Sores on hocks?

Hi Everyone!

My AQH Gelding has sores on his hocks. His stall has a concrete flooring and I thought I had enough shavings in there but obviously not!

Can anyone tell me a good topical to use on his sores?

Also, how many bags of shavings would be good in his 14x12 stall?

Thanks so much!

On a concrete floor you can't have enough bedding. You should have at least two feet of bedding. But that gets expensive. Have you considered flooring? It may cost a few bucks to get it done, but in the long run you'll save a bundle.

Putting down some rubber mats will help. They will pay for themselves in bedding cost saved.

If the sores aren't oozy just leave them alone.

Rubber mats are going to be your savior. At shows with concrete flooring I like to bed in straw, and usually bed up to the knees of the horse, and bank the walls. With rubber mats, I will bed with shavings or straw and usually only have to put enough so there is 1 inch around the entire back 3/4 of the stall (away from the feed and door).

As far as the hock sores, if they are "capping" (filling with fluid), you're going to need to cold hose or ice them for about 20 minutes every day to keep them from permanently capping, which looks ugly and can depreciate the value of the horse. As far as a topical, if there is no open skin and if it isn't oozing I would use a lanolin based product (or just plain lanolin) to keep the skin soft and pliable. If there is fluid coming out, you need to be careful it's not joint fluid, which is going to be very thick and very sticky, in this case you will need to get a vet out (it is very unlikely). If it is just normal clear fluid, that is just the wound flushing itself with white blood cells, don't worry about it. If the fluid gets yellowy then there is an issue. If it is open, I would keep if clean and allow it to heal before applying the lanolin.

Good luck!

Wow, thank you for the responses, Guys!

I felt terrible when I saw the sores on Zip's hocks. Poor guy! He has a concrete floor in his stall but my other AQH doesn't. I'm going today to buy him more shavings temporarily and will get the mat for him as soon as possible.

My boys both have WLD currently and we're having their hooves resected this month - so we definitely need their hooves to be taken care of in an extra special way. The only reason I'm not running out to buy a mat right now is because the vet bills coming up this month.

Love all the good advice. Thanks a million!

Scarlett (A Old/New Horse Owner)

What a wanderful horse..!!