Mare had an abscess in one hind that took 10 weeks to drain. Other hind appears to have one now. What would cause this in hind feet. Fronts are always 100% fine.
Someone mentioned leaky gut or hind gut problems from feeding high fat grain…
Mare is barefoot. Lives in sand paddock with shelter with rubber mats. Rides in sand arena. No rocks etc or signs of external causes of bruising. We do dressage with a bit of jumping. No recent trail rides.
Gut problems would not cause an abscess unless the gut problems caused laminitis. If you have seen no laminitis symptoms the abscesses are probably from mechanical causes. In a barefoot horse that could include footing, trim, thin soles, or wet conditions. Abscesses can take a while to develop. Once I took my horse to another barn for a clinic and she trotted excitedly around the gravel paddock. She did not bruise her feet or appear at all off, but three weeks later she abscessed in both front feet. The other two times she’s abscessed there was no obvious cause, once in dry summer and once in wet winter. Both hind.
Purely anecdotal. But I have noticed reoccuring abscess’s can occur with deep thrush. Its like it infects inside there somehow.
If I had a horse that was getting suspicious abscess’s id treat for thrush. I have no scientific data for this, just a lot of ‘seen that’ so take it as you will 
I concur with the deep thrush and will add IR or early PPID? I have a gelding, that had several abscesses in a row. He’d get one, it would take 6 weeks to drain. Would be fine for two weeks, and then another one in a different foot. Another 6 weeks, and … went on for about 4 months until I started Googling symptoms. Found the PPID info, and had the vet out. Sure enough, she felt we caught PPID problems early–never had his ACTH raised, but failed Dex suppression miserably. He’s been on half a Prascend daily for 5 years, and will be 20 next month. Never had another abscess once we started the Rx. Good luck.
Interesting! How was the IR causing the abscess? Was the IR causing low grade laminitis which was then causing the abscess, or was there a more direct physiological link? If so, what was the mechanism? Was it just reduced immune systen?
There is a local vet who I contacted recently about a horse with chronic abscesses. They offer a $185 hair analysis and I inquired if there was anything in the analysis that would pinpoint a cause and this was their reply:
Of the 279 horses that have been tested who struggle with abscesses, 46% of them were toxic in one or more heavy metal.
I thought it was interesting - could be worth a shot? I’m not at all affiliated with the vet practice, nor have I tried the hair analysis, but if you’re interested PM me and I can provide their website.
I believe that hair testing for “toxins” in this form is a mainstay of some forms of human alternative health modalities, and the results are inconclusive to say the least. It’s not how you would test for lead exposure or mecury poisoning in real suspected cases.
I also read that that high iron and low copper/Zinc can cause problems. I have started horse on California trace since we have a problem high iron in our well water. Too early to tell if it’ going to help. I have the vet coming next week and will request some bloodwork
We did not get into it too deeply, the abscesses stopped as soon as the Prascend had a week or so to get into his system, and we didn’t look back. Vet did test for IR, said his response was too high, thought that could be causing a low grade laminitis (inflammation “leaking” within capsule, but not blowing up, nor rotating), but also the failed Dex Suppression was her main concern, and the PPID will cause a low grade lam too-luckily did not escalate to full blown. Changed his diet immediately as well–TC Lite, very low in NSC., reduced grass hay, added alfalfa. About two years later, he started requiring twice yearly body clips, now he’s up to three or more (IF he was still in work and showing, but he’s not), so I suspect we did/do have a PPID problem. Glad to have caught it early and saved much suffering. Hope that helps. I like the iron/zinc thoughts too. Worth looking into.
My horse had recurrent abscesses. I treated him for white line disease with CleanTrax almost 7 years ago. He hasn’t had an abscess since. He also has not had scratches since.
Frantically knocking wood.
The thread on scratches brings up the good point of getting the mineral balance in the diet right for general immunity. OP I think you are on Vancouver Island, right? The local hay in the rain zones of BC is very low in minerals.
Yes Scribner I am on Vancouver island. On top of that our well water is very high in iron which is why I’m trying the higher copper/zinc to balance out the minerals. Vet did bloodwork last winter and everything came back normal. Getting more bloodwork done next week. The curly hair on her legs this winter worries me.
My experience : bought a TB who needed some groceries, and fed him a reasonable amount of grain for the first year. I don’t remember how many absesses he had, but too many. Cut out all grain = no more absesses. Not a very scientific approach because other variables changed, too.
My other example: I have another horse who has had absesses in the same foot almost every summer since he was 3, and he’s 12 this year. Two weeks after the first spring trim, and it hangs on, getting better and worse, all summer. Once there’s a decent snow pack, he is comfortable for the winter. My vet and farrier don’t have any new ideas. Another vet wants to dig for a keratoma but I’m reluctant because nothing shows up on any of the many radiographs we’e taken over the years. I’l watch this thread in case there are any new suggestions.
Well, C_M, we (Islanders) have had a significant amount of wet weather this winter! Our hay fields in mid-island, while normally dry by now, are still very wet and soft! Even if the hay was ready for harvesting, there’s NO way the equipment would be able to get on the fields to cut or bale.
Even horses that NEVER get abscesses are popping some, so it may just be the ground conditions, and an anomalous year, but thumbs up for being pro-active and working with your vet.
Please let us know what the blood results are, as it may help another islander some time
PS: often recurring abscesses are a farrier/trimming issue. If you want the services of a fabulous farrier, PM me for his name!
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