Posted by Jay on April 16, 2004 at 06:36:46:
In Reply to: Re: Yearly Abcess in Front Feet posted by Dave Purves CF on April 15, 2004 at 21:22:56:
: : : : : I have an 8 year old running QH gelding that is keep in pasture year round. It first occurred last year during the first week of April (Spring up here in Manitoba, Canada). He came up very lame on his front right side. There was some swelling in the fetlock, but no heat or any indications of trauma to the sole of the foot. About 2 days later, an abcess burst at the cornary band. The lameness cleared up, and about a week after he was fine. About 2 weeks later, he became abruptly lame on his left front. Again, after 2-3 days, and abcess burst at the cornary band. Again, no heat or indications of trauma. At no time were the soles of either front feet overly sensitive to pain. The horse is trimmed regularly and feet are in good shape. There was no change in his feed or the environment he was in. After 2 weeks, he was fine except for the scars of the abcess that had to grow out. Now, almost an exact year (within a few days)after last years abcess, he became abruptly lame on his front right side. Again, and abcess has broken at the cornary band. Same as before, no signs of any trauma. I will wait and see if it happens to the left side. Has anyone every heard of such a thing! The vet has no idea what the problem is and has found no problems with the foot itself. At a loss as to how to stop this from happening. Any suggestions or experiences with this? Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks very much for checking this out.
: : : : Sounds like "gravel"=(similar to quittor)=an infection within the hoof capsule. With gravel it is believed a small piece of sand or gravel enters thru the white line and travels upwards and breaks out at the cornary band as you have described. Quittor involves the lateral cartilidges and is extremely painfull. Either or and it requires antibiotic use. At this time of year what type of new plant growth is the horse exposed to? Plus wetter conditions, softer hooves ect... as well as an old abcess tract.
: : : : Best of luck and explain this condition to your farrier and Vet
: : : : Jay
: : : Jason, does this horse paw quite abit with that one foot? I have a client that has a colt that paws the ground digging all the time, and you know he gets gravels all the time also. Just wondering? Good Luck! Gary
: : : Thanks for the input guys! Time seems to be the best healer. 5 days of stall rest and the horse seems to be fine. The abscess broke out just to the outside of the centerline of the hoof. The exit wound is about 1 1/2 long and just above the coronary band. A small amount of foul smelling, watery puss was expelled and that was it. Could be this was "gravel". Gary, I have seen the horse paw a fair bit, and this winter our hay was not the best, and the horses spent a lot of time pawing through the snow in the pasture. With a piece of gravel migrating up the lamina, would lameness come on very suddenly (1-2 days from nothing to very lame)? Anyway, I am watching to see if it happens in the other foot. Thanks again.
: Jason,
: Yes, an abcess or gravel (to me they are just about one in the same) will come on extrememly sudden one of the best ways to diagnose an abcess is how sudden the horse is basically three legged lame. Not that nothing else can cause the sudden onset of lameness but abcesses are pretty common. Anyway I have to disagree with Jay about the antibiotics. If it is a technical gravel and there is a foreign object in the hoof the pain is essentially caused by the infection that comes with the object. The infection is what finds it's way out of the foot or leg. If you put a horse on antibiotics that has a foreign object in it's foot you will kill the infection but you will not get rid of the object. I had a client call me a week before our appointment to tell me that her horse has been lame on and off for the last seven weeks and the vet said it was a real deep abcess and he wanted me to put shoes with pads on the horse to protect the foot while he healed. The problem was the vet administerd antibiotics and the horse got better a few days later when the antibiotics wore off the horse was dead lame again, and this went on and on until I convinced her to not call the vet the next time he was lame and to soak his feet in epsom salts and give it some time. You can give bute if you want to but abcess and gravels in most cases need to be left to nature. Most abcesses will work their way out in about a week some take longer some only a few days. The trick is to know what caused the abcess. If it's internal only maybe a bruise that turned infectious then antibiotics will do the trick, but if your horse stepped on a nail or did work up a peice of sand or gravel into the foot your best to call your farrier and see if they can dig it out and if they can great they might pop it and your good to go if not they may be able to give it a path to follow back down to the bottom of the foot so it doesn't poke a hole in the hoofwall or worse yet in the hairline. But nature will take care of an abcess or gravel better than anything I know of in most cases.
: good luck
: Dave
Dave,
The suggestion of an antibiotics in case there is a secondary to the primary and in the event it was a combination going on ...I agree with the situation as you posted in the anti b's ...However...if there was a small piece of metal ect or a puncture wound and the farrier had to dig it out ..the anti b's are helpfull after. The horses leg was swelling as well. A bit of iodine and possible tetnus booster may also be due since it is that time of year. there may be more that need to be addressed.
as ever,
Jay