Halloween Hope

Fancy had been limping horribly and we could find nothing wrong. Had started her on bute Sunday and kept in the barn. Vet came out yesterday and it was an abscess which burst while the vet was there. A few more days in the barn and the hoof has to be soaked 2x a day. It was amazing the difference in her walking just a few hours later. Will put boots on her when she goes back out with her buddies. They are in a very rocky pasture.. This is our main Winter pasture and decided I am closing it down for a while. I want to spread old manure over rocky area, every time it rains new rocks are born, put winter rye seed on it and then in the Spring seed it with real grass.

Glad you found the cause.  Abscesses are nasty and the weight can just fall off a horse due to the pain they are in.  

Allowed her some buddy time in the arena as it is all grass and no rocks. I have never seen a horse express happiness the way she did. I wish I would have take a video. Plan is to trim her feet tonday/tomorrow so I can get her boots back on and then let her stay with her buddies. She will now stand with her full weight on that leg while we clean the other hoof., so she can handle a trim.

Glad she is improving.  

Fancy doing good. Got her feet trimmed and got her boots on. She had a little difficulty standing on the bad hoof while I trimmed the good one, had to let her take breaks. Out in the pasture after dinner with the rest of them and then all came in for bedtime. It rained yesterday and is a muddy mess. They will all go out today. Did take her boots off for bedtime. Can't wear boots to bed. :-)

When Skidder came here he had an abscess.  I would put warm water and epsom salts in a rubber bucket and he would gladly put  his foot in the pail and wait until told he could get out.  So nice when they want to willingly participate in treatment.  Now I find that disposable baby diapers can make great bandages for a horse's foot.  didn't know it then.  Of course, duct tape helps keep it secure.

I remember an abscess that took from Thanksgiving to Easter to heal. Horrible things!

Glad to hear Fancy is doing better.  I've had three horses gravel over the past few years.  Seems to be something Hackenys like to do, I guess.  Here's a pic of Condessa's pretty pink boot:

And yes, that's a baby diaper wrapped up in duct tape (to provide the sole for the boot) and Vet wrap.

Thanks for the rain dance, however, nary a drop, sadly.     Looks like maybe next week though.