Hoof Abscess Care

[alexismottb]

Hi guys, I created an account here to ask this question and to see other’s experiences.

I have a 5 year old OTTB that presented with sudden lameness on his front right around 10am Thursday morning. He was completely sound Wednesday night. I brought him out of the paddock and checked him over. No heat or swelling from his leg at all, no wounds, no missing hair, etc. I cleaned up his hoof to check for a nail or any puncture holes. None. I’ve dealt with abscesses before, and upon a lot of talking with my vet and farrier, they told me he likely has a hoof abscess. The weather has been alternating from days of raining, to a week of dry, warm weather. He is boarded at a facility where it’s an open stall concept with a sandy paddock. The vet said this is pretty common with this environment, and that abscesses are generally a very sudden lameness. He isn’t hopping lame or non weight bearing, but lame enough it made my heart do a flip when I first saw him. I did a range of motion test on my own to see if he messed up his leg somehow, got nothing out of the ordinary but an annoyed horse.

The farrier came out and used hoof testers to determine the location of pain. I suspected it was the outer part of his hoof, because he’s putting more weight on the inside. This was confirmed. He is very sore on his outer toe and sole. Vet and farrier agreed to treat as abscess and to soak in Epsom salt twice a day, and wrap.

Ive been doing just that. He’s a spunky horse, so he’s still trying to run around and play. His personality is completely unchanged. He’s kept by himself, so nobody is chasing him around or picking on him.

I asked my farrier about digging the abscess out if need be, but he said he legally cannot do that. He said either a vet has to, or the vet has to be present if he does.

This started on Thursday, and I’ve been soaking and wrapping since Friday. It’s Saturday night. There is no obvious signs that this abscess has blown out. There is some heel bulb sensitivity, but I’m not certain if this is where it wants to rupture, or if it is sore because of how he’s walking since his sole hurts.

How long do you normally wait before you decide to let a vet dig it out? I’ve never done so with past horses, but I get so worried these days… im a nervous horse momma.

Do you bute? Or does that make this take longer?
Am I on the right track? I absolutely can call the vet out to see him if need be. Money is tight, I’m in the process of moving to a new house, but if this is the one thing I NEED to do, I will.

I know its only been a few days, so I’m not sure how long to expect for the abscess to blow out.

Also, it’ll be raining everyday off and on until about Tuesday. I have been keeping his hoof wrapped because of the mud and puddles that are out of my control. I could put him on stall rest, but he’s a weaver. It’s an open stall concept, so he goes in and out as he pleases and he likes to stay outside.

Thank you in advance!

[4LeafCloverFarm]

Abscesses are frequently on their own time table. Sometimes they never burst through the sole or the coronet band. Though I’ve never heard of a farrier that said it was “illegal” to dig it out. That’s a new one on me!

I’d give the soaking/bandaging a go for 4 or 5 days. If it doesn’t burst, and the lameness is the same or worse, I’d have the vet out to re-assess. And obviously, I’d call the vet before that if the lameness takes a turn for the worse.

As for bute, I only bute if they are badly lame (and obviously in a good bit of pain and not themselves) and I’ve got them up in a stall, in order to make them comfortable. I don’t bute if they are walking with just a bit of discomfort, and otherwise seem themselves and are outside on turn-out.

I have waited more than week before for one to pop, then called my farrier to make sure it was draining (open the hole a bit) to ensure if didn’t close up immediately.

[alexismottb]

@4LeafCloverFarm

Abscesses are frequently on their own time table. Sometimes they never burst through the sole or the coronet band. Though I’ve never heard of a farrier that said it was “illegal” to dig it out. That’s a new one on me!

Yeah, it was confusing to me and I’ve never heard of it before. Every other post I’ve ever seen regarding a hoof abscess stated the farrier was able to dig it out. I live in California, so I’m not sure if that makes a difference. I could try a different farrier, though. There is a good amount of them around my area. There’s a heavy horse population here, so it isn’t hard to find them! I am not sure if it has to do with “practicing veterinary medicine without a license” or not.

Also, thank you for the reply! I am glad that I’m on the right track and shouldn’t be expecting a certain amount of time. It seems it varies a lot. It makes me feel better.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

I always keep an abscess med kit handy - Epsom salts, animalintex (poltice pad), Ichthammal, vet wrap and gorilla tape (heavy duty duct tape) because you never know when one might occur. A good drain hole, keeping it clean and dry are essential after it blows for proper healing.

Just keep your eye on it. If your horse is still the same after a few days, and it’s not blown, get your vet out to test (or sooner if he starts to show more pain in that hoof). And I think I’d ask the vet about what the farrier said. I have no clue about the laws in CA, but their comment just struck me as odd. If I had to speculate and this is purely a guess on my part, perhaps the farrier wasn’t comfortable digging to pop it? And if that’s the case, I’d get a new farrier. For me, they are my horses foot expert and if they aren’t confident in popping an abscess, what else might they not be confident in?

I wish you luck! Abscesses can be a right PITA I know. Dealt with plenty in my day. Wishing your horse a speedy recovery!

[Scribbler]

I’ve always seen abscesses resolve without cutting into the foot. Soak and poultice in the barn. Benign neglect on pasture horses.

Cutting into the hoof leaves you with an incision that takes a long time to close up.

Bute reduces inflammation and can mean the abscess takes longer to pop.

Movement is good for abscess and if horse will move voluntarily on soft footing or in boots, let him. Movement wont hurt him further.

If it doesn’t resolve in a reasonable time frame get some more diagnostics in case it’s a soft tissue injury in the foot or coffin bone fracture, etc

[danacat]

I let nature run its course with abscesses – never cut, just try to keep tissues soft with animalintex or ichthamol + lots of movement (no stall rest ever) to help abscess track its way out. If horse is in extreme pain I’ll give bute to take the edge off to encourage movement + relieves weightbearing stress on opposite leg.

[Seagram]

I’ve always heard (and seen from experience) that bute does nothing for abcesses. It’s one of the few aches that it will not do anything for. An abscess is pretty easy to spot, and I hate to see a horse in such pain, but usually it will run it’s course on it’s own without need to dig into the sole or any other intervention.

[solarflight]

My gelding took a good month for his to pop last spring. I actually had the vet out to x Ray because I was concerned it hadn’t improved; she confirmed abscess, and 2 days later it popped (figures).
No bute, it reduces the inflammation which is the opposite of what you want with an abscess. You are doing the right thing by wrapping and soaking.
Being from the legal field, I can understand your farrier not wanting to go digging. You could sue if he did damage from not knowing exactly where the abscess was. Long shot, I know, just people are weird.

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[BoyleHeightsKid]

I dealt with a really tough sub solar abscess this past summer/fall that took FOREVER… I tried soaking and will never do that again. I think I only prolonged the process by softening the whole foot.

What worked for me was packing the foot with a mixture of providone iodine, sugar (Epsom salt also works) and a splash of DMSO. Mix into a patty and cover with a diaper, vet wrap over that with a gorilla tape boot over it all of it and turn them out. The pressure from the movement also helps to push it out. Leave on for three days, off for one, rinse repeat till it blows. Its actually the drying action of the pack that draws the abscess out. After the first night he was MUCH better but I left it on for the entire 3 days. You can see where it came out of the sole and I think once it grows out a large area of his sole is going to come off when it’s ready but at least he doesn’t have a gaping hole from someone trying to dig it out.

[DarkBayUnicorn]

I am a big believer in sugardine, but have never tried adding DMSO to it! Thanks for the idea.

[ecileh]

I have been dealing with an abscess that blew out at the heel bulb and, because my mare wouldn’t let me soak it, I used this product instead:

https://www.acehardware.com/departments/lawn-and-garden/farm-and-ranch-supplies/livestock-minerals/7405095?x429=true&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIysGUpvmk4AIVwwOGCh35DAxiEAQYAiABEgLx4vD_BwE

It was a long shot–I hadn’t ever used it before, or even heard of it–but I knew she wasn’t going to tolerate soaking. This stuff was incredible. Very sticky, so it stays where you put it, yet easy to wipe off (unlike Ichthammal) and it smells nice, too.

I too keep an abscess kit on hand–and now this will always be part of it.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@ecileh

I knew she wasn’t going to tolerate soaking.

Who in the heck wants to soak in the winter anyway?? Pack the foot, wrap it and kick them outside…

Someone had also suggested adding a Thermacare heat pad if you needed some heat, but I didn’t have to go that far…

[alexismottb]

Hey guys! I forgot to update.

I had a different farrier to check him out. Hoof testers still displayed pain in the same area. Farrier trimmed away at the sole a little bit, and OUT came the gross liquid I was hoping I’d see. We wrapped him up, and put him back. He was a bit ouchy the rest of the day. The next day, he’s WAY more sound. He’s walking and trotting without a limp. I am so relieved!

The farrier was great, he didn’t even charge me anything and he showed me a better way to wrap his hoof. Every time I did it, my horse managed to get it off. The way he showed me, it stayed put for a full day. He is a super nice and knowledgeable guy.

I learned that the farrier who didn’t want to dig the abscess is relatively new. I think he graduated from his training two years ago. I think he’s really inexperienced. He had wanted to sedate my horse when he gets his shoes, but that isn’t practical for me. The new farrier was a ton of experience with OTTBs fresh from the track and had no issues with him at all. He’s patient, and seems to know a lot more about what he’s doing.

I feel a tad bit guilty for switching farriers now, but I like my horse too much. I guess the phrase “you’re hiring them, not marrying them” is important to remember. He seems to be losing business, so that’s why I feel bad. He’s been posting advertisements like crazy lately.

Anyways, thanks for all the replies! I am very relieved that we are on the right track and that he’s already feeling SO much better. It made my heart happy that I don’t need to see him limping around anymore.

[alexismottb]

Also, I want to add: he didn’t really “dig” it out. I think it was ready to come out on its own, and a trim to his sole did the trick. We were all surprised, farrier included. It didn’t take much at all, so there’s no big hole or big chunk of missing hoof. Honestly, it was probably going to come out on it’s own within a few days, but I’m really glad to know it was THERE in the first place (and wasn’t a bigger problem that we didn’t consider) and it was so easy to take care of. A lot of pictures on Google show horses with big holes dug in to relieve them, but that definitely didn’t happen with my guy. I wish I would’ve taken a picture!

[4LeafCloverFarm]

So glad your horse is on the mend. And “dig” is what a lot of us say, but in reality its a very small (smaller than a pencil eraser - maybe an 1/8") hole through the sole to drain. To those that haven’t weathered an abscess, “dig” probably sounds horrendous now that I think about it. Whats important is that the whole is large enough to drain, whether it blows on its own or whether it gets some help from the farrier/vet.

[Against_All_Odds2]

Bumping up this thread. Horse had a abscess burst out of inside hind near her bar in her sole. Aggressively soaked, cleaned and wrapped etc for over a week. Her opposite fore got very sore from compensating and she got a small tiny hoof puncture from a farrier nail (thought it was another abscess but it was very thin sole up front). So front was cleaned, sugardined and wrapped for a week. Hind Seemed fine.

Went to clean the hind hole on sunday and a table spoon of watery yellow liquid came out. I am assuming this is reinfection? So she was soaked and wrapped again and wrapped up front for 2 more days. In total its been over 3 weeks. She is so miserable being wrapped I need help. Everything was cleaned and jim rickens applied but I just couldnt wrap her again today. I syringed epsom salt and water into the hind hole to try and flush anything out before the jim rickens.

We are in a hellish semi freeze, semi thaw with lots of rain. Horse will not stay stalled but is brought in 2x a day for grain and feet to get as dry as they can. Otherwise shes on pasture which is pretty swampy by the hay during the day and a high dry dirt lot at night.

Please help me clear up her poor abscess.

[EmilyM]

Try a treatment of clean trax. That should do the trick. Can be purchased online. Get the boot that they sell for your convenience

[Feathered_Feet]

I’ll second the Clean Trax for @Against_All_Odds2. It’s a one-time treatment (you can repeat it if necessary, but not usually necessary) so should present less fuss for your horse. Definitely get a soaking boot and a heavy duty bag for the post-soak vapor “soak.”