My darn gelding is lame again

[Rhett&SarahsMom]

Sugar and iodine. Make a paste of it. Put it on the sole and toe and wrap it up with vet wrap and duct tape. If you have diapers use those to wrap around the hoof as well. After you get the foot wrapped up WALK HIM. He wont want to but hand walking him slowly and on "soft" ground will help the healing. All this has to be done daily. The clay poultice really wont do a thing for it. Great for legs. Not so much for hooves.
Another trick is to use those big bandages and smear icthamol on the pad then stick it to and wrap the hoof up. Stuff is nasty, but it never fails.

Does he have heat in the hoof? Tenderness on the sole? Heat in the ankles?

Things to have in the tack box(or cabinet in my case ) Sugar, Iodine, diapers, duct tape
vet wrap, ichthamol, plastic wrap, paper bags, epsom salt, bute

I thought my boy had broken something when he came in from the field on three legs.
He was literally hoping. it was sad and scary. Big chestnut TB dead lame. Took me two months to get him so he didnt hesitate on putting that foot down. Nothing broken. Never blew the abscess. He just graveled out. Hasnt been lame due to a hoof issue since. Knocked himself on a tendon and went off. But he just cant get out of his own way sometimes.


Also, hoof pads can sometimes cause more problems than they fix.

good luck.

 

[Equest94]

I'd pull the shoe, get some hoof testers to check for tenderness, and try some home remedies such as the epson (sp?) salt/warm water soak and the iodine/sugar pack. Keep him on stall rest too. You may want to wrap his legs too to keep him from bowing a tendon or getting too stocked up.

If this does not help at all I would call a vet and get him x-rayed and radiographed.


We had a horse up at our University's barn that came up was 3-legged lame one day. At first we thought the farrier poked him with a nail...we soaked him, etc and nothing help. We took hoof testers to him - no tender spots, no heat or swelling. We tried everything we could (soaking, packing, wrapping) for a week and there was no improvement so we trailered him over to an "expert" and it turns out he has a stress fracture in his coffin bone. He's going to be fine and it should heal up nicely, but he needs to be on complete stall rest for 5 weeks and then slowly conditioned back into work.



I hope your gelding will be ok.

Good luck.

 

[CarriBrown]

I'm waiting for the vet to show up right now. Even if he can't x-ray today, I'm out of bute.
Thanks for the advice everyone... I'll let you know what the vet says.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
Well, you'll have to get x-rays...but it may be a deep bruise of the sole as well and it be a developing abcess....I'd pull his shoes, get x-rays and go from there. You may want to start him on a biotin supplement to toughen his hooves & get shoes with silicone pads put on. Those worked wonders on a mare I have which foundered from a nail she stepped on, last September....they were a little spendy, but now that I have a ridable, sound mare--it was worth every penny!

 

[CarriBrown]

That's what I'm afraid of, equibling. I haven't had him out in two months because I know those bone bruises take forever to heal... But that darned horse is so full of energy. I'm positive he was out bucking yesterday and ouched himself again.

 

[Rare Feathers Farm]

Quote:
LOL Dern it! I am not sure, then...but I'd just get him checked up so you know what to do with him...you might also try a BOA boot or something....

 

[CarriBrown]

Vet just left... We're treating it as an absess and if it doesn't blow out in five days, we'll take it from there.
I'm soaking his foot in a booty with warm water and salt right now, then I have a date with ichthamol!

I just ran up here to change into grungy clothes.
OH. And the next door neighbor said she saw he and my mare playing hard yesterday (read: both back feet in the air, noses in the ground), so I'm sure he did it that way.

 

[Moonwalker]

Did the vet take x-rays? I can think of some things that would it rule out such as fractures and foreign bodies (more rocks) Hopefully it's just a deep bruise and/or an abcess.
For future reference, a good emergency poultice for drawing can be made out of regular oatmeal. I always kept a couple legs from an old wet suit around the barn, but you can also use trash bags and disposable diapers. Whatever you make the poultice out of, just put it on the plastic bag and tape it around the top several inches above the fetlock, then put on a disposalble diaper and wrap in duct tape. The duct tape will keep the horse from shredding the diaper.

 

[CarriBrown]

He'll take x-rays if it doesn't come out within five days. Bo took to his soak and ichthamol really well. Hopefully he doesn't pull the bag and wrap off!

 

[CarriBrown]

Well, the absess is starting to blow... and Bo is starting to realize that the salt water bootie makes his foot feel better and so does the "magical" A&M!

DH is getting a lesson in horse doctoring. He holds Bo and hands me the vet wrap, etc. while I'm down there with his foot. One of the dogs took off with the nasty, used, ichthamol smelling bandaging wrap tonight.