Friend has a horse with an abcess and this came up. I wasn’t sure of the answer, though I have my own thoughts on it I’d like to hear yours!
Does Magic Cushion/Rebound/etc. help or hurt in drawing an abcess out? What about after the abcess is open and draining?
Even though I really like Magic Cushion, I wouldn’t use it on an abscess.
A warm water and epsom salts soak is what I used to draw an abscess out.
The vet thanked me for doing his job, then he packed the hole with an antibiotic, wrapped it and told me to keep it wrapped for several days.
That sounds sketchy because it was at least 20 years ago and thankfully the only hoof abscess I’ve dealt with in 61 6ears of owning horses.
Standard abscess protocol is soak in hot water saturated with Epsom salts and wrap in a poultice that could be Animsllintex or a disposable diaper full of wet epsom salts.
You want to soften the bottom structures of the foot so the abscess leaks out the frog commissures or heel bulbs rather than blowing out the coronet.
Pine tar based packing hardens and dries the sole and frog so it’s the wrong thing to use.
That’s what I was thinking. In addition, “cooling down” the foot would take away some of the pressure needed to push the abcess to resolve/burst. Correct?
Well it’s true we don’t ice an abscess.
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