# Abscess burst at coronary band



## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

I’m facing my first abscess in the 7 years I’ve had horses and not sure what to do. We’ve had a terrible freeze/thaw cycle here for the past two months, but always with snow and ice on the ground. The horses live outside 24/7, with three sides sheds bedded in pine shavings, but their feet are struggling...very ragged looking frogs and soft heels. 

My chestnut mare has not great feet, fairly flat soles. She is currently barefoot and the very hard ground when things are frozen and icy has given her some sole bruising. Yesterday I noticed a slightly bulging horizontal crack just under the hairline on her left hind foot. She is sensitive about touching it but it is not warm or oozing anything. She is resting the foot a little more than usual but still walking on it. Yet she is obviously uncomfortable. She’d definitely been looking footsore the week before this, because the ground was like concrete as we had warming and then flash freezes. I was hoping that if it was a burst abscess she’d be getting more comfortable, but not sure she is.

Since I haven’t dealt with one of these before, I’ve been doing some reading and actually read an article in The Horse saying NOT to soak it since the foot is already suffering from being too wet. I thought soaking was the go-to response for an abscess so now I don’t know what to do. Do I need the vet out? Farrier? We’re two weeks from our next trim and I imagine I’ll be working with him to get her fit for boots she can wear more or less all the time for the rest of the winter. But what else should I be doing now to help her be more comfortable and make sure this doesn’t become a bigger problem?

Thanks in advance for your help-first time with this is a bit scary!


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

I use a drawing salve on any abscess open to draining so it remains open to drain...
I use Ichthammol, black drawing salve in particular. You can purchase this in any stores horse care section or in the human part of the pharmacy too.

Clean the area, pat it dry...apply a liberal amount of salve, cover with a 4x4 gauze then some cling...then carefully wrap with vet wrap or the equivalent to hold the dressing & medication in place and hopefully keep the area as clean, open to draining as possible.
A few days of this and you should be good to go...


*Do call your farrier*...off-schedule or not, that professional should come to see if he can do anything to alleviate the discomfort your horse has...
He/she is your horses foot doctor!

My farrier comes ASAP and will find and open the weep hole larger for best drainage of the toxins, flush and medicate...
No charge ever has he done to me...and he follows up with a phone call to know if the horse is coping/feeling better...
:runninghorse2:...
_jmo..._


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## QtrBel (May 31, 2012)

Lost my reply. This is the mare that was born abcessed and the hoof sloughed. We deal with abcesses every 3 or 4 years and they come when the rain doesn't let up for significant periods. This year has been the worst by far and we have seen the worst abcess. Over the years (she is a 94 model) it has been determined that the less intensive the care the shorter the heal time. Not to say it is days because it is usually a couple of weeks. Again this is the worst we have seen and this is the treatment plan that was laid out. Initial cleaning with betadine, then rotating betadine and vetricyn, once it looked like it was trying to fill in and not oozing, scarlet oil was recommended every three days. Had it been fly season or muddy it would be covered but for this time it was kept open. When covered it is done with something like a fly boot that is loose and doesn't touch.


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## evilamc (Sep 22, 2011)

Is it possible to try and lock them in for a couple hours each day in the dry bedding? Give their feet a chance to dry up? Then you can apply durasole as well. That will help toughen up their soles to hopefully help with the bruising and it should help their frogs too. Durasole is best when used on dry feet though, so if you can lock them in with some hay, then apply it a few hours later, it soaks in pretty fast. For some immediate relief, if she'll let you use a hair dryer on her hooves....apply durasole, dry with dryer.....apply again.....dry.....apply again....dry. Build up a few layers of it, do that for a few days and that usually helps a TON.

If its going to pop from coronary band, not sure the farrier could do much, but you could try having him out early just to see what he thinks.

Easycare and I think one other company makes nice padded RX hoofboots, meant for all day use in the paddock. You could look into those. I'd personally try durasole first though, much cheaper and no worries of losing a boot in the snow! Easycare has the Easyboot Cloud and Easyboot RX.


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## ChasingDreams (Nov 14, 2017)

My boy just had a pretty nasty abscess. The farrier came and relieved it through the bottom of the hoof, but he was still lame several days later. I *tried* to soak it, but he had opinions about putting his foot in a pan of water. After the commotion of trying to soak it, I realized it had actually burst through his heel and was oozing pus.

At this point, I changed strategies. I used a spray antiseptic and cleaned the heel and sole well, then wrapped in drawing salve using a baby diaper, vet wrap, and covering it all with plenty of duct tape. Cleaned with spray, and re-dressed with salve/wrappings in the mornings before turnout, and left it un-wrapped to air-out when he was in for the night. 

Did this for 4 days until the puss dried-up, then just left it open and cleaned it with spray every few days. Healed-up well in maybe 2-3 weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk


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## csimkunas6 (Apr 18, 2010)

When I lived in WV, Rodeo was constantly getting abscesses the last 6mo I was there....it was constantly wet, or frozen...I ended up finding for him, the less I did the better, the more I kept him stalled, the more he'd favor it, the hotter it would get as well. Soaking honestly didnt seem to help, I usually would pack it and duct tape it and turn him back out, after a few days it would usually come down and all pressure would be realized. I found the more he was out moving, the faster it would work its way out.

I was also told it had to do with something missing in his diet, I ended up adding Farrier's Formula Hoof Supplement, seemed to make quite a bit of difference. His last abscess left a pretty good crack just under his coronary band, so still dealing with that, or more or less waiting for it to grow out. Abscesses are awful! Best of luck!


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

WE don't get prolonged wet ground here in CT but its common in the UK - we found there that stabling at night when the ground was wet and muddy was the best way to prevent abscesses.
I do have several friends that get around it by creating a good sized fenced, dry area around the field shelter using a drainage system and gravel. The horses are shut into there at night but allowed access on to the field during the day
For horses that have to live out -
If the abscess has burst at the coronary band you should wash it thoroughly with an antiseptic, dry the area as well as you can, apply an antibacterial cream and then cover with a layer of Animalintex held in place with vetwrap. Cover the entire hoof to well above the drainage point. We then use a cut out corner of a plastic feed bag to place over that and then wrap the whole lot in duct tape or silage tape (silage tape works much better as its more flexible but needs to be stored in a warm place before using)
You will need to change it every few days but if done properly it will keep the area clean and dry and help draw the abscess at the same time.

If the area has a lot of hair around it I clip that all away.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

We get the occasional abcess here and like you it is usually after the thaw, freeze cycles. Your farrier may or may not be able to locate the bruise that caused the abcess and if it is getting to pop at the coronary band it has already tunneled up through the hoof. We soak as it makes the area softer for the pressure to pop out of. 

As for the wet and ice hoof boots will tend to lock that in so be careful. If you still have snow covered ground let them in the pasture with the most snow so they are out of the puddles in the area they are in the most. What I have found is that the horses cause more of the wet spots by being locked in their sacrifice area and wearing away the snow pack - snow will not make the hoof as wet.

A stall is good but not sure how feasible that is for you.


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## JCnGrace (Apr 28, 2013)

Another fan of using drawing salve for an abscess.


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Thanks everyone for your advice and suggestions. Just hearing such knowledgeable people say this isn’t a “freak out needed” situation helped tremendously!

I had a good conversation with my farrier yesterday morning after sending some pics and video. He felt the way a lot of you did-since it had exited at the coronary band, there wasn’t a lot he was going to do be able to do for her if he came out. If she seems to get worse, he will come next week. He also gave me similar tips for keeping it cleaned out. I bought diapers (that raised an eyebrow of my lovely husband :wink and duct tape but decided not to wrap since traction on the ice is already so challenging and I worried that would make things worse. 

By evening feeding yesterday, she looked more sound moving around; previously she had been stabbing that foot down to the ground and walking really short, but she was walking more normally last night. I messed with all her feet this morning and added more antiseptic to the crack this morning and that had her walking a little less comfortably again. So will keep a close eye on her. There is no heat in any of the feet and her legs are cool and tight. We are supposed to get a lot of snow next week so should make the ground more cushioned again.

Logistics of stalling are challenging but not impossible. I have a barn with 4 10x10 box stalls, but I have to walk the horses about 1/4 mile down a frozen gravel road from their pasture to get there. And the stalls don’t have run outs. They aren’t used to going without turnout, so I am balancing the stress of being kept in with the condition of their feet. I don’t think any would do particularly well be stalled alone so if I bring one in I’m pretty much bringing all three in. Another option might be to put gates across the front of the sheds to create stalls that way. That would probably be less stressful. 

So that’s where things are for now. Farrier said he’s seen so many problems in horses that typically have nice feet this year because of the weather-freezing and thawing with hard jagged ground isn’t good for anyone!

I greatly appreciate all of you who took the time to give me advice!


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

@jaydee-have you heard of or used a product called Red Horse Field Paste from the UK? It is designed for pasture kept horses to help prevent thrush when they are in continuous wet conditions. I got a tub of that and am going to try it to see if it helps with thrush. Just not sure how well it’s gojng to stay on in snow-it’s a thick clay mud texture that you coat the bottom of the hoof with. It has great reviews generally, but I haven’t been able to find any from people in snowy climates.


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## Hondo (Sep 29, 2014)

I'll add this comment on a horse whose toes had been allowed to grow forward way too much that had an abscess burst on one half of the front of his coronary band. The abscess was likely caused by thin soles which in turn were likely caused by long toes.


Anyhow, the horse was never tended to and never trimmed while the damaged at the coronary band grew down and off the tip of the wall.


The half of the foot with the abscess no longer had the mechanical force acting on the toe to keep it stretched and grew down tight to the coffin bone while the other half remained stretched. This resulted in a very deformed foot with an infected crack between the two halves.


He has been in my care for a while now and the foot is getting balanced again but the seedy toe is still being treated and has not yet grown out.


So that's just something else to check out and be watching in case there is any stretching to the toe.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

egrogan said:


> @*jaydee*-have you heard of or used a product called Red Horse Field Paste from the UK? It is designed for pasture kept horses to help prevent thrush when they are in continuous wet conditions. I got a tub of that and am going to try it to see if it helps with thrush. Just not sure how well it’s gojng to stay on in snow-it’s a thick clay mud texture that you coat the bottom of the hoof with. It has great reviews generally, but I haven’t been able to find any from people in snowy climates.


 No I haven't and I reached out to a few friends over there and they hadn't either.
The oil in it would probably 'encourage' it to stay put in wet or snowy conditions provided you put it on when the hoof is dry but I'm not sure what would happen to it when its going below freezing, if there's enough moisture content in the honey and the clay its likely to just break up and not stay on the hoof
I've only had real success with anything topical in prolonged wet conditions when I've completely wrapped the hoof so anything that's put on it stays on it


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## egrogan (Jun 1, 2011)

Thanks @*jaydee* . It arrived in the mail yesterday (via US distributor) and today was well above freezing so I was eager to try it. The horses' hooves were damp from standing in snow all day, and when I tried to spread it on, it immediately went from thick paste to runny liquid, so I don't see how it will stay on. So, I guess like they say, "if it seems to good to be true..." 

I have this tub now so I will continue giving it a go, but I agree with your guess about what will happen when it gets significantly colder. There are no instructions on the tub about storage temps. I'm going to take a shot and email the company and see what they say.


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