Abscesses are a common lameness cause. What if your usual fix fails?

Horse that is 3-legged lame
A horse that is three-legged lame can be alarming, but the cause is often a hoof abscess. | Courtesy Photo

When your horse comes up three-legged lame, you’ll be forgiven for having a moment of panic. Chances are, it’s just an abscess. You’ll get it to rupture or drain, and your horse will be sound soon.

A hoof abscess typically consists of a pocket of infection located between the sole and underlying sensitive tissues in the hoof. Clinical signs include lameness (sometimes severe), heat in the affected hoof, and a strong or bounding digital pulse—as felt in the digital arteries at the back of the fetlock.

Why is it so painful? There are nerve endings in those sensitive tissues, of course. And everything is surrounded by a hard hoof wall. When the horse puts weight on the hoof, the infection has nowhere to go, and it hurts

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