# Whats the longest time a abscess can take to come out of the hoof?



## stacey222 (27 August 2010)

My horse has been lame in the front hoof for about 6 weeks now, she has had x-rays done and they have come up clear. She has a little heat in her hoof and a bit soar on the toe when hoof tested but nothing major like i have seen with other horses with an abscess in the hoof. She has no swelling in the leg and the vet has ruled out laminitis, we are waiting on nerve blocking but just wondered how long an abscess can brew in the hoof before it comes out. The farrier has had a good look twice and both times has said he can't find anything but she is slightly soar on the toe. Any ideas???


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## minmax (27 August 2010)

I was looking after a horse for a friend, who had gone to India on holiday. She went for 6 weeks, for most of them her horse was hopping lame, to the point we were thinking of pts. The vet thought it was an abcess, then as nothing came out thought it was a fractured pedel bone. Eventually a diff vet came out and cut the sole. About a pint of puss came out. The poor horse had been stood in the same spot for weeks, when I went to see him(he lived out) he was up the field. He cantered down like a new pin. They can brew for a while, if you cannot cut back the foot anymore, you either wait or do something else?  Are you poulticing it? It may be that its tracked up and will burst out the correnet band.


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## cptrayes (27 August 2010)

The longest I have heard of was a year! They are called occult abscesses when they are like that. It might help to weaken the foot with wet poulticing or washing soda.


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## brucea (27 August 2010)

I had one on my lad that took 3 months to settle, never burst, but a few omths later  a chunk of the sole peeled off and there was black sticky gunk under it.

Often aqueous cream can help to soften the heels and coronary band. 

I did help a horse who had really bad abscess an it was not clearing - I took the shoes off and the flexion and movement of the hoof without the shoe caused the abscess to burst out within about 10 minutes. Came out through the coronary band - lots of black stinking liquid.

Keep molasses out of the feed - I have observed that horses who get molasses seem to be more prone to abscesses and are likely to take longer to forment or revover. It's just my pet theory, but I've seen enough to convince me there's something in it.


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## Tnavas (28 August 2010)

One of mine took a year for the abscess to finally come out. He was a youngster and was never really lame - just occaisionally you'd see him step short when turning. Eventually he became consistantly lame and an X ray showed the abscess about to burst through the coronary band. Which it did the day after the X ray!

To check wether it is the foot or higher up lunge her on a circle - if more sore on the inside foot then the lameness is low down, if higher up the lameness will be more pronounced on the outside of the circle.

Also it is worth having the chiropractor check over the horse, neck & wither problems can cause lameness in front.


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## Britestar (29 August 2010)

Longest I had was 3 months, and it finally burst out from the sole.

Next doors horse has been lame for coming up 18 weeks this year with a tracking abcess. Still not out.


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## coss (29 August 2010)

Have you tried tubbing? Absesses like to find a week point in the hoof, standing the horse in water with epsom salts may help soften the hoof enough. If hoof testing shows pain then isn't that indicating an absess. I've recently seen a horse who had a pound coin sized hold dug out the toe and poulticed for more than 2 weeks. Gunk coming out all that time and it burst through the foot in several other places.


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## Bojangles (29 August 2010)

God a year didnt know that. There was me worriey over it took 7 weeks for his last one to burstd!!


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## S_N (29 August 2010)

I've had one that was referred by my vets for bone scans!!  I didn't go down that route as the horse blocked sound to a 6 point nerve block round the fetlock.  Xrays fine (all 4 legs, don't ask!), all tendons and ligaments scanned fine.  These vets never xrayed the foot though!  The horse was 1 to 2 10ths lame on hard ground, yet barely noticeable on soft ground (I'm talking about the ground conditions ATT, not just the ground the horse was examined on).  It improved with box rest on rubber matting and shavings, to the point that it was barely noticable by 3 equine vets on an abbrasive hard ground trot up and also after 20mins lunging to see if that made it worse!  Horse then changed location, changed vets who found extensive foot bruising and a cold abscess in the foot.  Remedial farrier at the vets cleared out the cold abscess, packed it, put a gel pad on under a shoe and hey presto, sound horse!!  Possibly the world's MOST expensive bruised foot/abscess in history - thank god we never went down the bone scanning route!  To say I am displeased with the original vets is a bit of an understatement!


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## Bojangles (29 August 2010)

S_N said:



			I've had one that was referred by my vets for bone scans!!  I didn't go down that route as the horse blocked sound to a 6 point nerve block round the fetlock.  Xrays fine (all 4 legs, don't ask!), all tendons and ligaments scanned fine.  These vets never xrayed the foot though!  The horse was 1 to 2 10ths lame on hard ground, yet barely noticeable on soft ground (I'm talking about the ground conditions ATT, not just the ground the horse was examined on).  It improved with box rest on rubber matting and shavings, to the point that it was barely noticable by 3 equine vets on an abbrasive hard ground trot up and also after 20mins lunging to see if that made it worse!  Horse then changed location, changed vets who found extensive foot bruising and a cold abscess in the foot.  Remedial farrier at the vets cleared out the cold abscess, packed it, put a gel pad on under a shoe and hey presto, sound horse!!  Possibly the world's MOST expensive bruised foot/abscess in history - thank god we never went down the bone scanning route!  To say I am displeased with the original vets is a bit of an understatement!
		
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I had a very sillmar sp? experince to you with his first foot abscess. Thought he had fracture his pelvis done all tests for a abscess no sign's of one,anyway he ended up being referd to RVC for only to be tolf after all the tests thats its a foot abscess!!!! A week there and a grand total of £2,530!!!!!!!!!!! Now I will deal with them at home no matter what!!!

I really should have share's in gaffa tape and nappies!!!!


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## TheBlack (29 August 2010)

my horse has a corn similar symptoms


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## TarrSteps (29 August 2010)

I've seen two that took a year (although I only know that because I saw the whole process with both - maybe I've seen others and not known the end result or the whole story).  Both were mares with tough feet, who had intermittent lameness over a year (one was retired and put in foal as the "cause" was deemed complications from an old injury), to varying degrees.  Apparently the body can "encapsulate" the abscess so there's not always the same amount of inflammation/pressure then something starts it up again and the process goes along.  Also, because of the way the foot grows, the pocket can "move" through the foot, touching more or less sensitive areas.  

In both cases the abscess came out and the horse never went lame again.  

My vet actually showed me an xray he'd kept showing the path of an abscess through the foot.  Technically, this is not possible (xrays are only really useful for hard tissue) but it was some complete fluke of exposure.  You could see a white wiggly line all the way through the foot, ending in a pocket at the eruption site.  Bizarre.

And old fellow I worked for used to trot horses on concrete to bring up abscesses.  It did seem to work but I think you'd want to be pretty certain you weren't dealing with a concussion injury before you tried it!

I also saw one with an abscess in his frog.  He had some minor intermittent lameness over a couple of months, then a major bout but never as hopping lame as some.  The owner was picking out his hoof one day and a whole layer of the frog peeled off, with a huge pussy area underneath. :crazy:


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## Gooby (30 August 2010)

I have just had to deal with my first abscess and I'm also unhappy with how it was treated by my vets. 

His was brewing for about 6 weeks I think and finally burst out at the heel on the day he was supposed to be having x-rays. Vet cut out around the heel and left me to poultice it. 2 weeks later farrier comes out to shoe, picks his foot up and straight away finds a hole under half his sole. I then got the head vet out to check he's happy all infection has cleared and gives the ok for heartbars to go on as his heel now very unstable. 

In the 6 week run up the original vet had been out 2 or 3 times see him. Only once she dug away at his foot to see if she could find anything, without removing his shoe. Is this normal practice??

As abscesses are fairly new to me, are they really that difficult to diagnose? Anyway a large vet bill later (though not as large as some of yours thankfully!) and I'm finally able to ride him again about 2 1/2 after it all started!


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## Bojangles (30 August 2010)

Beau's first one was digged out by the vet leftd a big hole. It had to be filled after it had heald. The last couple one's he have had I leftd well alone and alowed it to come out by itself, which it did after a long wait!! Luckly the vet who came out on the last one just said to leave well alone too it will come out when it's ready. I think with digging at the foot is just asking for more trouble later on. I hot tub and poulicte etc.

Also I didnt give any antibods or bute as theses cause it all to calm down for only it to flare back up later on.


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