Hoof protecting boot

[Aart]

Hell there,

 

My old mare has a now recurring problem inside her front leg hoof (2nd abscess in 3 month time)

With the vet we opened the sole and away went the pain. 
Medication for several days and a new dressing each afternoon before going out into the paddock at night. 

It is rather warm here in Southern France now ;-)

Next morning when she comes in the bandage is still there but the bandaged 'sole' is gone and there is grit in the pit, which is far from ideal.

Question is, as I'm a kind of a leather smith, is there someone around who has made a kind of protecting 'boot' from a sturdy piece of leather.

Sturdy enough to keep in place for some time.

If not I'll have to ask my farrier for help.

Any help or ideas greatly appreciated.

Best

 

Aart.

 

 

[Rahere]

Ask your farrier. He should be cutting a drainage channel so any gunk getting in there will drain. However, you have to be certain you've got it all or it will be back.

You will find rubber covers on the market, rather than start kludging yourself, which may even be illegal. He may even tell you to keep her stabled for the 4-6 days needed for the open wound to come together, with a week more for a full heal.

[Hasbeencowboy]

Back in mu younger days when I was cowboying, I had a horse get a stone bruise that abcessed.  I took a piece of harness leather and cut a piece the size of the hoof and nailed a shoe on over the leather (after packing the foot).  Do the same for the opposite foot.  It worked OK for me and horse healed up pretty quick.  I also tried using vet wrap to hold the leather in place but it cost more for vet wrap then the horse was worth........lol  Maybe one of these home remedies will get you out of the woods

[Aart]

Thank you gentlemen,

Called my farrier for an appointment

Have a good weekend

Best Aart.

 

 

[Klara]

By all means, ask the farrier what he thinks, but my quick and dirty attempt at a solution would be something like the hipposandals used by the Romans, but made from leather. If you have very thick scraps lying around... And I'd bandage first, to eliminate the risk of the leather straps used for tying the soles cutting into the skin.

Making a proper boot - they are available - would probably take too much time, as you need something immediately. 

 

[Sheilajeanne]

Farrier found an abscess developing on my horse's sole when shoeing her. He cleaned it out, packed it and put a piece of leather over the sole of her hoof, held in place by the shoe.

Unless you get one of those fancy hoof coverings, like Easy Boots (TM) there's no way other way of keeping dirt out of the wound while it heals. They aren't cheap, and tend to fall off and get lost much more easily than a horseshoe. So, suggest you get her shod for now. 

[Rahere]

7 hours ago, Klara said:

By all means, ask the farrier what he thinks, but my quick and dirty attempt at a solution would be something like the hipposandals used by the Romans, but made from leather. If you have very thick scraps lying around... And I'd bandage first, to eliminate the risk of the leather straps used for tying the soles cutting into the skin.

Making a proper boot - they are available - would probably take too much time, as you need something immediately. 

 

You can get them over the counter in rubber these days. Don't forget he's in the south of France, valley country, but it can get dry in the summer.

[tsunkasapa]

When our sled dogs cut cuts/etc on their pads, we put a "patch" over it held on with superglue. It stays in place for several days and keeps the wound clean. Superglue was developed for surgical purposes.

[Rahere]

2 hours ago, tsunkasapa said:

When our sled dogs cut cuts/etc on their pads, we put a "patch" over it held on with superglue. It stays in place for several days and keeps the wound clean. Superglue was developed for surgical purposes.

There's a serious difference in size. A hoof's dead keratin nail, but live flesh is putting consuderable weight on it. That can cause what we'd call blisters, but are rather worse. The farrier'll have made a hole an inch across minimum, and deep with it: its not a flesh pad. He may decide to fill it with resin in a couple of weeks time, but right now he'll bekeeping an eye on the heal. He'd likely have wanted to have a look about now anyway.

[jcuk]

I am taking that you are past the stage of hot tubbing and Animalintex and you are just wrapping for protection, what we do here is soak some gamgee in a iodine based solution pack the cut away area with it this will also help harden the foot off, cut another piece of gamgee to fit your horses foot wrap with a comforming bandage and then vet wrap after that wrap the the sole of the foot using some Gaffer tape double up on it if you need to. Yes Vet wrap is expensive stuff but anything for the treatment of horses is, also you will have to change daily for awhile but at least you will be keeping an eye on the problem and flushing the foot clean with salted water (Epsom Salt if you have it) and letting the sole of the foot get some air to it. I have seen Farriers put pads under the shoe on some horses feet in some cases they have been know hide a lot of other problems if your Farrier or Vet are not around to monitor this, here in the UK only a Farrier and a Vet can shoe a horse  and i have been around horses for a long and i am yet to see a Vet do this, yes you can take a shoe off if it is sprung, loose or moved but you cant put it back on it, illegal here. We have a saying no foot no horse.

Hope this helps

JCUK   

Edited July 2, 2021 by jcuk