[sabrina]

My old shetland mare is being treated for an abcess in her off fore. This has been going on for a few weeks now. She is on bute. Vet did try to dig it out but no luck and this week my blacksmith had a go. He thinks it must be deep rooted.  Vet did poltice the foot and I am soaking her hoof in a bucket with epson salts. Still no sign of anything. I have put on another poltice this afternoon. She is 23 and never been lame in her life. Anyone any experience of this problem. should I asked vet to x-ray her foot to see if its another problem. I feel its going on far too long but neither vet or blacksmith seem that concerned.

[PhilW]

Hi Sabrina, Our Irish D x TB mare had an abscess near hind and that took 8 weeks to clear up. We soaked in Epsom salts and poulticed twice a day for the 8 weeks. We also had the farrier cut a hole in the hoof and we used peroxide (needs to be strong not the 3% or 6% normally at the chemist, ours was from a hairdresser) and iodine once it started to come out. It eventually came out of the coronet band and bottom of the hoof. Hope this helps.

[sabrina]

Thanks for getting back to me. I  will just keep doing the same then.

[fsmnutter]

Also worth getting the vet to do bloods to check for Cushings, can commonly cause particularly bad or recurrent abscesses.
Hope you get her sorted out

[PhilW]

Yes forgot to mention our horse has cushings.

[Buttermilk]

One of the RDA ponies has spent the whole summer nursing her abcess.  First diagnosed, hole cut and poulticed for a week and she went sound.  Less than 3 weeks later and it was back, farrier cut and drained, poulticed and went sound.  At her last farrier trim there was a dark shadow which he tried to cut out and there was an abcess full of thick gunk.  Syringed out with salt water and he could not detect the bottom of the hole with a nail!  A week of poulticing and now it is cleaned out for sure, the farrier has put shoes on her fronts and packed the hole to keep dirt out.  She was not lame when the farrier started to trim.

[bj_cardiff]

How lame is she? Is she in on box rest or turned out?

An abcess will need time to build up enough pressure to burst out, the longest I've waited is around 3 weeks. If the horse is on box rest and not putting any weight on it it can draw the whole process out.

I would poultice give bute and leave turned out 24/7 and hope it pops. If she's been non weight bearing for some time or its not getting any better or worse, I think x-ray would be a good idea, just to make sure its not an infection somewhere else in the foot

[sabrina]

Sunshine is turned out during the day wearing a boot on the infected foot. I will just keep up with the treatment for now and see how she does. Walking sound with the boot on. More than happy enough to stand for 10mins at a time in a bucket .

[bj_cardiff]

In that case are you sure it's an abscess rather than a bruised sole or frog?  I've never seen a horse with an abscess lame without a boot and sound in it - and that's in 40 years of horsemanship. 

I agree, if its been weeks and the horse is only slightly lame and sound in a boot it really doesn't sound like an abscess to me. My initial thoughts are a bruise, but wouldn't your farrier of seen that? Is your vet a specialist horse vet? It could be so many different things.

[sabrina]

Vet was back again today, this is the 3rd vet and he is as confused as I am. She got down this morning and did not want to  get up. Did not eat. He did all the checks she has had before. Used the pincher things on the hoof no response but he went and picked up the hoof on the other side she struggled to put any weight on the sore hoof. he thought her shoulder on that side was bothering her but not 100 % sure. He gave her a pain killing injection and I have to up her bute from a half to a whole packet in the morning and see how she does . She did eat hay this afternoon when I took her son in to keep her company. I mentioned that I wondered if the hoof could have been punctured at some point and damaged done but he did not seem to think this was the case. Anyway if she does not improve then x-ray will be next.

[bj_cardiff]

Vet was back again today, this is the 3rd vet and he is as confused as I am. She got down this morning and did not want to  get up. Did not eat. He did all the checks she has had before. Used the pincher things on the hoof no response but he went and picked up the hoof on the other side she struggled to put any weight on the sore hoof. he thought her shoulder on that side was bothering her but not 100 % sure. He gave her a pain killing injection and I have to up her bute from a half to a whole packet in the morning and see how she does . She did eat hay this afternoon when I took her son in to keep her company. I mentioned that I wondered if the hoof could have been punctured at some point and damaged done but he did not seem to think this was the case. Anyway if she does not improve then x-ray will be next.

Is your vet an equine specialist? He seems very vauge in his diagnosis and its a bit of a leap from an foot abcess to a shoulder problem? Or have you seen 3 different vets from the same practice?

I hope you manage to get to the bottom of it soon, ill horses really get me down, especially when you don't know what it is and can't help

[Buttermilk]

Has any of the vets tried nerve blocks to identify where the pony is lame?  They usually start at the bottom and work up.

The shoulder muscles will be sore from holding and using the leg differently to normal, which can give the appearance of shoulder lameness when the problem is lower down.

The majority of lameness does come from the foot unless there is an obvious fault elsewhere, such as tendons ect.

[sabrina]

Just an update on Sunshine. She is almost sound again. there has never been any sign of an abcess. I treated her every day for weeks but nothing appeared. I went with my own gut feeling that my vets were wrong and went down the road that she had laminits in one foot. Keeping her in on a shavings bed she started to improve. she has always been on a low sugar diet but at 23 years old there may be other things going on. Maybe cushings etc. Vet is now talking about blood testing her.