Ugh how are everyone else’s abscesses going? My mare is STILL lame. Vet went back over radiographs and still doesn’t see anything unusual except that the gas pocket wasn’t very visible. It definitely popped at the top though so it was definitely an abscess. He suggests I start soaking again… if it isn’t better soon I guess I need to get an MRI or something? Really pulling my hair out here.
My farrier came out Friday and worked on my guy and confirmed this is one stoic horse. My vet suggested a pad since he’s been sound on soft footing, but not on hard ground. With the pad my guy is sound WTC on his own on hard ground straight line and a small circle, but still ouchy at the trot with a rider. So progress? Sigh.
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Oh jeeze sounds very similar. At least there is some progress, but how frustrating!!!
So does your vet/farrier still think there is abscess in there? Or just going to need to grow all the way out to get sound?
No-- they’re confident the abscess is done, but needs to dry out from inside out. Then his heel on both heel bulbs has about 1-1.5" splits from the abscesses draining. My farrier said if he wasn’t sound in a couple days after Friday to re-xray and confirm the exact location of the gas pocket because he said with all the places this abscess went there has to be one now as it would have stretched the structures to accommodate it. Then he could make adjustments based upon vet’s recommendations. Since he’s only off with a rider I’m just going to wait it out knowing that his poor heels are deeply cracked and that has to be painful.
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Oh poor boy, that sounds painful. Sending you both virtual support.
I will talk to my farrier next… Maybe I just need patience. It’s hard not to throw every diagnostic when they are hurting. Thank you for sharing!
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Our abscess took EIGHT WEEKS to heal. It was a monster. This was with aggressive soaking and treatment, 3 farrier visits, 3 vet visits, xrays and ultimately an MRI to ensure it wasn’t a hiding collateral, which has happened twice to my vet. I have never had one that was such a disaster.
He’s on the upswing now. But with a GIANT track on his hoof and a chunk out of his frog.
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Just wanted to update… my mare is still a bit ouchy on hard ground (around the water trough or areas with stones), but I ordered her Scoot Boots and rode in them yesterday. She was sound on sand in the boots, so we are making progress 
It has been 2 full months so it is about time!
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My guy is sound with a rider until he hits a rough patch of ground but then recovers quickly, but vet and farrier assure me this will have to heal from the inside out since both of his heels have deep pockets left from the abscess from hell, and the new tissue is likely getting pinched, but it’s still to deep for the farrier to try to fix. Horses are magical creatures.
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Posting for posterity in case anyone else stumbles across the post in the future. My vet came out for the fall shots and did a quick jog out of my guy and he’s way better. Not 100%. She thinks it’s likely compensatory/irritation of the ring bone we didn’t know was there and suggested adequan, and if that doesn’t do it, then we’ll inject the coffin joint. My farrier came out 2 days later and SURPRISE-- found more old abscess in another section of the toe. He drained that out. He showed me the track that this abscess took and it went 3/4 of the way around his foot and then came out the back. He made some adjustments in case the ringbone is actually affecting him. Horse trotted out sound right after and we went on a ride, and then he went hunting (lightly) on Tuesday and felt amazing.
So if you’re counting like me that was 12 WEEKS to the day from when the Abscess from Hell started to him being perfectly 100% sound like he was before.
Not counted during this time: calls and texts to the farrier and vets, and the hours I spent thinking I needed to retire him from an abscess.
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You know, it’s funny you just posted because I was waffling about calling my vet this morning… again 
my mare still isn’t 100%. She seemed almost perfect then went backwards a bit last week.
My vet wanted to talk about her side bone last time I called, but honestly I think it’s still the abscess. I just don’t believe she both got a terrible abscess AND her side bone suddenly decided to cause an issue in the same couple of weeks. Occam’s Razor and all that.
My farrier did warn me that if we got rain finally (we did) she would likely come in unsound again since the hoof would change and the “gap” in there would hurt differently.
Anyway, I lunged her this morning and she looks sound except for a step here and there. But I saw her take some really crappy steps yesterday in the field on my security camera, hence wanting to call the vet. There is still a bit of heat in the coronary band right where it burst. Is it residual? Or still something in there? And if so, how?
I’ve heard of a few other people this year on the East Coast having Abscesses From Hell. I wonder if it was the very hard ground or something else? Or just coincidence?
I mean, given my experience, it’s probably still the abscess. But I’ll add my vet suggested the adequan and I do think it helped faster than I remember it working before. She thought that since the abscess was so large it had to have put pressure all over his foot, which may have irritated the arthritis/ringbone that was never previously an issue. I figured it was cheaper than the MRI so give me a box.
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Wow that’s crazy, glad he’s feeling better!
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My farrier came today. It looks like it is now coming out of the heel. Progress?
And to add to your countdown, this started late August with a stone bruise at a show…
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There was another COTH member that I recall posting about her horse that had an abscess brew for a good six months if memory serves. 
Her horse was fine after it finally blew out.
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Omg I hope not! But it at least makes me feel a little less crazy. I guess at least it’s the off season at this point, but I do need to keep this horse working some or she gets very fat.
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Since this seems like the abscess thread, has anyone seen the Hoof GP on YouTube? He just does cows, but man, those are some ugly feet. And the abscesses are incredible.
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Yess!!! 
Some are exceptionally gross but I can only imagine the relief they feel.
Thanks a lot for that rabbit hole. 
That’s quite the crush!
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@Bluey, I know that you know cattle. Have you seen this You Tube channel? https://www.youtube.com/@TheHoofGP
Have you seen these sorts of issues?
Apparently I’ve been very lucky that I’ve never had any abscesses in any of my horses or any of the horses I’ve ridden in the past. I’m grateful yet also wondering if abscesses are more of an issue now than they were in the past?
There are regions and pastures where hoof abscess in cattle are more common than others.
We have winter wheat pasture cattle and graze out wheat fields in the spring when cattle tend to get foot root, any little crack lets bacteria in and they go lame.
We have found if we ad 2% iodine to their mineral that has 2%, so they get 4%, those become minimal.
Some years we receive cattle from the South for winter pasture and some have sand cracks and those also can become infected.
You really need to talk to a veterinarian in your area that will give you best information for what he sees there.
As for horses, we had a new horse that presented with an abscess and later again.
Our vet x-rayed it and found horse at some time had cracked the front of his coffin bone and that was causing the abscess.
Vet said hoof was a good cast itself for that, horse would heal fine and he did.
Once the bone healed, no more abscess.
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