Foal developing club hoof now potential abscess and thrush?

Question

We have a 4 mo filly that has been battling leg problems since the day she hit the ground. Original problem was over in the knees. Kept confined to restrict exercise to allow tendons to relax. All was looking well until three days ago. First noticed small limp on front L leg. Inspected and found hoof was beginning to roll over like club foot. Immediately called vet and emailed pix. Confirmed she needs surgery and special farrier work. Today she was absolutely crippled. Cleaned out hoof and found repulsive smell, super soft frog, and deep hole between frog and sole. As day has progressed lameness had worsened. Now vet (who is consulting from out of town via email and phone) suspects abscess and thrush may have exacerbated hyperextended hoof problem. Tomorrow going to get drawing salve and poultice to try to draw out infection. Vet wont be back until Monday to see her. ***problem*** filly is not halter or lead broke yet. I can handle feet all day long but cannot tie her to soak feet.

Answer 1

So she is 4 months old and hasn't had her feet trimmed or cleaned ???  With her leg problems, her hooves seemed normal until recently???  Doesn't make sense.   Would never presume to second guess your UF person but all the recent natural hoofcare research would not recommend surgery for a clubbing foot.   Also, question the late development of the club????  Again, with her leg problems, trimming her feet should have been consistent to help her.  And usually, if she is able to walk harmlessly, confining her produces much more damage than allowing natural movement???  Does it make sense to restrict movement in an effort to get tendons to stretch and relax???  Sounds contradictory in and of itself.  As far as needing to tie her to soak her feet - you don't have to.  Especially if you can handle her well, put her in a small area, put your solution in a freezer bag or doubled bag - make it small enough to fit her and tape it or use vet wrap.  As lame as she sounds, it should feel good for  a good warm soak and she shouldn't fuss too much.  Usually, the soak for abcess is epsom salt and warm water as a "drawing solution".  There is a drawing pad (white) that could help pull the abcess out quickly if that is what it is, but I would not put a sole pack on her.  Avoid iodine and all the "traditional" thrush medications as they will kill normal tissue and set her up for more problems.   Good thrush soaks are 50/50 water and apple cider vinegar (not white) for 30 minutes OR 2 oz. of Lysol concentrate in a gallon of water (lysol in small amber bottle with yellow cap - not all those other types of lysol).   These soaks are very beneficial and will not cause harm.  If you want to put something topical on her foot, there are a couple of things that will help but won't harm:  mix equal amounts of neosporin and  clotrimazole (human anti-fungal for athlete's foot).  I use a large plastic tipped syringe after mixing and inject into central cleft and collateral grooves or wherever there's a problem.  Another topical is bovine mastitis medication - you can get it at Tractor Supply.   Sounds like your baby is critical.  So very sorry to hear about her condition.  Too  bad someone can't be there to help her sooner.  I don't think I could wait regardless of "cost".    good luck.  I hope you can get some help for her.  

saw your pics - foot does not look good and definitely clubby - can't see a focal abcess in the pics but can't tell about collaterals - if they are packed with debris or junk???   However, she is in dire need of trimming - this has gone way too long - hoof care is important for all horses but extremely so for development of babies - this foot has really been neglected.  Sad that the state has arisen but  that is not important now.  You need some help with a definitive diagnosis.   The treatments I described to you WILL DO NO HARM but I would caution you against putting traditional feed/tack store commercial chemicals on this baby's foot.

Answer 2

What has your farrier said about her feet? Is their any way that he/she can take a look at the filly? I know exactly what you mean about a foal with a lot of leg problems. My best mare (maiden) gave birth a couple of years ago to a tb (her) shire cross and he was born early with REALLY bad tendons (weak) his legs drug the ground. He had to be stalled, bandaged, etc. He got through that but then got a pressure wound from one of the bandages even though the vet wrapped it and put double cotton it. After that subsided he was finally sound!! Well that lasted long enough for him to get a horrible abscess. The vet dug that out and we wrapped him and soaked him. Do you have a stall you could put the filly in? Is she weaned? Does she eat any grain? You could soak her foot while she was in a stall (clean up the area around her) in case she gets out of the bucket. I would start training her to the lead and I don't think it would hurt to consult your farrier either. Her hooves seem a bit long and choppy but that could just be the photo and the way it looks. She must be pretty good to tolerate pics etc at that age. The good news with the colt I mentioned? After he became about 8 months old his legs started getting all better and now as a 2 year old he is perfectly sound. :-)

Answer 3

thrush is due to the environment and the bacteria having a oxygen deprived environment so in order to add oxygen and create a drainage for urine and liquid you need to find some medium grain sand and a lot of it.about 8" deep in the stall and paddock should take care of the horses environment.as for the horse one thing you could do is(and this may sound strange)get a 2 liter bottle of coke or something that comes in a 2 liter bottle,cut the top off and cut strips in the bottle at the top.use a bandage wrap to wrap the leg,fill the bottle and slip onto the hoof and wrap the top with another bandage to hold it on.if you are really good you can make one that uses surgical tubing,a water fall pump and another bucket to recirculate the fluids.have fun with the craft project but i have done it this way before.

Answer 4

ask your farrier for the "blue foamy stuff"

yes he will know what you are talking about

Answer 5

I had a filly that we had to do check ligiment surgery on.  It wasn't cheap, and it was a pain to wrap it and keep her confined, but at 5 years old she is perfectly sound.  

Your filly DEFINATELY needs that foot trimmed.  For the next year or so, you will need to trim just that one foot about every 2-3 weeks to keep the heel down.  It will be easier on your pocket book if you buy a pair of nippers and a rasp.  Have your farrier show you how to trim it so that you can do the in-between trimmings and he can do the all around one every 6 weeks.

We did my filly at about 6 months of age.  

Good luck.