I rarely had a horse with an abscess up north, but down here in Florida it’s common.

Some horses seem to get them more often than others. With the wet to dry and dry to wet it plays havoc on a horses feet. Up north they would step on something and drive something into their foot and voila! you have an abscess. Here they breathe and you have an abscess.

If your horse has shoes on you stand a better chance of the infection going to the closest, weakest path of resistance – a nail hole. Otherwise you are doomed to wait it out.

Some horses, who were fine the last time you checked them, will all of a sudden look like they broke their leg. They stand there waving it around like a flag at a sports game. They won’t bear wait on it at all. Then there are some that will just kind of almost walk on it. Maybe a little out to the side.

The give away is bute. If you give them bute and it doesn’t touch the pain, it’s most likely an abscess.

Soaking in Epsom salts and warm water is always a good thing. Helps soften the hoof and draw the infection out. BUT if you have a horse who doesn’t want to keep his foot in water, and insists that you should join in the water game, it doesn’t work. Then it becomes a wait and see thing. Sometimes the wait is a few days, and sometimes it’s a month. It just depends on where that abscess is going to travel. Sometimes it down, but if it’s going to travel to the coronary band it’s a slow boat to china.

It breaks your heart to see you horse hobbling around for days on end. Then comes the big day when he/she is almost walking again. Yay!!! You run over and try to find the hole. You can’t miss the smell when it breaks and you usually find a dark fluid draining. Hopefully draining. You want to open it so all the yucky stuff comes out. Wash it out good and I usually pack it with Epsom Salt poultice to help it along. If I can put some poultice on a cotton ball and stuff it in and bandage the area to keep it in, all the better. Ichthammol used to work great, but of course, if it works, they take it off the market. But, looking up the spelling I just found it on line, don’t know if it’s the same strength though, I’ll check it out. The Black Drawing salve they are trying to sell us now is useless, don’t waste your money. I want the good old stuff that smells like creosote. Horrible, but it worked.

If it drains properly and doesn’t close back up allowing the infection to form again, your horse should be fine in a few days.

It’s just one of those horsey things we have to deal with.