When I spend three figures on a horse, I know I can still get quality (if I search carefully), but condition will probably be an issue... this was certainly the case for my new horse "Chance." A 5 y.o. TB gelding that had been abandoned at a barn in SC and spent the better part of a year turned out with no routine care, Chance's feet are so bad that he was very lame. He has multiple cracks that go all the way up to his coronet band. I had the farrier do a moderate trim, started him on a hoof supplement, and brushed Hoof Heal on his hooves every day.
For three days after the trim he improved a little each day, then suddenly he was toe-pointing, hopping-to-the feeder lame. Coincidentally or not, the problem was most acute in his left front foot, which is slightly clubbed. Logically, I knew that an abscess was the most likely cause of the sudden, dramatic worsening of his lameness. His legs and joints were clean and cool. Yet I had fear, deep in my heart, that I had purchased a horse with a broken bone in his foot.
I stalled him on dry shavings, soaked his foot in Epsom salt baths, and gave him some Bute to take the edge off his pain. I consulted with my vet and she agreed with taking this conservative approach before jumping to rash conclusions and spending money to X-ray his foot. Chance lay down in the stall, but seemed cheerful and munched hay as he rested.
For two long days I didn't see a change, then suddenly he was putting some weight on the foot again. Looking closely, I could see a trickle of pus from the front of his coronet band. It wasn't a huge amount, but he had turned a corner. I soaked his foot again then poured iodine on the place where the abscess had finally broken through. The next day he was very restless, so I opened the back of the stall and let him out into the paddock. He walked around, grazed a bit, then came back to the dry stall. Chance seems to have a sense of taking care of himself.
Now I'm happy to report that Chance is back out in the pasture and getting sounder every day. I'm using Venice Turpentine on his soles to try to toughen them up, and of course he is getting plenty of Biotin and other good vitamins. So maybe, hopefully, we are on the road to recovery. Yet now I'm discovering something else about my leggy, slighty gawky horse who reminds me of teenage boy who has grown quickly and still doesn't quite know what to do with his long limbs... he is just a little accident prone, judging by the way he scraped his cannon bone on something... *sigh*
