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Miss Southern Sunshine
Posts: 7427
   
Location: South Central Florida | As far as I can remember, this mare has never been lame from an abcess. Last Saturday, she ran at a show and was 2nd out of over 100. It was a nice run, but she hesitated at the gate, which is not normal.
The next day my daughter woke up to find her down, and she would not get up. Had been down a long time, most of the night. The mare was sweating, and panting (I think possibly shockey?). It took her 45 minutes to get the mare to stand, by the time I got there she was up but totally crippled. She would not even put weight on the front left. Farrier got there in minutes, and hoof tested, immediately showed signs of abcess.
He pulled the shoe and as he pulled it, an abcess broke out the bottom. He packed with Magic Cushion and I brought her to my house so I could doctor it (my daughter has a new job, and works all day).
I soaked it morning and evening...By Tuesday I was sure she had another somewhere...Wednesday morning, the rear right blew an medium sized abcess out the cornette band. I thought wow, maybe we are done. Soaked both feet and magic cushion on the front. She was walking better, but still limping and it's hard to tell what foot she was limping on....
Friday morning, she is still better, but now has a very big abcess open on the cornette band of the front left (same as first abcess). Its probably 3 inches long.
I'm going to quit saying "I think were done" because today I found another on the rear right (same as the second abcess). It is not as large but it's draining and oozing.
So that's 4 abcess in 2 feet in 7 days. Does this seem weird? She is walking well today, not 100% sound but probably 90%. I'm not soaking now because she is getting tired of it and doesn't really want to stand on either bad foot.
I'm feeding Animal Element, and vit. C.
We did pull her shoes in June and she was off for about 3 months. Prior to that we were dealing with ulcers pretty bad. During the 3 months off she was wonderful. She looks amazing, and ran like the champ she is even with 2 feet about to go bad.
The farrier is coming back on Tuesday to acess shoes back on or not.
I do not have, nor did I have standing water at all over the summer while she was here. There was standing water at my daughters but she was only there 2 weeks before this and she had dry ground but it was pretty wet mostly.
How long does it take an abcess to "grow"? I'm kind of worried. A friend suggested a feed change to super low starch and low sugar. I did change feed in about May because my dealer dropped the feed I was using.
Help, should I be worried? Is this unusual?
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| No advice but prayers for a speedy recovery! Ive been fortunate enough not to deal with that (knock on wood). However a friend delt with 2 in one foot the other week but I think thats more common. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | My mare bruised her foot being stupid and had 3 abscesses break out. First one wasn't bad, but 3 weeks later she had 2 more come out in a 3 day period. Like your mare, she was down for most of a day absolutely miserable, and the last one left a huge hole in her coronet band. It also drained for 2 days. We did 2 weeks of SMZs at that point, I kept her out of mud the rest of the summer, and she's been fine for over 2 months now. The crack is growing out nicely. This is right after the 3rd one broke.  |
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 Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | I bought a mare last fall that had them in all 4 feet. Had some bloodwork done on her and she was high in selenium. Doubt that is a problem in your area, however if she is on multiple supplements containing Se, it can be an issue. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| I just wonder if your farrier did a lousy job and got some hot nails. Seems weird that there was nothing and then a ton right after shoes. |
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 All American Mom
Posts: 485
Location: used to be the country....to many city folks! | Very interesting! We are dealing with the same thing. Now I'm wondering if it's the feed? A few months ago we switched to Ultium. Someone recently told me it had too much sugar in it.
Going to follow this for sure!
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Expert
Posts: 3514
| You definetly want a low starch low sugar feed. Renew Gold is a good choice. |
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Nut Case Expert
Posts: 9305
Location: Tulsa, Ok | It happens. I came out to one in the lot that would not move. I finally got him to move by dropping a rope over his butt and practically dragging him. Couldn't even get him to pick up any feet so I could look. Administered bute and waited and eventually determined multiple abcesses. He eventually blew them out in all four feet. Once it was over he was good as new and never another issue. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 330
| Sounds like a systemic issue and I would be very concerned about laminitis being a possibility. Until you've done x-rays to rule that out, I would be treating it as such. Blowing multiple abscesses is a symptom/result of laminitis. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1210
Location: Kansas | txbarrelmom - 2014-09-15 9:09 AM
Very interesting! We are dealing with the same thing. Now I'm wondering if it's the feed? A few months ago we switched to Ultium. Someone recently told me it had too much sugar in it.
Going to follow this for sure!
I believe Ultium is high in Selenium.... root of the problem? |
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| I had a similar situation. I had 3 abcesses in 3 different feet in a week. I'd never had that happen before, but I'd also never let him run out of his supplements. I also feed Animal Element, it has made a huge difference in my horse, but I was out for about a month and that's when all this started. Once I pulled the shoes, soaked/packed the hooves, and put him back on AE detox and product X, he heeled extremely fast. My horseshoer also had me start using a product called Rebound Hoof Pack, I love this stuff. I use it daily, you can use it after runs on hard ground, tuff work out, or if your horse pulls a shoe and might have possibly bruised their hoof. It’s easy to use and has great benefits! Here’s some information from their website, “Rebound is a potent, super sticky hoof packing, formulated to draw pain, soreness and inflammation out of the hoof. Stop spending time and money on duck tape, diapers and individual ingredients - our unique formula adheres directly to the hoof, so you'll never have to wrap again! Rebound will get the sting out after a hard gallop, pulled shoes or a long day's work. It's so easy there's no excuse not to pack your horses hooves again!” Also here is their website: http://reboundhoofpack.com Hope this helps. |
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Best of the Badlands
Location: You never know where I will show up...... | txbarrelmom - 2014-09-15 10:09 AM Very interesting! We are dealing with the same thing. Now I'm wondering if it's the feed? A few months ago we switched to Ultium. Someone recently told me it had too much sugar in it.
Going to follow this for sure!
Since selenium builds up in their system over time it is a possibility. Most bagged/pre mixed feeds contain selenium and then a lot of times people are adding supplements to the feeds that contain it. I am not saying for sure that is the problem with this or any other horse. I just know that it was my horse's problem which was confirmed by my veterinarian. It most definitely could be something that is systemic with the horse, as another posted had mentioned and would be worth looking into the feed, forage, and supplements that the horse is getting. |
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boon
Posts: 1
| We had a very similar thing happen to our gelding this spring. We have never had abscess issues but within a couple of month of feeding animal element Detox we had repeated crippling abscesses. We have never fed supplements before have always relied on quality feed but decided to try what others were talking about. But I can help but wonder!! |
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Hungarian Midget Woman
Location: Midwest | SuckerForHorses - 2014-09-15 1:17 PM Sounds like a systemic issue and I would be very concerned about laminitis being a possibility. Until you've done x-rays to rule that out, I would be treating it as such. Blowing multiple abscesses is a symptom/result of laminitis.
agree |
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Expert
Posts: 3300
| Id get my horse to the vet asap.. To make sure there is no founder or laminitis.. |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | Holy crabcakes ! That's a lot of abscesses! Almost makes me thankful my boy just has one. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 383
| I don't know how long you have had her on ae detox but I would double it for about 10 days- the detox is a great supp.- and it will darn sure get rid of the abcesses -sometimes they are there and we don't know it for a while- I have one horse that won't put any weight on an abcess and another who you can't tell at all until the shoer sees it, crazy!!!! any how detox really helpstheir system to push them out |
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 I am Woman hear me Roar
Posts: 3395
Location: Choctaw, Oklahoma | I got rid of a horse this last may that had an abscess every other week. Turned out he was showing symptoms of pssm. Took him off of grain and starches and it got better. I would definitely have labs drawn. Poor girl, I hope he recovers quickly!! Magic cushion is awesome btw! |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 602
Location: Knoxville, TN | Long time ago, my barrel mare got 2 in one front and 1 in the other....we figured out the ferrier trimmed her too short. Kept me out of a few barrel races but luckily we had enough points for the year to win the 4D saddle. |
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