Hoof abcess- any advice needed

[Skye08]

My 20 mnth old filly has an erupted abcess in her near fore right at the back of her frog, (the bit were your hoof pick goes the deepest) and i actually disturbed it when i picked her feet out. I hadnt noticed the smell or anything untill it ruptured. Ive put a hot poultice on it and checked her other feet, she was reluctant to pick up her near hind and started to lash out (shes never really lashed out before), so i checked that and noticed that in the same place it was tender? I didnt poltice it as there was nothing to draw out but could it be something else ? Or is it possible for her to have two abcesses? She was lame but we put it down to her splint..

any help greatlly appreciated thankz x

[coss]

i partly think the lashing out is the fact that when you lift the near hind she has to put more weight on the fore which she won't like. to compensate for the sore near fore she wil be putting more weight on the hind which could be why she is tender. it is unlikely that she has two absesses but i see no reason why it isn't possible. you aren't meant to but i would call your farrier and get him to check. is there heat in the hind hoof? is there a pulse on the heel/coronary band area as these are both signs of an absess. a farrier will find the absess (if there is one) and will dig it out more, vets do tiny holes that don't let the "yuck" out. walking on concrete or roads may rupture any other absesses, did for one of my horses.

[Waikato Valuta]

opps posted in wrong place

[coss]

sounds like a conformation fault to me. with tight hamstrings too then he will find it difficult.
an exercise i use for basically everything is circles and spirals, to do small circles even in walk the horse has to bring the inside hind under to stay in balance so spiral in to as small as you can go without the bum pinging out and hold it for a circle or half if its difficult then leg yield out (another thing that engages the inside hind). do it on both reins and you should find it helps a little. turn about the forehand (not about the haunches in this case) would also bring the inside hind in and under. do lots of transitions too, maybe walk down the 3/4 line, to a turn about the forehand (180degrees), straighten and trot then repeat the exercise

[coss]

opps posted in wrong place

was a bit confused :D

[Iron Maiden]

Back to the abcess then! Yes they can flare up again in the same place after being apparently 'better'. My old cob got an abcess in his off hind last year, it was right under his frog. It drained, I poulticed it & he came sound after a few days. After about a week & a half I turned him back out with his mates as usual. 12 hours later he was hopping lame again, same foot, so I called the vet. She cut quite a big hole & it drained again, she said with abcesses under the frog you need to be really careful because they can affect the pedal bone if you don't sort them properly. I was lucky - my horse was fine after the hole healed up - but it could have been a different story. I'd be tempted to call the vet if you think the abcess might have flared up again, given where it is.

[MelanieD]

If it's at the back of the frog rather than higher up on the heel bulb then those usually go away quite easily once popped. Frog abcesses can often pop without causing anywhere near as much lameness as abcesses in other bits of the foot. It is possible to get them on multiple feet but then there's usually a reason for it. Possibly the central sulcus (the dip in the middle of the frog) is a bit deep or infected (might even be more like a crack than a little dip) and it healing over the top trapping gunk in which then produces an abcess. Cleaning the frogs really well with borax or hibiscrub then packing MSM cream into any holes would be a good way to deal with that. Maybe the grumping about picking up the back foot is because of having to put more weight on the front foot with the abcess when the back foot is off the ground.