Hoof abcess - How to know for sure?

I have a 2 1/2 year old QH gelding at home right now that is limping pretty bad on his right hind. It seems to me to be his foot that is causing him pain when he puts weight on it. Most of the time he will stand with that leg cocked while he is out in the pasture. I just noticed this on Saturday. I was going to ride him, but while lounging I saw that he was lame (I didn't ride him after seeing that).

My gut reaction is that it's an abcess. There is no heat, swelling or pain from any part of his hip, hock, pastern or any other place on his leg. Sunday I started soaking his foot in warm water and epsom salts and giving him some Bute. He's always in good spirits and very curious about things (as usual!).

What are some signs that you look for to diagnose a hoof absess?
What treatment do you recommend to help speed up the healing process?

Here is a site I found hope it helps. Sounds like you may want to get him on some antibiotics.
http://www.horsefarrier.com.au/hoof_abscess.htm

OK so definitely had to deal with absesses on the tb gelding constantly for a year and a half.

Pick up your horses foot and take a hammer/general solid object and tap. Make sure you tap everywhere on the foot. Not hard just gentle tapping. If its an absess he should pull away or flinch when you tap it. If you 100% un sure, called your blacksmith and he'll be able to tell you.

Your doing the right thing with epsom salt and warm water. Now poultice his entire hoof. You can use the normal kind of poultice or you can use Animalintex. Just put it all over his hoof. Wrap saran wrap over it. Then vet wrap and the duct tape.to make sure the vert wrap doesnt rip.

We have penicllin readily availible and YES get your horse started on that. It does help. My horse got bad enough we had to use another antibiotics that was 3 times as much as penicilin and tons more expensive.

Putting him on bute is a good thing but personally not what I would have done. You want to be able to see where the pain is coming from when you tap and when he walks. But if you feel more comfortable that fine :)

If its an absess, it may take as long as a week or so to emerge. When it does it will smell like a rotten chicken coup and yes its terrible. When you smell that look for an open sore from where the absess came out.

If you have syringes put peroxide and iodine in one and (without the neddle) squirt it into the hole. Once the absess is popped keep soaking his foot. When your done soak quickly wash the foot with diluted peroxide then iodine the bottoms of his feet until he is fully healed.

It worked for my horse and he is absessless since June!!

When my horse had abscess area just above the foot was very warm (we had 15-20 degrees outside that time, and it was VERY obvious something is going on in hoof). Soaking and other medications didn't clear an abscess - she was getting worse. I ended up contacting vet who opened up the hoof on bottom. I think the best is to call vet or farrier than end up with horribly lame horse.

Soaking his foot and giving him bute will help him out alot if it doesnt gt better you may want to have the vet come out and check him

Here's an update:
On Tuesday, I had the farrier out to check on things. She confirmed my thoughts that it was an abcess. She did some work with the hoof knife and the hoof tester. While she didn't find the abcess exactly, she narrowed down the location where she thought it was. It may be too deep right now for her to open it up. Told us to keep soaking (in really hot water) with epsom salts and iodine. I give 1 gram of bute once per day after the soaking. That way if there is pain while I'm poking and prodding at his foot, he'll still show his pain and still feel a little better afterwards. So yesterday he was walking a little better on that foot, actually putting weight on it whereas Tueday he was really walking around on three legs. Poor guy!

Did I tell you....I love my farrier! She made a special trip to my place just to check on this horse and she didn't charge me....and she hopped in her truck and was down the driveway before I could give her any cash! She'll be back in a couple weeks for a regularly scheduled visit and will definitely be getting a very large tip!

And, did I tell you...I love this horse! He's a 2 1/2 year old QH gelding that is just a trooper. This whole week he has been awesome to work with. He was brought into my husband's shop where we heat up the wood stove & watch tv while he stands quietly eating hay with his foot in a bucket....and there's no need to tie him because he stays where we put him! He doesn't care about all the strange noises, the dogs running underneath him, or the dang bucket of water that seems to always get in the way. Too bad he isn't mine! (and he's for sale....hint hint!)

Well glad to hear that he is getting better :)

After soaking the hoof you can get saurkraut, pack the hoof, saran wrap , vet wrap , then duct tape it. The vinegar in the saurkraut pulls the infection to the bottom of the hoof so its easier to treat. I've used it several times, even after the abscess has ruptured through you can clean it with peroxide and iodine then pack it with saurkraut again and wrap it . Till the abscess is completely gone.