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Looking for advice on sore hoof

Hello, I’m looking for some advice. I tried calling my vet and apparently she is on vacation. I pulled a nice sharp rock out of the collateral groove on my horses hoof. The rock had a small amount of blood on it. I washed it with an antiseptic wash. The next day he was understandably sore. I’d like to give him some relief and was trying to find Animalintex hoof pads but they seem to be oversold everywhere I can think of. Just wrap him up in some cotton? Diaper? I was looking at Hawthorne’s medicated hoof packing but wasn’t sure about using it if there is a small open wound. Maybe there is a warning on the packaging for this? That was why I tried calling my vet. Any advice or experience appreciated!

Your vet doesn’t have other vets in the practice that can help? Or if they are a solo practice, who is the referring vet for all emergencies? Start there.

If you saw blood that is pretty significant. IMHO two things always warrant a vet call immediately: eye issues, and punctures in the hoof or joint. If you saw blood, that is a puncture and I would be doing everything in my ability to keep that area clean, covered, and seen by a vet ASAP.

They may want to start your horse on ABX. Hoof punctures have high infection risks. Once your horse gets a bone infection in the hoof the prognosis is incredibly poor.

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I would absolutely endorse Beowulf’s post. A puncture wound in the hoof is something that you want a vet to see and treat in the first instance.

If there’s blood, you’re dealing with a puncture wound. You need to find a vet who will come out today.

You could soak the hoof in some warm water mixed with betadine, but you really want a vet.

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If you can’t find another vet, call your farrier. They might be able to pull some strings to get the horse seen by a vet that they have a working relationship with. I know mine would be able to do that.

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She is a solo vet and her message just said to call a different vet! It wasn’t deep enough that I would be worried about the internal structure but I can see that infection is a concern. I’ll call a different vet! Thank you!

Packing with sugardine will help take care of bacterial issues. If it truly wasn’t deep enough to be remotely concerned about internal structures, then I’d treat is like an open abscess hole. If it’s deep enough for anything to be stuffed in there, stuff with cotton soaked in diluted with water, weak tea-looking betadine, and boot/wrap. If nothing will pack, then definitely it’s not that deep, and I’d just pack the bottom of the foot with sugardine (since you can easily make that, not that it’s the ideal packing one way or another) and wrap

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