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 Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
   
Location: Missouri | *yucky picture warning*
This is my first time dealing with an abscess. What would you do for this horse? He's 5, my current ride, never been shod. Vet drained & wrapped on Wednesday. Does he need shoes? How long will this take to heal?
Thanks for any advice!
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  That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| It will probably take a week or two to drain and close back up. You need to keep it clean, wraped and dry. I'd also be giving him some type of antibiotic. I like sulfa pills in a syringe with the end cut off. |
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Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Whiteboy - 2015-04-24 10:10 AM It will probably take a week or two to drain and close back up. You need to keep it clean, wraped and dry. I'd also be giving him some type of antibiotic. I like sulfa pills in a syringe with the end cut off.
Thanks!
Forgot to mention that he is on Tucoprim.
Is there an easier way to wrap? He is turned out and wearing through my vet wrap/duct tape. Thought about maybe trying a boot? Depending on what I can find at TSC, since I don't have time to order...
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 Party Girl
Posts: 12293
 
Location: Buffalo, Wyoming | just4fun - 2015-04-24 9:17 AM Whiteboy - 2015-04-24 10:10 AM It will probably take a week or two to drain and close back up. You need to keep it clean, wraped and dry. I'd also be giving him some type of antibiotic. I like sulfa pills in a syringe with the end cut off. Thanks!
Forgot to mention that he is on Tucoprim.
Is there an easier way to wrap? He is turned out and wearing through my vet wrap/duct tape. Thought about maybe trying a boot? Depending on what I can find at TSC, since I don't have time to order...
Try a diaper and vet wrap if you do not have access to a boot. A boot will make your life so much easier if you can get it to stay on. |
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That's White "Man" to You
Posts: 5515
| My problem with boots it they always seem to rub the horse after a couple of days. I prefer the vet wrap and duck tape...lots of duck tape. The reason I like the vet wrap ducktape combo is that it still has some air flow.
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Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Whiteboy - 2015-04-24 10:29 AM My problem with boots it they always seem to rub the horse after a couple of days. I prefer the vet wrap and duck tape...lots of duck tape. The reason I like the vet wrap ducktape combo is that it still has some air flow.
Well, would you come help? lol! At least hold his foot for me? He weighs 3423546522 pounds!!! And he's 18.6 hh!  (seriously, he gets super heavy after about 30 seconds of holding that foot up!)
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 Saint Stacey
| Use the recipe in the sticky up top and he will be fine in about 24 hours. There's a rusk whenever a vet opens them of a false sole developing. But that recipe does wonders. Did you just worm? I had 3 horses abscess about 5 days after worming them this spring. |
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Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | SKM - 2015-04-24 10:35 AM Use the recipe in the sticky up top and he will be fine in about 24 hours. There's a rusk whenever a vet opens them of a false sole developing. But that recipe does wonders. Did you just worm? I had 3 horses abscess about 5 days after worming them this spring. Interesting! What's the correlation?
He was wormed about a month ago.
I have been trying to read info online and came across a website that said to NEVER drain from the sole. What's the other option? I can't imagine him having a big hole all the way through his hoof? Is that recommended though?
He already feels better, just want to make sure I'm taking care of it correctly.
Does he need to be in shoes until it heals completely? Would shoes prevent this in the future? He hasn't really needed them yet...he's about three years behind in his training! lol!
Edited by just4fun 2015-04-24 10:41 AM
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | My method is after soaking, apply an animalintex pad (I like the hoof shaped). I put a diaper over that then wrap it in vet wrap. Then I make a sheet of duct tape to cover the whole bottom of the hoof. Then I wrap around the edges of that tape to make sure it doesn't peel off. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 316
| Put a Epsom salt /iodine mixture on it and wrap it with an infant diaper. Then vet wrap make sure you go both vertically and horizontally(from toe to heel and hoof wall to hoof wall all the way around on both) I use about a whole roll of it. Then do duct tape using the same method. Stays on for 48 hrs and then do it all again. Be healed up in a week. |
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Saint Stacey
| Horses can detox through their feet (or so I've been told). An abscess happens when bacteria us present. The body sends white blood cells to fight the bacteria (blood phase of an abscess). The white blood cells then become pus (pus phase). The last phase is when the body is trying to expel the pus (by this point it's usually black gunk and stinky). Most horses don't show anything until the black gunk phase. Now this description is a very simplified explanation with my own made up phases, lol! But you get the idea. Sometimes they just happen. This is the first time I've ever had 3 happen at once. It was really wet around here. Maybe it was the worming, or maybe it was just optimal conditions for bacteria to breed and get into soft, wet feet. Or maybe it was a combination of both. You might not ever have a problem again. If the horse continues to abscess then you might need to figure out why. But until then I wouldn't change anything if it's been working up to this point. |
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 Swiffer PIcker Upper
Posts: 4015
Location: Four Corners Colorado | I've used these instead of boots they work great and don't rub http://hoofwraps.com/hoof-wraps-p-1.html?osCsid=68d38f6dd36a60c4f9377f3cfd536592 . I also make a vet wrap sock if I am going to leave boots on for any length of time or you can use super cheap tube socks from walmart. |
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 Sock eating dog owner
Posts: 4557
Location: Where the pavement ends and the West begins Utah | Medicine boot around $25. Easy boot around 60 . Or sock boot 13 dollars these will protect the hoof and allow you to doctor it. |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11511
Location: 31 lengths farms | After putting a drawing poultice on one, I really like putting Tomorrow Mastitis medicine, its actually for cows with mastitis so it has an infusion tip on it and is easy to put the antibiotic right up in the cavity left by the abscess. I had a mare years ago that would abscess every spring when the ground started to harden up again. Before learning the Tomorrow trick it was about 1.5-2 weeks of soaking the foot before she was sound enough to ride, with the Tomorrow she was sound in 3-4 days. My farrier also would make me up a mixture of a hoof packing material to plug the hole with so I didn't have to wrap the hoof, kept the medicine in and the dirt and debris out. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2604
Location: Texas | He does NOT need shoes! Look where the abscess is. Having a shoe on would not have kept him from stepping on a rock in that area. And abscesses could be from something totally unrelated to him stepping on something. Horses with shoes get abscesses too. |
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 Expert
Posts: 4121
Location: SE Louisiana | run n rate - 2015-04-24 11:26 AM
After putting a drawing poultice on one, I really like putting Tomorrow Mastitis medicine, its actually for cows with mastitis so it has an infusion tip on it and is easy to put the antibiotic right up in the cavity left by the abscess. I had a mare years ago that would abscess every spring when the ground started to harden up again. Before learning the Tomorrow trick it was about 1.5-2 weeks of soaking the foot before she was sound enough to ride, with the Tomorrow she was sound in 3-4 days. My farrier also would make me up a mixture of a hoof packing material to plug the hole with so I didn't have to wrap the hoof, kept the medicine in and the dirt and debris out.
This!!!! if you don't want a shoe and something to cover the sole like a plate or a pad. The bacteria in an abscess is anaerobic bacteria and can only grow where there is a complete lack of oxygen. So, the hole needs to be kept open until it grows out but protected from dirt as well... |
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Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Thanks for all of the responses. He wore through another of my vet wrap/duck tape boots, so I went to TSC and found this contraption: http://www.hoofwraps.com/ It made me feel stupid. It's like putting origami on his foot. Ridiculous. If it makes it until morning, I'll be surprised.
Anyway, farrier agreed no shoes for at least a few weeks. I've honestly been working towards getting him in them b/c he wears off his toes so badly.
Thanks again for the advice!
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