I have 2 vets and a farrier involved in this, but I thought I’d post and see if others have similar stories of abscesses causing looooooong lamenesses. I’ll try not to post a novel.
Horse in question is a 5 yr old TB mare with thin soled feet, confirmed on X-ray. Thursday 5/5/22 she got her feet done by her normal farrier. I didn’t ride that night. She was in from turnout the next day due to bad weather. That night I put her on the lunge line with the intention of lunging her and didn’t see anything wrong at the walk, but the second she picked up the trot she was QUITE lame on the right hind. Hoof was mildly warm, somewhat of a pulse. I sent video to my vet who confirmed it looked like it was in the hoof and not higher up. Vet came out the next day, there was very very mild reaction to hoof testers and vet observed she was stepping toe first at the walk. I had started noticing her resting that foot more since the day before. Vet thinks abscess, so I forge ahead with wrapping with Animalintex pads. After a couple of days she seemed much improved and I assumed we were on the right track, and maybe this would be a quick ordeal. About 1 week post lameness, she started looking worse. I continued to treat as an abscess and had the farrier come pull the shoe. Friday 5/20 she was looking pretty off at the walk and some swelling had started in the fetlock area. My regular vet wasn’t available for a few days but the equine hospital 10 mins away had an opening to bring her in for X-rays that day. X-rays showed nothing super interesting. There was a small spot that looked like her sole had sustained trauma of some kind, but no fractures, nothing concerning in any bones. Vet at the hospital was not so sure it was an abscess and thought we were more likely to be dealing with a bruise. Sent us home with a hoof boot to borrow since she seemed more comfortable walking in that. Instructed me to stall rest her and do some hand walk for a short period per day on whatever footing she seemed comfortable on. She mentioned their farrier would be at the hospital the following Friday, if things declined I could ship her back and have vet and farrier look at her together.
This was fine for a couple days, she seemed decently comfortable walking in the aisle in the hoof boot, but then she started looking worse again. Thursday 5/26 my regular vet was out at my barn and shot more X-rays for me. Still nothing of interest on X-ray, but horse is pretty 3 legged by this point. Vet xrayed the fetlock too, just in case. Nothing there. Vet has me walk her in the aisle as well as the arena and she is far lamer in the arena sand. We decide to send her back to the clinic the next day.
Next day the farrier at the clinic looks at her with the clinic vet. He doesn’t think there’s an abscess. There’s almost no reaction to hoof testers. Vet and farrier think we’re dealing with a bruised coffin bone or possibly a microscopic fracture that the X-rays aren’t showing. Farrier puts shoe back on and horse is much happier with the shoe. Still off, but much less lame. Vet prescribes stall rest with 15-20 mins handwalk twice per day on hard flat ground, only if horse is walking decently and things aren’t getting worse.
Things seem stable for the next 10 days. I’m diligently handwalking 20 mins twice a day and she seems comfortable until Monday 6/6. She started looking worse again. By Wednesday 6/8 she was VERY lame, non weight bearing, and clearly distressed. Both vets fielded a LOT of phone calls from me that day and the next, because I 100% was panicking. Thursday 6/9 afternoon - she blew a HUGE abscess out her coronet band. You could see the instant relief in her, and she almost immediately walked a million times sounder. I’d never been so happy to see disgusting gook in my life. Started wrapping with animalintex pads again and it proceeded to drain quite a lot for the next several days. Mare looked progressively sounder each day though still not 100%.
She went back to the clinic on Friday 6/17 for a new full set of shoes, X-rays, and to have this abscess evaluated. Vet xrayed prior to farrier touching her and noted a pocket in the toe pointing to another abscess (or the rest of the one that blew out the top). She also noted the area on the sole that seemed to have pointed to hoof trauma no longer seemed present. Nothing else visible on X-ray. Farrier was able to locate and drain it easily through the bottom. He put a medicated packing of some sort under a pad on that foot, and said to keep the hole in the coronet band clean and put ichthammol on it to keep it soft so it can keep draining. Vet clears her for turnout, just not in the mud. Farrier is hopeful she’ll look pretty sound in a few days.
The hole continued to drain quite a bit more for a couple days, then stopped. Mare has seemed very nearly sound at the walk now, there is an occasional ouchy step when turning in the aisle, but she looks quite good at the walk. She’s happily weight bearing on it with no noticeable resting of that foot anymore. However, I tested out a few steps of trot in the aisle and the arena, and she’s still lame at the trot 
I plan to call the vet tomorrow and ask her what she thinks, but in the meantime I’m giving you all the saga to see if anyones been down this road with an abscess. I’m wondering if there’s bruising still present and she just needs more time? Or the hoof is just weaker from the trauma of all this abscessing, and again, just needs more time? I’m trying to be patient, but it was discouraging to see her still gimp at the trot nearly 8 weeks into this. She’s on regular turnout every day and isn’t overly silly out there, just some “yay, turnout!” feelings in the first minute or two. She has not looked WORSE since her last vet visit, but the lameness at the trot is just bumming me out.
Thoughts? Stories?
