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Permalink Reply by Jan Jollymour on May 20, 2009 at 4:24pm

Hi, Amy:

How old is your horse, what is his/her history, and how is she/he kept? Have you been able to locate and drain the abscesses?

Horses who live in wet turn-out conditions can have problems with abscesses, as can those who are regularly exposed to dry/wet/dry turn-out conditions. Horses who live on hog fuel are definitely predisposed to abscesses, as the tannin in the hog fuel weakens the soles and walls of the hooves. The drier you can keep the living conditions of your horse the better will be the hoof quality, and that will help.

Our horses are managed on a five-week farrier rotation, year round, and we have very few hoof problems. If the hooves are consistently long, or there are break-over problems creating wall separation, you will have recurring abscesses.

My husband's schoolmaster, who'd been a successful racehorse, then long-listed for the Canadian event team, then a winning open jumper, developed recurring sterile abscesses during the last year we had him. He would blow up an abscess (complete with swelling to his knee and acute lameness) within 45 minutes of being observed to be sound and normal. We could never find the pocket to drain it, but soaking and poulticing usually took care of it within a week. Eventually I had his front feet x-rayed, and we discovered to our horror that his coffin bones had deteriorated to the point of being almost invisible on the x-rays. The bone was so friable that little pieces of it were breaking off and causing the abscess symptoms. We euthanized him that week, as the problem would only have worsened and was the episodes were increasing in frequency.

Have you had your horse checked out by a vet? Have they done nerve-blocks? That, x-rays and ultrasound can help a lot with ensuring that what you're dealing with is really abscesses, as what you assume are abscesses may in fact be something quite different.

Given the extreme frequency with which this has been occuring with your horse I would be concerned about a more invasive infection, and be looking at a careful veterinary work-up at this point.

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Permalink Reply by Amy Allan on May 21, 2009 at 6:24pm

Thanx for the reply,
We have had vets out several times but they dont know what is going on.
He does have a problem with wall separation due to his conformation, is what the vets siad.
We have a fariier that speceialises in this sort coming out this arfternoon. Have more info then.
we have considered and xray and will if this farrier doesnt know anything, the grounds where we keep him are quite wet sometimes but he gets the abscess in times where there has been no rain for weeks????

strange
thanx

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