Advice And Tips On Soaking A Horses Foot

Angela Dee Cochran · Post by **Angela Dee Cochran** » 17 years ago

My Mare stepped on a nail yesterday- no idea how or where as we are super carefull about anything like that- anyway I got it out and it bled alot which is good. Been Soaking the foot in epsom salts and betadine solution and wrapping it in diaper and duck tape( a home remedy I heard of) and keeping her in until I can get an easy boot for her to wear.

Getting her to put her foot down into the bucket to soak is killing me though. I cant get her to keep the foot in the bucket, Ive soaked her front foot w/no problems in the past when she had an absess, but now its her hind right. Evertytime I barely get it in the bucket she trys to kick the bucket over and jerks her foot around. I cant get her to just stand in it. I held her foot in the bucket in the air for awhile but Im hurting too much to do that for long periods of time. I also tried getting her to pick up her other hind foot so shed HAVE to put this foot down and I got kicked for my trouble.

An hour and three buckets of mix later Im soaked and hurting( I just had surgery 6 days ago and im still not up to par) and shes shaking from holding her leg up and fighting me. I finally did get her to stand in it for about 10min, so thats good but I dont want to keep up this battling. I have noone to help me right now. One person said just put the solution in a squeese bottle and squeese it out several times over her foot, I may resort to that, but soaking is better.

Oh yeah- did I mention shes a National Show Horse. Yeah, um half Arab half Saddlebred. Um yeah so if you know anything about those breeds their kinda, umm how do I say it, Difficult at times? Strongminded, to say the least- My mare isnt one to give in easily even if giving in is easier or more comfortable than fightin. I know there are alot of other breeds like that as well.

So does anyone know of any tips or tricks that I might be able to use? I have a girl comming out to help me do stalls tonite but normally I dont have help. Im planning on soaking 2x a day for the first 3 days and 1x daily for the rest of the week. So anything to make it easier on me. It took me 2 1/2 hours to soak her foot get all that mess cleaned up clean stalls and water and feed them this morning. normally except the soaking and If Im not rididng I can get all that done in about 45min. Im tired!

Emily Mitchell · Post by **Emily Mitchell** » 17 years ago

Well, you've already used my first idea- hold up another leg... but, I would've used a front leg instead- easier to handle.

Make sure she's not afraid of the bucket. Show it to her and let her sniff it and all. Put it on her back, let it fall off and make a lot of noise until she is used to its rattle (but watch out, depending on how hyper she is she might freak the first few times, lol). And, I would pet her leg a lot with the bucket sitting next to it- let her know it's not hurting her or anything scary like that.

If she still gives you a terrible time, try distracting her. With my horses at least, playing with their ears or lips (not hurting them, just rubbing or something) gets them so concentrated on that that they don't care what else is happening to them. I've once had to pinch my horse's top lip with my fingers to do medical work on her. It works rather well, but don't do it for too long and only as a last resort. If you do have to, I'd suggest one person pinch the lip and someone else lift her leg and get it in the bucket- then let go and pet her- maybe try to get her to lower her head too- that helps them calm down.

Hopefully that might help at least some.

Angela Dee Cochran · Post by **Angela Dee Cochran** » 17 years ago

Nah shes not afraid of the bucket. Shes soaked her feet before(front though) she knows the drill, shes even played with buckets like these. If I put it on her back and let it fall she might shake but then shed look at me like "what was that about idiot?" lol

The lip thing might work. Ive used that before when clipping her ears. Touching her ears is cause for an all out tantrum unless you twitch her. I can rub and scratch around them but holding onto them or clipping and she is a nightmare. lol But I cant do that and do the bucket and If I know her she STILL wont let me put her leg down in the bucket. (sigh)

I will probebly do the squeese bottle thing tonite. I am so tied from this mornings fight I dont know if I could deal with another battle tonite. Well see.

Thanks for trying to help Emily, I appreciate it!

Lauren Haggerty · Post by **Lauren Haggerty** » 17 years ago

You could always get a soaking boot. They sell them at most tack stores or if you have a petsmart with a Stateline Tack in it I know they sell them. Mine are blue and they're just big rubber boots that velcro across the top. It usually takes the horse a time or two to get used to having water in the boot (and to walk in it!) but they're nice cause you can just toss the boot on, fill it with water and toss them back in their stall. I use them all the time.

here's a link to what I use... <a href='http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCl ... egory=true' target='_blank'>http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCl ... ry=true</a>

Angela Dee Cochran · Post by **Angela Dee Cochran** » 17 years ago

cool!!!!

Maybe if I find somewhere close that has one I will run and get one tonite!

Thank you SOOO much Lauren!

Edit

I just called a petsmart State line Tack about 40 mins away that has one!

Gunna go get one!!!

THANK YOU!!!

Ali Weasley · Post by **Ali Weasley** » 17 years ago

I was going to suggest putting a big bucket of something yummy in front of her to keep her mind off being a bucket. But that boot is pretty awesome!

Jolene Danner · Post by **Jolene Danner** » 17 years ago

I've used one of those boots before. The only problem i have is taking them off... LOL usually they fit nicely on and then the off is and issue. You should try animal lintex. It's basically like Epsom salts, except it doesn't harden the foot. And if you don't allow a puncture to heal inside to out you can absess later. You can pack it on with the diaper, I add a layer of vet wrap under the duct tape when i do it. My yearling gelding (Morgan / Friesian) punctured his foot in the end of september, he went all the way to his coffin bone. He had to have a hospitol plate put on:

You can't really see it but it's on the right side right under the hoof pick and it's about 1 inch long. LOL i never wanted to see my horses bone. Anyway, i wrapped it 2x/day with the warm Animal Lintex and soaked in Epsom Salts 1x/day for 2 weeks. I packed it with Lintex 2x/day for 4 weeks and packed it with sugardin paste for 1 week. He's now got almost no frog, cause he had some thrush, but he's got no hole either, and eh's not lame or dead. LOL Animal lintex is the best stuff for everything, Absess, punctures, regular wounds.

Also my vet firend says to get a dry cow mastitis treatment, i bought penecillian type, and the applicator is nice and skinny, cause it's meant to go into the teat of the udder, and just squirt it in until you can see it come back out, then it gets all the nooks and crannies in the wound and prevent infection.

I'm guessing that your vet gave you a round of pennecillian and a shot of it, and a tetnus shot? Right?

Susie Rydell · Post by **Susie Rydell** » 17 years ago

Big thumbs up for Animal Lintex from this corner. Used it in conjunction with soaking on, a, uh, certain filly, over the summer for a quarter crack and she did really well.

Jolene Danner · Post by **Jolene Danner** » 17 years ago

isn't that stuff just awesome! i'ts my favorite product out there. 3M bought it from anoth company and they are pretty good with product development, so you know it must be great if they buy out someone else just to have it under thier label.

Alysse Peverell · Post by **Alysse Peverell** » 17 years ago

JoleneD wrote: Also my vet firend says to get a dry cow mastitis treatment, i bought penecillian type, and the applicator is nice and skinny, cause it's meant to go into the teat of the udder, and just squirt it in until you can see it come back out, then it gets all the nooks and crannies in the wound and prevent infection.

I use that stuff on all punctures, very helpful.

Kat Turnbull I · Post by **Kat Turnbull I** » 17 years ago

Oddly enough, my TB stallion put a nail through his hoof last month - still can't figure out where he picked it up, but it was a nice size, maybe 1.5". First thing I did after pulling the nail was to administer a tetanus shot, and he then got 40cc's of Diclurazil for 4 days afterwards in addition to topical treatment. I was lucky in that he actually liked soaking his foot in warm water, however, I had to leave him with my un-horsey parents to care for him when I went back to college, and soaking was out of the question. I ended up packing the hole left by the nail with Icthamol ointment, and his foot with this wondermous <a href='http://www.durvet.com/prods/EPSOM_203/DetailSheet.html' target='_blank'>epsom salt poultice</a> which is also AMAZING for abcesses by the way, and then wrapping with a diaper, vet wrap over that, and then I am a duct tape queen when it comes to bandaging. The "booties" I made would usually last through the week until I could come home on weekends to change them.

Good luck!

Jolene Danner · Post by **Jolene Danner** » 17 years ago

I never uses epsom slats on absesse only Animal lintex, cause the salts tend to harden the foot. Before i discovered AL, i used Epsom salts, and it took 3-10 days to bust that absess out of there. The Al gets it out in 24 hours at the longest. Usually it's out overnight. I love that stuff.

Kat Turnbull I · Post by **Kat Turnbull I** » 17 years ago

I've never used Animal Lintex, but the epsom salt poultice I linked above has broken abcesses for me overnight also. I was very amazed at how quickly it worked.

Lauren Haggerty · Post by **Lauren Haggerty** » 17 years ago

Yeah, glad I could help Angela. I hope it works for you. Jolene is right though, they can be ticky to get off.

S.C. Burns · Post by **S.C. Burns** » 17 years ago

If you buy a boot, you'll still want to watch how long she has it on. You don't want the water inside getting gross, but it is a great solution if you use it for an hour or so.

If you can't get the boot for whetever reason, try soaking her foot while she's feeding. Wait for her to relax, and * that back foot up, and put it in the bucket while she's resting it.

It could be that her foot simply hurts a bit, and she doesn't want you messing with it.