Typical! I plan an exciting weekend for Soap and I and he goes lame 🙁
He has a suspected abscess in his near fore. My farrier investigated for an abscess, corn or a bruise but couldn’t find anything except tenderness on the inside of the foot. We are treating it as an abscess and poulticing to see if that draws anything out, but there is a possibility that he is just a little sore after treading on some flints whilst out hacking. Poor old Soap now has 5 days on box rest before he can (fingers crossed) have a shoe back on. If he is better by Weds then that gives us just 3 days before Bovington BE90! a bit tight but doable.
I’m a poulticing pro now after his last abscess in Jan. He is not prone to them so I think this is just a bit of bad luck. I keep an old chocolate box filled with vet wrap, animalintex, tape, nappies, and scissors for this very situation. Nappies are fab for poulticing, they stop the foot wearing through the vet wrap and they keep the wet poultices nice and moist.My poulticing routine goes like this…. Clean off the hoof. Place warm poultice over suspected area. Put toe of hoof in the bottom of nappy and secure with side stickies. Vet wrap round hoof. Make a criss cross cradle of tape and mould it to the foot. Cut a line down the front of the foot if it is tight across the coronet band. Voila! one perfectly poulticed hoof!Everything is crossed for a quick recovery…