Logan

[teezernbreeze]

when my horse had two abcesses one in each front foot! we drained them and were told to soak twice dailey, put iodine in it to make sure no infections and put a sock on his foot for pretection from dirt! and we let him out found that the more he moved the better he got?? the vet said that as soon as an abcess is releved the horse almost imediately feels better bc the pressure is off??? we still trimmed his feet and all and never effected him in pain in ne way! where is the abcess located? soo i hope this helps
ne body correct me if i'm wrong !! but that's what i did and breeze turned out perfect in the end and was lamefree withen 2 weeks! butt i could be wrong and what i was doing so HOPE THIS HELPS !!
i know the feeling of a horse having an abcess it sucks and is very fustrating hope you feel better

[Becca]

when i leased tory he was full of absesses
i second the soaking. epsomsalts i beleive is what we used.. and making sure it was clean all the time!
tory took INSTANT relieve when his absesses drained.. so maybe theres one hiding or something that isn't? or it's just badley blistard in an awkward spot so to speak..
i never thought of the sock though! that's pretty brillant!

[Ash]

Abcesses suck big time!!! When Lugo has a laminitis bout he abcesses right after almost every time.
If you can't find a soaking boot, make a paste of epsom salts and iodine and pack it on his foot and tape it up with duct tape. The stall rest isn't that great as movement helps the abcess break and relieve the pressure.
I would not stop trimming his feet. Like you said stopping trimming will only lead to bigger problems. If he finds it hard to stand on the foot with the abcess, try placing a thick piece of sponge under his hoof to help suport it and cousion it while he stands on it.
I have had soooo much experence with abcesses cause of Lugo and we have tried it all. We kinda just had to pick and choose what worked best with each abcess so now his abcesses don't last as long or get as bad anymore cause we have learned what works best.
If you want to know/ask and questions I will ry to help you with what we had learned from Lugo, just msg me!

[chantal]

teezernbreeze said:

when my horse had two abcesses one in each front foot! we drained them and were told to soak twice dailey, put iodine in it to make sure no infections and put a sock on his foot for pretection from dirt! and we let him out found that the more he moved the better he got?? the vet said that as soon as an abcess is releved the horse almost imediately feels better bc the pressure is off??? we still trimmed his feet and all and never effected him in pain in ne way! where is the abcess located? soo i hope this helps
ne body correct me if i'm wrong !! but that's what i did and breeze turned out perfect in the end and was lamefree withen 2 weeks! butt i could be wrong and what i was doing so HOPE THIS HELPS !!
i know the feeling of a horse having an abcess it sucks and is very fustrating hope you feel better

everything you're saying is what I thought about absecess, I though walking was good for them and speeded up the drainage. I need to get more information on what the vet said. I ate being away at school, when he's out home : (

[chantal]

The vet is the one who said about the stall rest for a month. So I guess it's a fairly serious one. Could also be because we're full of mud right now, an there's no way around it. I also was under the impression that they didn't take a full month to heal, I mean it's been "holed" and is draining. He's getting shots of penicillan I think? And is getting soaked. Well the best we can until a soaking boot is found. He's horrible for the bucket thing. Mom can't get him to do it, and I can only get 5 mins out of him MAX. Thanks all by the way, support really helps. I've never had a horse abscess and it's pretty scary.

[Jacqueline Pike]

i wish you luck and be safe

[chantal]

thanks al for the kind words. He's all better now, so were waiting on the farrier to call us back and come out. He jumped the ditch, which is about 1 metre deep and wide. He also jumped his fence, which is a good 4 feet. =/ He's strong, and won't stop running. Can you say eventer? hahah. He definetly needs to be worked, and I can't wait to get out of this school and get home and go out with him. only 5 days of classes and 4 exams to go. fkc. a need to put up a arena fence, and fence the back field off so I can properly work him first though. can't wait.

[Ashlyn]

4 foot fence? Not bad !! He sounds like he's gunna be one wicked eventer/jumper/hunter , whatever you decide to do with him.. good luck

[Andrea]

Sorry to hear about the abcess But I'm glad he's feeling better!
I'm not suprised to hear he jumped a 4 foot fence! lol
Don't forget to get some pictures next time you're with him. I'd love to see some pics of the boy! We miss him dearly

[chantal]

Pictures coming soooon!!!!!!! I can't wait to see him, I'm done classes now basically, Sat I have a review class then going home that day, or sun, whenever I can get a ride, then spending the week with him. Big breakthroughs!!! : ) he just makes me so excited, he's bursting with potential. And these last few months of him just being a horse has really seemed to benefit him. I will be starting him with the clicker too. I think he'll take to that well, and it will be a milestone for the boy.

OMG. I'm just so excited to see him!! I just wanna get home!

[chantal]

well. Got all bundled up in snow gear as soon as I got home, ran out to the barn and went to groom the boy. I was absentmindly currying him, when I came to the top of his withers, and he just like jolted back. I forgot about his sensitivity there. He is physically fine but the more I think of it, the more I think he had a very bad fitting saddle in the past when he got broke. Must of really hurt him. Anyway, I talkd him down, and in 2 mins I could easily rub him all around there, soft as anything, he had his back leg cocked and his head down, so it was nice.

Started him on the clicker. I dunno if he actually got it though. I did 2/3 short sessions, with grooming breaks and stuff in the middle. Like I think he kind of started to get that touching the target meant treat but I dunno about the clicker. I had it timed right and stuff. Am I giving the treat too fast? Is my clicker defected? I don't think so, it ain't spose to be super loud right?

Going to go back out after my dinner, work with him some more. And possibly make a third trip later the night.

Frig though. He's lost weight. It's a real battle. And we just ran out of beet pulp, and BOSS there is no way were making it into town again until friday. Like we couldnt make it to the store , just because of the weather, and had to drive back to whitbourne in these horridness. Jeez scary, lots of off road cars. So right now until 1 week he's only on high fat high fibre [which I don't even want him to be on but he nees something] and as much hay as he will eat. He keeps jumping u and down weight wise, and I'm not liking it. He was so nice and fat, then skinny, then good, then too skinny, then a realy nice fat, and now he's back to he needs weight. [TBs =/]

I'm going to get him a winter blanket asap. Hopefully it'll help.

May take pictures if I do a nice grooming job.

[jessicab]

Did you spend any time "clicker orienting" him?

I would spend the first few sessions just standing there and clicking, then treating, click, then treat. Just so that he learns; click = treat.

Heather Logan then always teaches them to do a head turn, not for any real reason, just to show her that they are understanding that they have to try to figure out what makes their trainer "click". Basically she'll just stand there in front of them and wait and when they turn their head to one side (the left, for example), she c/t. And again, just wait around, when they happen to turn their head to the left, c/t. Eventually the horse SHOULD learn to turn their head to the left to get a c/t. It is at that point that you know they have caught on to the clicker and you can start working on other things.

I've noticed some people when they use their clicker, they push down on the clicker part and they hold it down; it kind of dampens the "click". You really should push it down and spring your finger off, it makes the click louder.

When the horse is learning about the clicker, they should get the treat as quickly as possible. Once they understand that click means treat you can use it in situations where you aren't able to get the treat to them immediately (undersaddle, at liberty etc).

As far as his weight goes, does he get free-choice hay? If he doesn't, he should. Hay is often the best thing to put weight on a horse, and it will keep him WARM; thus he will burn less cals. Beet pulp and BOSS are great, don't get me wrong, but I think they should be fed in conjunction with free-choice hay.

Pictures!!!

[chantal]

He gets as much hay as he wants. Not free choice persay, cause he's in the stall and it would go to waste, but anytime we're around [which is always] if he doesn't have any we'll toss a few flakes in, and then a bunch at night, where he has some left the next morning. So he's getting as much as he wants to eat.

Ok. Yeah I was spending a while just click and treat, but I wasn't sure if that was right or not. A lot of the sites I was reading for horse's were meaning touching a target as the into thing. But I remember when reading about it with dogs, it was basically click and treat at first. I like the way you said a lot, and then with the head turn thing. It makes a lot of sense.

hum well I'm going up now in a few.!

[happilyeverafter]

Oil in with his grain, plus BOSS, beet pulp and as much hay as he can eat will get the weight on him AND give him a lovely shiney coat

Good luck with the clicker stuff... sounds like he is getting better all the time. He is such a handsome boy!

[chantal]

went out again and just did click and treat. I didn't really test him on it but I got a vibe that he was getting it. The click would pin his ears forward each time.

He is such a doll. He held his head down for me for the bridle, and about for 10 minutes while I fixed his stuff, combed his forlock and put it up. His manners are well improving. Like he has a bad feet experience since he had trush, and the vet and him, well let's just say they didn't get along too well.... or Logan didn't.... Anyway first time foot up, down in 2 seconds. I "talk" to him, pick up again and wow. easy up easy stay, could of stayed like that a nice while.

: ) to him

2 pics posted in the picture section.