Stone bruised Horse

[TWOROPES]

I bought a little foundation ranch gelding out of East Texas, hauled him 200 miles home, let him rest two days and then gave him two days light riden to get used to him. Horse went slightly lame on the front right on third morning. I figured he was soft footed coming out of sand onto rocks so I let him sit, that was three weeks ago. Vet comes out, x-rays horse, says there is nothing wrong with him, he must have a bruised sole. I want to shoe horse and see if that fixes it, vet says not to, a nail could carry bacteria into bruise and cause an abcess. I havent seen a bruised horse stay lame that long and think he is just tenderfooted as all hell. Any comments.

[Northern Rancher]

don't they have a lace on boot you can try.

[PPRM]

I'm lucky,

My Farrier is better than any vet I have ever seen....

I have a mare with thin soles and to be lame that long, I'd tend to think the abscess has started. On her it is critical to keep the feet cleaned out. I also spray Iodine on the sole (This is regular maintenance, not treating) weekly. Some folks swear by Chlorine, but when I worked in Food Processing, I learned Chlorine won't penetrate below the surface of a dirt area. It only gets the surface. If there's a ball of dirt, it won't penetrate.

They also have rubber boots you can put on.....

In my case, I don't call the vet, I call my Farrier, but like I said, He is top notch,

Good Luck,


PPRM

[Faster horses]

You could try a bentonite soak to draw the abcess out, if you have access to bentonite.

Another super product to toughen feet is Jimmy Rickens. You just paint it on. Would help with the tenderness, but wouldn't do much if an abcess has started.

Did your vet take a digital pulse? That will tell if an abcess is starting. Did you go to a horse vet or to a cow vet? There is a difference.

We had a horse at one time who had a crack in his foot. It cracked clear up through the coronary band. He was shod at the time, but his foot would move in two parts, like a cows foot. We took him to a vet and he prescribed a wide-web shoe to steady his hoof wall. Anyway, he also said his foot was just about to abcess and didn't want us to haul him home, as the movement of the trailer could cause the abcess. So we left him with a friend who lived near the vet. We avoided the abcess and we were able to bring him home in a few days. He eventually was just fine. That's all we had to do was shoe him with the wide-web shoe.

[koj]

Have a farrier pear the sole down (where the pain is). The abcess should be right there. It will pop and drain. Soak in epsom salt for 45 min, let dry, apply iodine, and wrap hoof with duct tape. Do this every day for at least 1 week, but be sure that it is always clean and dry. After the cut in the sole heals up get some shoes on him and he should be right as rain.