Chronic Abscess in hoof

[hmerten45]

I’m a trainer with a client’s horse in the hospital for the last two weeks for a horrible, recurrent abscess. We treated it for 3 weeks at home and finally had to take horse to the hospital to get the whole thing drained.
We are now almost 2 weeks in the hospital and thought we were making good progress. Then yesterday he became almost 3 legged again.

I’ve been in the business for decades and have never seen something like this.
He is getting great care and they are now re-polticing the sole to see if there’s more there. Prior to this flare-up his blood work looked great.

Anyone dealt with this? Prognosis? He’s a hunter.
I’ll post this on a vet page too. TIA!

[Demerara_Stables]

I’m assuming since he’s at a hospital someone has mentioned this, but just in case they haven’t: has he been tested for PPID? My mare (who has had maybe 5 abscesses in her 22 years) had 3 in the span of two weeks. She had already been diagnosed, but we re ran bookwork and ended up doubling her prascend dose.

[hmerten45]

Thanks! Actually no. I’ll mention it to our vet.

[MapleFarm]

I had an abscess last close to a month last year and the horse was unsound for almost 3. It started with a stone bruise. I think it just didn’t drain fully - it came out the bottom, then got better, then out the top, then the top closed and reopened, then maybe out the frog? Had X-rays etc to make sure all was ok. I did all the things prescribed, it just took ages.

It was the same abscess and not a new one during the time. The acute lameness before it came out the bottom and the again before it came out the top was typical 3-legged abscess lameness. After that, it was more subtle - mildly lame at trot and unwilling to go forward (a little sour acting but nothing crazy). Vet + 2 farriers opinion was that her size (1600lbs+) probably just made it very painful on the foot while it was healing within, but I was really worried the entire time because the Internet doesn’t show much info about this type of ongoing lameness.

I have heard that Cushing’s will cause repeat abscesses as well - if we get another I’ll have her tested. She’s young, but you never know. She came back into work this spring super sound and happy, and the abscess is growing out.

[hmerten45]

Thanks for the reply and sharing your experience! It’s helpful to know that at least others have had this experience. He’s also young (7) and TB. I’m going to ask the vet about Cushings.

[MapleFarm]

Here is another thread that ended up being about long abscesses - I posted about my horse’s at the time. The good news is she totally recovered. My main concern now is preventing a crack as the hole grows out.

Abscess or soft tissue in the foot

My draft cross, who I affectively refer to as a Sherman Tank, has come up lame in his RF and I’d like to pick the hive mind. 3 weeks ago, he lost the RF right after being shod. He was quite sore. I wrapped for a couple days and then didn’t because I couldn’t get out. Farrier gets the shoe back on a week later (he travels a lot). 48 hrs after the shoe is on horse is perfectly sound WTC. He’s been lightly ridden because this is Kentucky, it hasn’t rained, and the ground is literal concrete a…

[Klevie]

My OTTB gelding used to be a chronic shoe puller and I was super concerned about potential cracks in his hooves. My farrier recommended Hoof Guard and their hoof hardener Kera Prep be applied daily. These products have been an AMAZING life saver for him (and my wallet). Now he only pulls a shoe once every 4-6 months now and that’s usually only after a massive rain. He lives outside on 10 acres (varied terrain) 24/7 unless he’s hunkered down in his run in due to a storm

[hmerten45]

Thanks for this other thread! Also super helpful.

[kaya842]

Do the X-rays show any bone loss? No findings or a keratoma, correct? Cushings would be on my list and potentially other blood work as well as a culture of the infection (is the horse on ABX?).

[ndirish07]

A poster above linked the post to my 12 week abscess saga. Echo checking for PPID, but if your horse has really good feet it might be like my guy where the abscess just didn’t have anywhere to go and kept bouncing around in his foot coming out in multiple places.

[MapleFarm]

Thank you!!

[hmerten45]

X-rays all look good. No bone issues or lesions. They may X-ray again today to make sure there’s been no changes in structure. The MRI also didn’t show anything (except the tear).

Thanks!!

[banmharcach]

Perhaps look in to use of Medical Maggots----can be very good at clearing infected/dead tissues if you have an opening into the abscessed area.