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Two weeks ago my new horse, Orion, came up lame during my lesson and my teacher thought it might be an abscess in his heel. I have been soaking it in epsom salts everyday since then, but it still hasn't ruptured. I had the farrier look at it, but he couldn't find anything wrong and suggested he might be reabsorbing the abscess. Yesterday, I lunged Orion and my trainer thought he looked fine. Today, I lunged him again and he looked fine, but when I hopped on he was off in his same foot. My trainer said I should continue to soak it, walk him when ride, and if he still isn't better in a week we will call the vet. But, I'm really worried this is something much worse than abscess. I have only had Orion for 3 months now and it's frustrating that he is already coming up lame. He passed his pre-purchase physical exam and I bought him with the hopes that he would be in better shape than my lease-horse who had bad arthritis. I'm worried Orion's lameness will be career ending. I'm worried I bought a horse that I won't be able to ride due to him being injured or unwell. Orion is only 11, so it shouldn't be related to age, right? How long does it take a horse to recover from an abscess? Could it be he's faking it? Another horse at my barn used to act lame when people would ride him and the thought crossed my trainers mind that Orion could be doing the same thing. |
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Trivia Team
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The fact that he's been so on/off lame seems very indicative of an abscess. It may be "floating"- it wiggles around a lot and will eventually travel to a soft spot in his foot to pop out. As for time, my two horses had abscesses this year. Cliff popped his the day he came up lame and didn't miss a beat. Pogo popped his the day he came up lame, and then was repeatedly lame for a few weeks on it as it refused to drain. Another mare I take care of suffered from an abscess for nearly a month. It can be very different for every horse. Soaking doesn't always work. You might find more success with packing his foot with either epsom salt poultice, poultice pads, or magic cushion and then wrapping it with vetwrap and duct tape, so that his foot can spend more time being treated and he can move around with it on. I'm sorry he's lame. That's so frustrating. Hoping it's just an abscess and that it pops soon! |
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Like FirstLight said, it sounds a lot like an abscess and it'll probably pop on its own given time. I have a mare who's had several abscesses and they took about 3 weeks to drain and finally heal. Lots of moving around can encourage it to drain, and we took her on a couple trailer rides as that worked on the first abscess (no joke, loaded her to go to the vet after 2 weeks of severe lameness, as soon as we get there she bebops out of the trailer with fluid just pouring out of the foot. the vet was impressed by how much was there >.<) I've got another gelding that literally goes three legged if he gets an abscess. Last time it took him a week to work it out and a few days to recoup. I didn't soak either of them, but I did apply icthammol (a drawing salve) to the mare's foot last time, and it helped. |
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So the vet came out this past Monday and diagnosed Orion with lots of inflammation in his left stifle. The vet thinks he has an old injury in his stifle (how the heck did that not show up on the PPE?) and it became aggravated probably due an outside source (such as an abscess causing him to walk on his toe). Orion has been put on an anti-inflammatory for the next 3 weeks which will hopefully heal everything up. If not, he will have to get a joint injection which will cost $400-$1,000 so I'm praying that the anti-inflammatory works. I'm disappointed that the injury in his stifle didn't show up in the PPE and that we are restricted to walking for the next 3 weeks. We have lost 2 months of training due to his lameness and Orion has only been sound for 1 out of the 3 months I have had him. Clearly, we've had a rough start, but I'm hoping things will get better. The vet and my trainer are optimistic that everything will work out. |
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