How to: SOAK and WRAP your Horse's Hoof Abscess
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 11 ก.ค. 2024
- So you go out to see your horse and they are so lame they look like they have broken a bone! 😲😱 If you can’t find anything to explain the lameness it is most likely an abscess. Abscesses are caused by a trapped infection in the foot. Your horse is lame because of the pressure that the abscess is causing. Always seek advice from a licensed Veterinarian if your horse has a sudden lameness.
To treat an abscess you will need to soak and wrap your horse’s foot.
🗒To soak you will need:
a reinforced bag or a rubber tub for soaking
Epsom salts
Warm water
Iodine or Betadine
20 minutes
🗒To wrap you will need:
Epsom salts or Ichthammol (Drawing Salve) or Poultice
Diaper/ Rolled Cotton
Vet wrap
Duct tape
Gorilla Tape
📌Soaking:
To soak the hoof you will need to clean the hoof and fill you bag or tub up with 2 cups of Epsom salts per gallon of water and add a squirt of your iodine/betadine to mix in the water as well (when in doubt you can always add more of each of these).
⭐️Tip: Don’t fill it all the way up at first. Fill it part of the way, get your horse used to the soaking process for a minute and then finish filling.
Soak for 20 minutes.
You may have to stand with your horse the entire time if they need comforting or keep picking up their hoof out of the tub.
⭐️Tip: Soaking boots are superior to tubs since with a tub they can lift their foot out of the water at any time and must be supervised so they keep their foot in the tub.
📌Wrapping:
You will need vetwrap, a duct tape square, a gorilla tape square, diaper, poultice or Epsom salt or ichthammol, and a towel.
Take your horses hoof out of soaking and dry partially with a towel. Wet down a poultice pad with warm water or cover the bottom of the hoof with Epsom salts (not outlined in the video is ichthammol which you will just spread over the bottom of the hoof- use gloves).
Place a diaper over your preferred method.
Wrap with vet wrap
Cover with duct tape square
Cover with gorilla tape square
If using dry Epsom salts you will need to wet down the entire bandage at the end to wet the Epsom salts.
⭐️Tip: Make your squares ahead of time or during soaking to save time. (Detailed in video)
⭐️Tip: Instead of using dry Epsom salts, you can make a paste of Epsom salts and a small amount of water and cover the hoof in the Epsom salt paste.
Check to make sure your wrap is not too tight by fitting two fingers in between the wrap and the heel bulbs.
Soak for 20 minutes and re-wrap each day for several days and if you do not see improvement contact your veterinarian.
🔔⭐️💥📌
The horse is obviously trustful and comfortable with you.
Your video is excellent. Your demonstration is thorough in every way. Because of you I will be able to do this to my horse with confidence.
Thank you! I am so glad you found it helpful. Thank you for commenting 😊
Great video and explanation!!! Everything we need and nothing we don't. Much better than how I was doing it. Ordering a soaking boot right now.
Glad it was helpful!
I have a Belgian draft horse who gets chronic abscesses and this is the exact process I do. Everything is just so much bigger with dinner plate feet, I have to use pull ups on her 😂❤️.
Wow! I couldn't imagine having that big of feet to work on😯
Thanks for this! I followed each and every step right down to the gorilla glue tape lol.
Fantastic!
Brilliant video very helpful and informative.
Thank you! Glad you found it helpful!
Thank you for your detailed explanation/demonstration! It was helpful!!
You're very welcome! Thank you for taking the time to let me know. I appreciate it!
Thank you so much for making this video! My ottb came up dead lame yesterday, and I quickly discoverd a nasty abscess. Your advice really helped the both of us!
You are so welcome! Thanks for taking the time to comment that it helped you!
I'm a farrier I thought you did a wonderful job
Thank you so much!!
This video was super helpful. Very well done, very thorough, very easy to understand, and follow. I'll be following these exact steps to treat my horse's current hoof abscess. Thank you for this instructive video.
Thank you for commenting! You are so welcome!
Great video
Thank you!
Very good video!
Thank you very much!
Thanks for the advice.
You're welcome!
You're welcome!
Great tutorial thank you
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you.. so helpful
Glad it was helpful!
Very helpful video. My donkeys are prone to abscesses during this wet summer and your tips are very useful. Thanks.
Thank you! I am so glad!
Great video. Watched it and did it perfectly on Phoebe! (the horse)
Wonderful!! So glad to hear it
Great tips thankyou 👍 heading out now to poultice 🤦♂️😂
You are so welcome! Thank you for taking the time to comment and glad you found it helpful.
Thankyou 😊
You're welcome ☺️
Thank you
You're welcome!
Thanks 👍🙏
You're welcome!
My vet ordered penicillin for him also and he said the farrier should find the abcess from the bottom but I am not on board with that,I will keep soaking and wrap hoof like you said.
Good job 👍 my red soaking bag wore out so I used a freezer bag inside to stop it from leaking. I also mix up my ebson salt solution up , then poor it in the bag. But otherwise I follow the same system. 🤗
Thank you! I like the idea of the freezer bag, I'll use that too and it can help keep things clean and last longer. Great idea. Thank you for sharing!
Sometimes I've even used 2 freezer bags , put in my solution and tied with bailing twine . Cheaper and it works 😂😂
Excellent
Well done..
No worries going above coronet band with bootie?
I also then slip on a bell boot to protect
I also have skipped the vet wrap and just used gorilla tape over diaper
Thank you! I take care to not go too tight over coronet band, so the bootie might go up that high but there isn't much pressure up there, Skipping the vet wrap is totally fine too. Thank you for sharing!
👍👍
Great video - had no clue how to wrap my horse's hoof until I watched this! I have a question - can a horse smell the epsom salt? Every time I've tried to soak my horse's hoof, he starts snorting and getting really big. I've had to abandon that part of the treatment because he bolts out of any soaking vessel I use and it's unsafe for both of us. But he even responds this way to the poultice pad.
Hmm that's an odd reaction to th Epsom salts! If you soak without Epsom salt does he bolt? I have had horses that aren't very settled in a soaking boot and I had to get them used to it over time but no reactions to the epsom salt itself.
In the part where you put the Epsom salts then the diaper and wrap with tape then add water, is for soaking only or do you leave this on overnight as well?
Thanks for a great video.
Great question! You can leave the diaper on overnight.
Thanks for video.My pony's abscess tracked through to the coronary band and burst there. I have soaked with Epsom salts but band is still painful after 5 days. Vet said not to bandage but I'm worried as there is still some swelling. Should I apply the Epsom salts and betadine and wrap as you have demonstrated?
You are welcome! Sorry to hear your pony has a painful abscess, even without bandaging the soaking will definitely help continue to draw it out. I hope your pony feels better soon!
Any suggestions to use when snow is on the ground instead of tape? My mare typically only has issues in the fall but unfortunately she has a new abscess & we have snow on the ground. The tape would be too slippery. Thank you.
Great question! Admittedly, I have only lived in warmer places that rarely get snow and if we do its gone very quickly. I might suggest getting some sort of medical boot that has good traction on the bottom for these instances. I hope this helps!
I have a draft cross who is on day 12 of an abscess. It's starting to come out the coronet band but not very much. Soaking every day & wrapping with piece of poultice pad on the coronet band. He also has ringbone which is worsein his left front but the abscess is in right front & it is a real battle to get him to pick up foot to soak or bandage. Also, I noticed that the back of pastern of the horse in video seems very raw & red. I was just wondering if that could be caused by any of the soaking or wrapping you are doing. Thanks for the video.
Thank you so much for your comment and so sorry to hear you are dealing with an abscess in your draft cross. The horse in the video has pink skin with white hair so when it gets wet it looks redder. This horse didn't have any rubs or raw skin from wrapping, but that could absolutely happen if the bandage is too tight across the pastern or is not changed frequently enough.
I noticed you showed drawing salve initially in your supplies but never used it. Would that be added with epsom as a poultice if the abcess hasn't burst and your vet can't quite track to get an opening? Ours seems related bad wall BRuising and is being elusive on the sole
Excellent question! I generally use the drawing salve after I've soaked the hoof in epsom salts instead of using the animalintex poultice pad.
I'll soak the hoof in Epsom salts and betadine then I'll take the hoof out of the soak, dry it off slightly and put a healthy amount of the drawing salve directly onto the sole of the hoof and then place a diaper or some cotton over it and then wrap with the vet wrap and duct tape. (The drawing salve gets everywhere so I highly recommend using gloves).
Hope this answers your question and thank you for taking the time to comment!
Would you say this would be a good treatment for a horse with a cut sole? In addition to the cut the sole is also thin and soft.
Thank you for your comment. I would recommend speaking with your vet and farrier to determine the best treatment for a cut sole.
How long do you keep the wrap on? Change daily? Every couple of days? My farrier nipped too deeply on the sole. I can see a small piece of flesh.
I like to soak and change the wrap every 24 hours. Hope your horse feels better soon!
How long you need to keep doing this😮. The Farrier always makes a hole for the abscess to drain through and this obviously needs to be kept covered until such time as it's grown out. So how long with the (poultice and) bandages, to prevent debris and reinfection through the hole in the sole?
Great question. If the farrier has made a draining tract then just keeping the area clean and covered after its done draining should be sufficient. Soaking in warm water and Epsom salts provides inflammation relief as well as antimicrobial benefits and softens the foot for the abscess to make its own tract if a farrier doesn't do it for you. Ask your farrier how long you will need to keep it covered since it really depends on how deep they had to go. Hope this helps!
I would have thought leaving your horses foot in the water will make it worse
It helps to soften the foot to make the abscess easier to drain 🙂 but you are correct! If a horse's hoof is kept too wet for too long that isn't great for them.
Good video, however, they do NOT recommend SOAKING the Animalintex pad directly into water. It can wash away the medication. You are only supposed to wet the sides of the pad and allow the water to wick into the pad. 😉 otherwise, great video.
Thank you so much! That is great to know and makes a lot of sense.
What boot are you using? I need one!
It's this one! Hoof soaker amzn.to/3SN8lc9
Where do you buy that soaker boot please?
I think tractor supply and Dover Saddlery carry them. Here is a link to purchase on Amazon as well amzn.to/3o1rYQQ. Hope this helps!
How long do you leave this on and do you repeat? Do you see abcess drain so that you know when to stop? Ty
Great question! I change and soak once a day. That way I can make sure my bandage is staying on but not rubbing. The goal is to soften the hoof enough for the abscess to travel out by keeping the hoof moist. As soon as it has a drainage tract the horse will feel better because the pressure is relieved. I like to soak a couple more days beyond that to continue to draw out the abscess. But not more than 5-7 days total because keeping the hoof wet for too long causes other problems. You may see some drainage or the hoof may have an odor from the abscess but your biggest indicator that the abscess is draining is the improvement in your horses soundness. I am not a vet so please consult one if needed. I hope this helps! Thanks for the question!
My horse is draining from the Coronet band should I try to find the abcess from the bottom?
The abscess is going to find its own path of least resistance. If it's come out of the coronet band it most likely will not travel down through the sole. You should still be able to soak it and as long as the soak goes above the coronet band it will still help draw it out from the coronet band. Hope this helps!
My horse's abcess drained for a couple of days and he was doing good, but over night he is limping again, what do think keep soaking?
I recommend reaching out to your vet for advice of what next steps to take. Hope your horse feels better soon!
My horse lives on pasture. Can this bandage survive 24 hrs outdoors?
Great question. It can! Just add more layers of duct tape on the bottom, especially on the toe. Gorilla tape also works well to help it hold up.
Does the abcess need to rupture before hand ?
Great question! It does not, soaking and wrapping will help to draw out the abscess if it hasn't already.
So how often do we have to do this for for how long?
Great question! You can ask your vet and they should give you detailed information for your particular horse's abscess, but in general once a day for 3-5 days is a good starting point.
Hey..
Antibiotic guy...
Bute can be given short term for pain
BUT antibiotics are contraindicated as it disturbs gastrointestinal flora and then you're really in trouble!!!
I agree! Bute is hard on their stomachs and should only be used short term, and antibiotics used only when necessary. Always consult with a licensed Veterinarian before giving any medications. Thanks for commenting!
Did the horse have horse shoes on ?
She did, although we removed the the shoe on the foot we were soaking since she had twisted her shoe and stepped on the clip.
@@TopFlightEquestrian thank you for your answer.
How are you
I am great! Thank you for the support of the channel!
Hy
Hi there! Thank you for the support of the channel.
She is "abscesses" because her heels trimmed out and she is foot bound! Watch a TACT video ....
Or you can call the vet and give your horse immediate pain relief and antibiotics without all this drama . You horse owners seem to think it’s ok to prolong pain in the horse .
This is what the vet does…
Hi Dean! You are exactly right, I always suggest any lameness be seen by a vet to determine it's cause. Jillian is correct that in the case of an abscess this is the treatment plan all vets recommend to draw out the abscess and make the horse feel better as soon as possible. Thanks!
I’m dealing with an abscess now. I did have vet out and this is exactly what the vet said to do. 🙄