Your poulticing tips please

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Pebble101

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The farrier found an abscess in my horse's toe (relief it wasn't laminitis). I need to make life as easy and quick as possible because he has an tendency to use me as a leaning post.

I know nappies are supposed to be good to use, do I put them over the Animalintex or instead of? Also I don't know anything about nappy sizes - what would I need for a huge hoof? Do you use vet wrap over the top of just duct tape?

And what about a plastic bag? He won't be turned out.

My other horse was a nightmare when he had an abscess because he kept whizzing round the stable and wearing through whatever I put on, including a canvas poultice boot. This horse is much more sensible so hopefully it won't be as bad.
 
I can tell you what works for me but I am sure someone will come along with better idea so feel free to disregard

Materials
Nappy- I think I use 3-6 months, pull ups can be good but either works!
Gorilla Tape
Vetwrap
Animalintex OR Magnesium Sulphate paste and cotton wool

Preparation

A. Tear off strips of the gorilla tape and stick them to the thigh of your trousers/ jods in a star-like configuration. (note, I didn't think this would work, but a vet showed it me and it really does work and speed things up)


Method
1. Ensure hoof is clean and dry (maybe soak in tub of Epsom Salt if you can!)
2. Apply your animalintex or mag sulphate and cotton wool- advantage of mag sulphate is that it can be targetted to the hole and avoids softening the whole foot
3. Apply nappy
4. Apply vet wrap
6. Apply Gorilla tape- first the "star" placing centre near the toe, then reinforce with more.

There are some optional extras, you can of course use part of say a Dengie chaff bag (other feeds in plastic bags are available :)) which you've cut into a square to go over the whole thing and then wrap with some more gorilla tape but I never found this was necessary and very often would fall off whilst the rest stayed intact.


If you have some spare carpet laying around you can also cut out a piece shaped to your horse's hoof (I used a shoe for sizing) and use that as extra padding between the nappy and vet wrap.

My late mare was very prone to abscesses so I made a lot of these boots, never lost one in the field, even in the muddy gateway.

I think the gorilla tape, which is amazing stuff, is key to the success, it is weatherproof and worth the investment:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Gorilla-Rol...47084&sr=8-5&keywords=gorilla+waterproof+tape
 
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I would use a nappy instead of animalintex poultice-the nappy has the gel stuff in it that drawers like a nappy so no point using both and nappies are cheaper, vetwrap round and over then gaffer tape over the top to seal, big deep bed right up to the door preferably not on a straw bed-it prevents the gaffer tape getting worn through by the movement of the hoof on concrete
 
Not helpful at all but when my now extremely experienced horsey friend was young she had a lame pony with an abscess and the vet told her to use bran and salt . When he came back he asked her how she got on and she said that the pony ate it all but was still lame. The vet still tells people about it. That is definitely how not to poultice.
 
LOL Knockadoon.

Cut animalinex to hoof size. Put on poultice on hoof, place breast pad over the top. Use half a vetwrap to secure then silage tape over the top and turn animal out. :)
 
My farrier and vet have both said a hot wet poultice for the first 24 - 48 hours of animal lintex, and then a dry poultice with a porridge like consistency of sugar and iodine that you apply to the hoof under the poultice. Iodine will keep infection at bay and the sugar will dry the hoof in the appropriate way, the comibination together will draw the infection out.

A hoof boot to cover the area if you plan on taking the horse out for a hand graze or short walk, otherwise a plastic feedsack folded numerous times which covers the foot which you can then tape on, although with heavier horses this will only last minutes if you do walk in hand!

We used to use an old sock to keep it all in place, the wooly ones are best and put it over the foot like you would put a sock on yourself.
 
I use animal lintex, vet wrap, then duct tape. I find it much easier if I have made a square of duct tape ready to go on the base of the hoof, then use strips that I'd already torn off to secure properly.
 
Animallintex, then nappy, vet wrap, then if turning out in bad field a black bag, then gaffa tap over the top to stop the hoof cutting through :)
 
I bought the Gorilla tape, its brilliant. Much better than the duct tape I used originally.

I have one of those three leg saddle stands and it's great to stick all the bits of tape to :)
 
Just remember that a poultice will do nothing if there is no exit point for the pus . You will merely soften and possibly damage the hoof with continual poulticing.Sadly, animalintex is a poor relative of the old animalintex dressings of my youth. They had to remove most of the compound that drew the pus out because ............we had joined the EEC.
 
Similar to what people have posted. I have used a hot one for 24/48 hours and then dry. I've done the plastic bag thing and secured with tape etc, but my horse is quite prone to them so I ended up investing in one of the rubber boots!
 
The hoofeeze neoprene boots are good if turning out, but I dare say its not necessary if you aren't turning out.

I do poultice, nappy, vetwrap, and a mollichaff bag 'boot' with lino or carpet 'foot' held on with duct tape..

I used size 2 nappies for a 15.3 TB with small feet..

Loads of great tips already.

Once my mare had to have a reasonablly sized piece of sole removed because of a puncture/abcess, and some of the soft tissue in the foot started to overgrow out of the hole making her crippled lame. A paste of copper sulphate and stockholm tar (advised by my lovely but v old school vet) acted like a v mild blister and prevented the overgrowth of soft tissue while the sole healed over....

Also had two instances of a sinus between sole and top of heel which had to be injected with hydrogen peroxide every day to keep it open and draining..

Feet are a minefield with my TB, poulticing could have been my specialist subject on Mastermind at one stage..

Fiona
 
My horse's feet are too big for the blue poultice boots they sell. I have been turning him out on an Old Mac boot - however I have discovered they are very slippery if the grass is short and ground a bit muddy when it rains!
 
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