Monday 22 April 2013

Rachael’s Corner: Hoof Abscesses

One of our Tictac team, Lauren, recently had the unfortunate experience of her pony Goldie developing a hoof abscess. Poor Goldie was in a lot of pain, and for a few days we were all very worried that she may have seriously damaged a major tendon in her leg as her pain was dramatically worsening day by day. It can be a very situation to be in so we thought we would use Goldie’s abscess to help all of you understand the symptoms that your horse would show if they have a hoof abscess and also some treatments that a vet would use to treat one.
A hoof abscess is a bacterial infection within the hoof wall. A horse’s hoof cannot expand so unlike if we had an infection anywhere in our body and it would swell, the pressure will just build up inside the hoof because it has nowhere to go causing severe pain to the horse L If an abscess is left long enough without treatment, the infection will take the path of least resistance to relieve the pressure. This means that it will leave the hoof at its weakest point which is usually the coronary band.
Signs that your horse may have a hoof abscess may include:
·         Bearing very little or no weight on their leg
·         Heat in the hoof and lower leg
·         Swelling of the leg due to congestion of blood vessels
If you are worried that your horse might have a hoof abscess, you should ring your vet straight away so that your horse will receive prompt treatment; the earlier you treat an abscess the better! When the vet came out to see Goldie, he used hoof testers to test if her hoof was sensitive to pressure at any point. As soon as he squeezed at a spot on her sore hoof she nearly hit the roof! The pain must have been absolutely horrible – poor Goldie! He dug a hole into the sole of her foot to let the puss drain out and for a week afterwards her hoof had to be soaked in salt water every night for ten minutes and then dressed with a poultice to help draw out the rest of the infection and keep it squeaky clean! She was also on antibiotics and pain killers to keep her more comfortable and to kill off any of the remaining bacteria.
If you have any stories or advice for any of our team or our customers, we would love to hear from you

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