Abscess. The kiss of death?

Yep. So Dr. N was out today (didn't know they were coming out... oh well hopefully the BO got a heads up) and took a look at Gus. Turns out he, along with three other horses that were "lame", had abscesses. Sheesh! This is getting ridiculous. Last year was just like this, but earlier on - dealing with lame horses, that is.

So, according to the brief phone call/email from the BO, it turns out the abscess was located in the toe on the LF. Figures as much and perhaps that might make since why Gus was walking so oddly these past few days. Least we have a diagnosis - although I've been down this road many a times, maybe we're finally dealing with an abscess and not *cough cough* coffin bone fracture or *cough cough* laminitis.

My plan for this evening, instead of having a lesson, will be to do an epsom salt soak for Gus's hoof for as long as possible and then rewrap with probably Magic Cushion and then gauze/vet wrap.

I do plan on taking some photos... so we'll see if those come out at all or not.

ETA: Here's the photos from this evening. I was able to soak Gus's left front hoof for about 30 minutes in a heavily concentrated epsom salt soak. I don't think I've ever seen him so relaxed. He was just chilling in the cross-ties enjoying life, from the looks of it.

I opted to wrap him with a little Magic Cushion, followed by some sterile gauze, a small square of a paper bag and then vet wrap. I opted for just putting on the Cavallo boot instead of applying any duct tape. I have a feeling that I'm going to regret that move by tomorrow. Because as it was, the Magic Cushion was already seeping through the vet wrap before I applied the boot. Uggh.

Anyways, the abscess is quite evident in the photos. Very bloody still. So I guess I'll be wrapping until it dries up/over. Again, that's part of the reason why I'm second guessing the MC I applied tonight. I would have probably been better off just applying nothing but gauze and vet wrap. Oh well. Lessons learned.

 Can we say "ouch"? Gus is such a trooper though.

I'll be taking daily photo updates as this thing progresses. I"m hoping that Gus recovers fast, but we'll see. Like everything else, Gus loves nothing more then to present a challenge.