Question 21:  My 12 year old Arabian/thoroughbred mix was treated twice for an abscess toe.  After one week of soaking with Epsom salts, bandaging with duct tape this horse is still lame and is hesitant to walk.  The vet was here twice and each time cut further into the toe area.  What should I be doing to help this heal?  Also, do you think I need x-rays?  Thanks, Paul

Answer:  Soaking in Epson salts is often the treatment of choice.  You may want to also bandage the hoof with icthamol.  This will further draw the infection. It sounds as if you have a really deep abscess.  Horses with abscesses are really feeling intense pain even though it will generally clear up without any further complications.  Keep doing what you are doing, and perhaps get a competent farrier to come and take a look.

Question 22:  I'm on the internet trying to educate myself on founder problems.  I had notice my horse looking a little gimpy for the last couple of weeks.  Last Wednesday he really started limping on his right front foot when I got through riding him.  I took him to my vet the next day who told me he had about a 2 degree rotation in his coffin bone.  He gave him an RVI shot and sent me home with 2 more to give him 5 days apart.  He had my horseshoer put a bar shoe on him with a wedge.  You see this foot grows no heel, he is flat footed and thin soled, I am still not convinced he hasn't just bruised that bad foot.  He also told me to put him on MSM and some stuff called Intergator all of which I have done.  I took him to the vet last Friday so it has now been 5 days.  He is no longer limping nor show any signs of lameness, he is standing square on his two front feet when I look out at him.  I had him on bute for 5 days but took him off it tonight.  Of all the articles I have read I laminitis and founder I am now trying not to panic.  My vet told me as long as we treat him he will be fine so I feel like he thinks it is a mild case of laminitis.  Is there anything else you can tell me that I need to prepare myself for, or do you think I will be one of the lucky ones and this will be the worse of it.  Your comments will surely be appreciated.  This horse is a barrel horse!

Answer:  I am sorry, but from the information you provided I would disagree with the rotation diagnoses.  The type of foot you describe will often have flare on the dorsal surface of the wall which will appear as rotation on an X-ray.  The reason that I disagree is that the problem seems unilateral, as well as it got better with a wedge.  If you wedge a horse that is suffering from laminitis complicated with rotation, you will steepen the angle of the coffin bone and actually make matters worse.  We generally will lower the heels if possible while backing up the toe to maintain the appropriate position of the coffin bone in relation to the pastern.  Another typical problem for foundered horses is that they will grow all heel and no toe.  The reason for this is that the extensor process of the coffin bone is damaging the circulation to the dorsal coronary band.  Good luck, and it does sound as if the problem may be a bruise or something like it.

Question 23:  I was trimming a horse for a man today and the horse's feet haven't been taken care of properly in quite a while. I noticed that her soles had a lot of "strawberries" in them and I assume these bruises came from the gravel caked up in her hooves. But what really caught my attention was that I dug into one that I thought might be an abscess along the white line, and the blood in it was like jello.  There seemed to be a little "tunnel" that ran along the white line also. I tested her for soreness and she didn't show any signs of really being sore. She had a little bit of a seedy toe. Do you think that she might have a little case of founder or maybe whiteline disease? What do think that "tunnel" along the whiteline is?

Answer:   What you are describing is normal, and quite common in neglected feet.  You have simply found a tract that an abscess would follow if there had been an infection instead of simply blood and serum deposited.  This could be compared to the black under your fingernail after it has been hit by a hammer.  All of what you describe in the hoof can be attributed to neglect, and I wouldn't suspect founder or whiteline disease.

Question 24: I have a New Zealand Thoroughbred, when he jumps he jumps to the right, I have had the vet check his leg, he said his near fore has a twisted cannon bone and should have the inside of hoof cut down to fix this, when you hold his foot looking down at the level of his feet and you hold the elbow and knee in line you can see his foot is not quite straight..the inside of his cannon bone was very sore.. I had the farrier check the leg and he said the horses near fore leg is longer than the other one.  I looked at it and it does look slightly longer, the tops of his knees are not even...????  any idea which would be right and causing him to jump right....

Answer:   There are horses who are conformationally sound, yet do not move or work the way we think they should for reasons unknown to us.  If the inside of the cannon bone is sore, then I would attempt some corrective trimming and shoeing to help alleviate this.  Having any part of his body sore could casue the jumping problem you describe as the horse tries to protect himself from further pain.  As for one leg longer than the other, that can be pretty controversial.  I don't think that this would make him jump to the right, but who can say.  Try to get the farrier and the vet together to work as a team.  This can be tricky, but when it works, the horse will end up the winner.  Good luck.

Question 25: I just got my horse back from a trainer and I think we may have a hoof problem.  My horses normally are just on pasture, not stalled and we haven't had to deal with any hoof problems.  This horses hooves look like they are peeling up rather than the hoof wall growing out.  He's walking around on his frog and sole.  It has been damp here in Wis, but his feet don't smell and the frog seems healthy, just looks strange.  The horse isn't the least bit lame and it is a draft cross and I know their feet sometimes are different than riding horses.  I'm trying to get a farrier out here but if you have any ideas I'd appreciate it thanks.

Answer:   The horses hoof wall is composed of three types of horn, and it can be broken down into layers.  There is the outside layer (stratum exturnum), the middle layer (stratum medium), and the internal layer (stratum internum).  If a wall is peeling up as you describe, it is often a sign of nutritional problems.  Mainly the lack of a trace mineral.  I would start with a supplement like Farriers Formula and regular trimming.  Most horses don't seem to get lame from the described problem, but it is difficult to hold shoes on this type of hoof.  Good luck.

Question 26:  I have a 7 year old Arab that has been struggling with an abcsess since late August.  The abcess started as a result of bit of gravel got under his shoe.

At first we thought he had a shoulder injury after he was out playing in turnout - but after a few days the farrier pulled the shoe and found the small sand pebble.  The abcess was drained at that point(at sole of foot), daily epsom salt baths and iodine - then the shoe went back on after a couple of weeks.  But then had to take it off again within the week. Opened again and after more daily epsom salt baths, iodine - etc - still problems.  Then the vet put him on antibiotics for a week - stronger iodine (16%) solution (with Formadahyde and alcohol) - but after another 2 weeks - still heat in the top of the foot.  Now, today - the abcsess has broken through at the coronary band.

What next?  More antibiotics?  Should I apply Lintex to the coronary band?  The farrier was concerned that the foot was too dry from the iodine solution - I've been told to go to once or twice a week only.

Help!!!  Very frustrating.
 P.Jones

Answer:  Now that the abscess has finally found a good drainage point from the top of the hoof wall, you shoud be on the way to finally fixing the problem.  I personally do not like the use of antibiotics with abscesses, due to a personal expereince that is much as you describe.  The abscess seemed to clear up, then came back with a vengence.  The horse was out of commision for over 6 months.  I think that it is better to either find the abscess and completely remove it, or let it run its' course without the aid of internal medicine.  Topically, I like to use epson salt soaks, and icthamal as a poultice.  I don't know about lintex, and I would be careful about over using the iodine.

Question 27:  I have a 17 year old Quarter Horse gelding that has always suffered from abcesses on his soles.  He has had this condition since he was a yearling.  It appears that he gets a bruise from a stone and then it abcesses.  Would it be beneficial to feed him a hoof building supplement to strenghten the sole of his hooves?  Or do you have any other ideas?  Any help would be appreciated.  Thanks!
Name = Christy

Answer:   what you are describing sounds quite unusual.  You may need a vet to make certain that there is nothing going on internally in the foot that causes these recurring abscesses.  Sometimes a horse can have a piece of rotting tissue in the foot that causes what you are describing, but it will tend to continually worsen.

If it is just thin soles, then I would recommend Farriers' Formula, made by Life Data Labs in Alabama.  You should also have a competent farrier work on the animal.