Help please abscess wont clear up

Next time you suspect an abcscess, remember it will find its own way out. It may emerge through the sole or, as in this case, the coronet band.

If you want to call the vet to deal with pain, that is fine - mine will give me bute if I ask for it. Do NOT, in any circumstances, let anyone dig a hole in the foot. This lets infection IN. Hence your abscess erupting at the coronet band and there being infection in the foot where the holes were dug.

This is what my equine vet, twenty years ago, Rhys ap Rh. Owen told me to do for anything suspected in the sole:

days 1, 2, 3 soak foot in hot water for ten minutes, apply hot animalintex, wrap in plastic and sacking, keep in stable;
days 4, 5, 6 no soaking, epsom salts and glycerine mixed into a 'cheese' placed over 'injury' and apply dry poultice (I use nappies), wrap in plastic and sacking, keep in stable;
days 7, 8, 9 keep wrapped with sacking and in stable, contact blacksmith and shoe with full pad.

I do the poulticing, when needed, exactly as he said. I wrap with plastic bags and gaffer tape and I restrict access to stable and concreted area, as movement helps the abscess drain, but you don't want to lose the dressing in mud or get dirt in. I don't use shoes.

After ten months of box rest, it took a long time to get Freyr's feet right and he could have got gold medals for Britain in abscessing, but he survived pain free, was sound in a week and no-one ever dug a hole in his foot.

A blue spray (mainly sold for sheep and cattle) always deals with mine, It's called combat by provita - I recommend it every time, purely because I've seen what it does.

Mmm advice seems to difer. Spoke to vet this morning and she said we were doing the right things but would come out and have another look. She managed to remove the poltice last night so have had to give it a good scrub. She is looking very "tucked up" and back of leg is very swollen. Still very reluctant to weight bear and looking very sad! She has access to a small paddock but prefers to stand in the stabel. Not eating much which is quite a worry so am giving her chaff and some mare and youngstock pencils 3 times a day. She and the foal are sharing the feeds.

definately keep in touch with the vet if the improvement isnt noticable in a day or 2.

A friend lost a pony when the burst poulticed abcess in turn infected her leg, lymph system and ultimately she couldn't fight the infection, had some kind of blind panic fits when the emergency vet was treating her late at night and had to be put to sleep, all within a week of first being found lame. I suspect that there was more going on than just the infection but it was enough to trigger the bigger problems.

Something simple can so easily turn bad, Good luck

Different vet came today. She seemed very confident that it was a deep rooted abcess and cut away more hoof. Instructions were to clean and dry dress hoof twice a day (no more poulticing); give bute for 2 days and there should be a noticeable improvement with 24 hours.

24 hours have passed and although she is bearing weight on the abcessed foot she won't move. Her back legs are under her body and it took 3 of us to change the hoof dressing as she was struggling to support herself. I have rung the vet (an emergency one as it is Saturday) and he said there was nothing more he could do for her. Then I rang the stud vet and he said the same except that he would come out and x-ray her on Monday. I am very worried about her condition, she is so sad. Foal keeps coming for some milk from her but I am not sure how much milk she is producing. Why does the veterinary world stop helping horses just because it's the weekend???