I’ve got a gelding who’s been mildly sore (1/5) on the LF for about 10-11 days now. I had a vet take a look at him when it first started. Vet pulled out hoof testers and declared it to be “probably a stone bruise.”
Well, soreness has not resolved. Not even a little. Is it possible for a stone bruise to affect him for this long? I really do not suspect an abscess at this point because the lameness is so mild. But who knows.
Edit to add: This is a rather stoic horse with very good feet.
What do his feet look like? Have you called the farrier?
I’ve had a stone bruise take a bit to resolve, and ended up putting rim pads on this horse because the substrate he lived on was very coarse/rough. If it’s persisting for so long I would suspect either very thin soles, or maybe the horse needs some different farriery.
@beowulf , yes, I did have the farrier take a look. For the farrier, he was NOT sensitive to the hoof testers. For the vet, on the very next day, he was.
The same farrier has been shoeing this horse successfully for almost two years. He shoes all the show horses in our barn, and he’s very good. I don’t know that the farrier work is the problem.
I will add it is VERY rocky at this farm.
My horses stone bruise took 3 months to resolve. He was fine, then the farrier changed things again (really ticked me off) and he went lame again. Lost my whole show season unfortunately, first world problems. I found the pad was key. Now whenever he loses a shoe, a Cavallo boot is tossed on immediately.
Your farrier should be working with you on this. Pads can help relieve the pressure and help heal. If the farrier didn’t find a bruise, then what does he think it is, could it be a high abscess working its way down?
Is your horse sore only on the hard ground? My horse had a stone bruise but in the end, it had developed into an abscess . If he is not feeling better after 3 weeks better call vet once again to make sure.
Certainly keep checking for abscess, but if it’s indeed a bruise know that a stone bruise can take a REALLY REALLY long time to improve.
Edited to add… I just noticed the original post is from 7 months ago. I don’t use the forums often anymore so I’m just getting familiar to the new format. For some reason the post appeared in a list of “Suggested” posts that popped up! So, apologies for the untimely reply! 
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