Monday, January 19, 2009

Abscess Upate #2


This is Danny, the abscess horse. Remember him? He was on the ground for 3 solid days in pain. When he got up and started moving around, an abscess ruptured. One rupture site was at the coronary band, one on each heel bulb and later his sole practically fell out of his hoof.

It was the worst abscess I've ever seen. Why did it happen? I'm not sure. Was his diet to blame? Not sure, 15 other horses were on the same diet and none of the others abscessed at that time that I know of. He's always been a bit of a Chunk!

I had let his feet go past the 6 week deadline for trimming. Often my horses are like the cobbler's children. They don't get tended to when their feet need attention.



He's doing much better, and his main abscess site has nearly made it to the ground. When it get's closer to the ground, the leverage on his toe, will knock the last inch or so out. That's normal because when the abscess was traveling up his hoofwall, it was leaving a trail of dead laminae in it's wake. That means there is no connection of wall to coffin bone below the rupture site.



This is what his little sister is doing to his tail! My niece says she's teething. I believe she's right!



I added this picture of Forrest that I took while I trimming Danny. I just thought it looked kind of cool. It's been so foggy here lately!

1 comment:

Rachel said...

Aww - poor Danny.

Love the picture of Forrest. And good to have your updates! :)