The Hoof Print - Ontario Farrier

The Hoof Print
Produced by Greg Birett Farrier Services
The Abscess: What is it and how to do deal with it
For anyone who’s ever had a horse with an abscess, it
can be a worrisome experience as your horse can seem
fine one day and come out of his or her stall lame the
next. Fortunately, once detected, an abscess can often
be treated fairly easily and once treated, your horse’s
pain will typically subside quickly.
What is an abscess?
A hoof abscess is an invasion of bacteria trapped in
between sensitive and insensitive structures of the hoof
that multiply to form a liquid-filled pocket that puts
pressure on the soft tissues. They can cause the horse
to go three-legged-lame or go completely undetected,
depending on the location in the hoof and the amount of
pressure it’s causing. An abscess can be caused by a
puncture, a bruise or laminitis (which leaves an absence
of circulation in an area and resulting necrotic tissue), or
an abscess can start with a particle of foreign material
that has migrated up the white line and become infected.
Gravel is a term for an infection in the white line; a
subsolar abscess is in the sole.
An abscess in the white line will follow the path of least
resistance and therefore may travel up to drain out at
the hairline, or down to exit at the sole. A gravel abscess
occurring at the heel will usually have a much speedier
recovery than when it’s located at the toe because there
is less distance for it to travel (the toe length is longer
than the heel length) and the natural expansion and
contraction of the horse’s foot at the heel allows for the
migration of drainage much more easily.
A subsolar abscess is usually fairly easy to treat and
drain provided there are no foreign particles left in the
foot. Generally the more lame the horse is, the easier the
abscess is to find and excavate. Those ones where the
horse is just “slightly off” can be extremely hard to find,
and if it’s in the white line at the toe you could be waiting
for a very long time.
Treating an abscess
The treatment I usually recommend is Animalintex, which
is a poultice available at most tack shops. It adds lots
of moisture to the hoof which allows the laminae
to open up and the infection to work its way out.
Check the expiry date on your Animalintex, it does
have a shelf life and you don’t want to be wasting
time using a product that won’t work optimally. I
don’t like to suggest soaking the foot in an epsom
salt bath until the abscess has been opened up
because if the foot dries out too much from the salt,
then the laminae tighten up and the pocket can’t
drain.
After poulticing the foot, vet wrap or duct tape will
keep it in place and it should be changed daily. An
easy boot is good protection to ensure the dressing
stays on.
once draining has been established and the patient
is comfortable moving around again, a few days of
a ten minute epsom salt foot bath will help to finish
the job and pull any remaining infection out of the
foot. one or two more days of poultice is a good
idea to prevent it from starting all over again.
I’m sure all vets have their own treatments to
recommend. You should always contact your vet to
ensure tetanus shots are up-to-date and to
confirm that the problem isn’t something more
serious which could cause further injury if not
treated properly. In some cases antibiotics are
administered to prevent the proliferation of bacteria.
While no one is happy to have a problem with their
horse, finding an abscess is often somewhat of a
relief because the prognosis is much more
favourable than many of the alternative problems
that can cause a horse to go lame. With proper
treatment a horse will usually make a full recovery
within a week or two - which is a lot better than
other equine ailments.