So my horse has a tiny speck of live tissue exposed on his sole, about the size of a ball point pen tip, and is extremely sore (think almost crippled). We pulled the shoe, there is no abscess, and are soaking with warm water, epsom salts, a little bedadine, then putting some Today on the spot, wrapping to keep clean. He’s minimally better today - still very lame, but more willing to move. Any tricks to getting this to heal faster or why it happens? No clear cause as to why it happened in the first place, but he has very thin soles and typical bad TB feet.
When something similar happened to my horse we used a hospital plate shoe so we could medicate the foot and took him only for very short hand walks for a few weeks until it started to harden over. One thing my vet had me do was to feed soy bean meal and MSM, in addition to the HorseTech hoof supplement, as he feels that helps with hoof growth. It was 1/2 cup of soy bean meal with 2 tablespoons MSM.
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Has your vet been involved?
“Very thin soles” says to me he should have appropriate pads on, or this will likely happen frequently. This either IS an abscess that burst, or something punctured his sole, which is why I asked if the vet has been involved.
Assuming there’s nothing stuck in there, I’d stop soaking - soft soles are sore soles, you want this to dry up and harden.
I would use Tomorrow, not Today, then wrap like you are. At some point after it’s stopped being an open wound, it might help to start using some type of caustic powder (ie Wonder Dust, Caustic Powder) to help dry it out and harden it
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My guy is recovering from a deep solar abscess that had him 3 legged, start with an X-ray to make sure whatever punctured the sole isn’t there anymore and didn’t effect the inner structures. Therapeutic farrier recommended Clean Trax soaks spaced a week apart, heavily medicated powdered boots, and artimud following the second soak.
My thought too was shoot an xray. Not expensive and can rule out what could become very expensive.
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Shoot an x-ray ASAP to make sure there is no debris, etc. in the hole. Then get a hospital plate put on to protect it while it heals.
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I would sure want a film done to make sure that his coffin bone is not dropping through the sole. I would also be keeping it clean and dry and protected - either in a soft boot or with a diaper wrap.
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Also saying x-ray; you don’t want to treat just to find out your horse has a nail or a piece of wood or something stuck up in there. Puncture wounds can hide the object that caused them.
Ok you guys are freaking me out now - Canker, Coffin bone thru the sole!!!. Vet knows that he was Really Lame and what Farrier had stated (farrier is vet’s farrier, so good relationship there). Had farrier out to pull the shoe when I thought abscess. The horse is 35 and has been having more foot trouble (lots of sore soles & absceses last year) and finally found a shoe he likes. He’s historically had thin soles & walls. As he’s gotten older, his tendons are not as strong as they used to be and his ankles have dropped quite a bit from back in the day, so he lands HEAVY on the heals and is beating the heck out of them - which caused much of the foot trouble last year. We’re cautious about adding full pads (he’s in egg bars & rim pads) because his soles are so low, think the pad might cause too much pressure on them, even gel pads. I honestly don’t think there’s a puncture, but can’t actually say that its not. He’s doing better these last few days, except now the tendon on the other leg is howling from the extra stress. So treating the foot on one leg, tendon on the other.
So I stopped soaking right after I posted and am just applying Today once a day and wrapping with diaper, vet wrap, etc. I think I need to leave it unwrapped or just vet wrap with no Today or diaper while he’s in his stall tho, because it stays a bit moist with the wrap - maybe some good clean air will help while he’s inside a clean stall, I do worry about it getting softer being wrapped all the time.
JB - why Tomorrow vs Today?
The diaper does have a black “slick” to it where the issue is - not sure what that is from. I assumed this was the Today mixed with hoof? It doesn’t smell bad, just like normal foot. Is that something normal or something sinister??
Oh, and he gets Vita E & MSM already (and a myriad of other stuff)
I owe this horse everything after all these years (31 years together), if you guys still think xray is warranted, I’m on it ASAP! I need all the help I can give him.
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This is a serious issue - one that could potentially be life threatening. X-ray now. You have lost 2 days since your initial post and now the horse is having trouble with his opposing leg. You could potentially have real trouble here and time is of the essence. Personally, I would pay for an emergency call today in hopes that you can get this horse some help.
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Unless you get something like a hospital plate put on, he will need something soft on the foot like the diaper. He is already having trouble supporting himself. I’d get a vet out right away.
A 35yo with lots of sore soles, abscesses, and now dropping fetlocks? Is he PPID? If so, is he on Prascend?
I agree you’re getting into trouble right now if his “good” leg is having weight-bearing issues from compensating for the bad leg. I’d say get xrays asap. You’ve got to find something that supports his soles without pressuring that spot.
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Thanks everyone for the input. The foot is doing great and the other leg is good too, the little spot of the sole has healed up and he’s pretty sound - he doesn’t have to do anything but is sound at walk/trot, sound for him anyway. We’re (vet, farrier & me) are all working together and keeping a close eye on everything but there’s no rotation or anything overly exciting going on in there.
@JB - I think you may have misunderstood my dropping fetlock comment - when I said they dropped quite a bit, that’s been going on for years and its no where near what I imagine you are envisioning by my comment - they’re just not as upright anymore - perhaps I was a little extreme. We just upped his Prascend again to 4 tabs a day.
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That’s great he’s doing better! :yes:
the dropped fetlocks, “dropped quite a bit from back in the day,” is one symptom of Cushing’s, which is why I asked. Knowing he is PPID, and especially that you’ve upped his Prascend again, and to a whopping 4 tabs, makes sense. His tumor is progressing, his symptoms are compounding, and it’s likely they will get harder to manage and take longer as things continue to progress. It’s just the ugly nature of the beast 
