Taking a turn for the worst

My mare had an abscess back in October and when the farrier found it, it was draining out the white line a bit, but she was still lame and seemed to get worse. Well, until it burst out the coronary band too!! Once that happened everything started to heal. So I am wondering if this could be the case here too.

That's what I noticed in all the abscesses I've seen. It seems to heal quick and uneventful when it comes out at the coronary. It ripens fairly quick when it comes out at the heel, I feel the bulbs of the heel and it's usually soft and a bit painful where it eventually will pop. Abscesses in front take longer. The have the longer way to go.

Thanks for all of the answers! The vet came out today and Faith wasn't limping as much as she was yesterday. The vet decided he wanted to give her an antibiotic shot juuuust to make sure that she was going to be okay and the abscess wasn't going to cause infection, etc.

Thanks for the reply! Unfortunately we have turned her out before with her hoof wrapped, she was able to get the vet wrap just to come undone enough to be able to get small rocks and stones in her hoof. When I went to take her to the barn and look at her hoof, her hoof was very muddy and had decent sized rocks in her hoof that she wouldn't have been able to get out on her own. She also wasn't walking well on it.

It also doesn't help that I live in Michigan and the weather has been going back and forth lately.

Thanks!

The natural way for an abscess to resolve itself is to migrate up and break out on the coronary band. They quickly heal and you do not have a big hole to protect on the bottom of the hoof. If there is not a puncture that left debris behind or damaged something inside the hoof capsule or a foreign object, there is just nothing good that comes out of 'digging one out'.

When you dig them out, they take a lot longer to dry up, you have to protect the big hole made and half if the time, they will break out on top anyway.

I have dealt with A LOT of abscesses before! I worked on a University farm with over 400 horses, so it was a fairly common occurrence. What we would do is have one of the workers (went to horse shoeing school) open up the abscess if he was able to. If he couldn't, we would put ichthamol on the spot that tested as sensitive. The hoof was then wrapped with cotton (though I see how a baby diaper would prove much more useful!), vet wrap, and topped off with duct tape. Worked like a charm. And we NEVER stalled a horse with an abscess. MUCH better for them to be out and moving about to help get all of the infection out.

I am glad to hear she isn't limping as badly though :)

I agree with turning them out. When they have an abscess busting through, you can see pus and discharge come out with every step, and this is exactly what it needs. You can hear the crud squishing out, and that movement helps greatly. Of course, epson salts, an ichthammol draw, and/or poultice wrap are all good things do use with an abscess. I wouldn't have a vet or farrier dig on it, or interfere, as that's asking for trouble and can turn into a big mess. It's best to let it run it's course. Also, we don't use antibiotics when a horse turns up with an abscess, as it's best not to suppress the infection. Better to come to a head and then you can help it along with draws, or soaks, or poultice. We have some areas on the ranch that are rocky, so we get about one horse a year turn up with one. I wrap it mostly with ichthammol before, and right after it comes thru. Then when it's come thru, I take off the wrap and turn them out, but soak it 1-2 times a day.