Re: another abscess question

["Barbara H-B" <bahoba@sprint.ca>]

Michelle, years ago while living on the "wet coast" near Vancouver, B.C. my
mare had a major hoof abcess in the same foot 4 years in a row!  One time,
I was cleaning out her foot and my hoof pick went right through the sole
and all this yucky stuff came out.  As luck would have it, the farrier was
coming that day and my vet (who was previously a farrier) was in the area
so I had them both in to do what they could to clean it up.  None of her
abcesses ever 'came out' through the coronet band they just seemed to get
better until this time!  The farrier took off the shoe and pared the sole
down until he drew blood at which time he gave over to the vet.  He pared
even more sole away, right down to the fleshy sole which left a good inch
of wall with nothing else there.

Then he took an xray with a coin taped to the bottom of the fleshy sole so
he could see how far away the coffin bone was from the bottom.  It was a
good 1/2 inch.  She trotted away sound as a dollar and we put an easy boot
on to ride with until the sole hardened, which took about a week.  After
the sole grew down enough to allow a shoe to be put on (about three weeks)
everything was back to normal.  We have since moved to the dry desert of
the Central Okanagan and she has has no problem with abcesses since
although there continues to be "some stuff" in her white line but gives us
no problems.
So don't dispair!

Barbara Holmes-Balmer
Secretary Treasurer, ERABC http://www.img.net/erabc/
Ride Manager, Ride Over the Rainbow
Kelowna, B.C.