a hole drilled in the hoof. it looks like the pus has made its way right to the top of her hoof and got trapped where the previous hole had started to heal!

of course, when we got there and trotted her she was sound, she didn't react to the hoof testers! but as he dug away she started to show signs of pain!

the vet has put an arch in the side of her hoof wall to stop anything getting trapped in there! and I need to rinse it with iodine twice a day until we're sure its completely dried up and then the farrier can fill it for us! I've ordered another 5 woof wear medical boots, so I can swap them over daily, to try and keep the foot clean!

she lives out so mud is our fear! but the farmer came and kindly dug out a muddy ditch area for me yesterday, and put a water pipe in and covered with a load of wood chip, so they can get in and out of their field shelter without splashing through mud now! so that was a massive relief.

obligatory pic from her 10 minute wait for the vet to come back from his dog walk
View attachment 169622
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Brilliant news! 🥰
 
What great news, and hooray for kindly farmers. I'm sure that not having to wade through mud will contribute to better healing! And thank goodness she didn't need a hole drilled in her hoof.
 
kerrieberry2 said:
oh yes, they've said they need to x-ray to see where it is anyway! so hopefully its not got in a caused any further damage! how lame was your horse when it got into the bone? as mine has been sound for the last few weeks and I only realised the abscess handn't fully healed when it was frozen last Thursday! then the farrier came out and she was sore when he put some pressure on the hoof wall, where the abscess had burst out from earlier.
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I've seen a vet do a lot of damage to a hoof over a abscess
I understand the extra cost, but if possible I'd have the farrier there for x-rays and any possible work.
 
jhoward said:
I've seen a vet do a lot of damage to a hoof over a abscess
I understand the extra cost, but if possible I'd have the farrier there for x-rays and any possible work.
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Yes - I wasn't going to mention that but I agree, for anything related to feet (not legs higher up) I'd want the farrier there. Vets are great but they have to be generalists (unless of course they specialise in feet) whereas farriers only do feet.
 
thanks all!

I did have the farrier out at the weekend but he didn't want to keep digging as it was getting close to where he'd get blood! originally I was going to have him out today with the vet. I 100% trust my vet, he has been the president of RVC in the last few years, and he did actually have RVC students with him on Wednesday, so it was a very educational appointment too. I've been using him for 25 years, he's very experience with feet and my gelding is only alive now because of he's hoof knowledge!

we had the farrier out this morning to do their regular trim and we have found that the abscess has burst out of the coronary band, so I'm hoping that this might be the end insight, and I'll just need to keep it clean :)
 
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