Horse care vent and advice please (long)

[Mr.GMan]

OK--my friend brought her older mare over to "babysit" my slightly younger one several months ago. I haven't asked for $$ because my friend(will refer to as DF) and I have our horses visit each other various times throughout our friendship. My friend is a knowledgeable person, well educated, but sometimes when it comes to her horses, she does on an as needed basis, which I can totally respect being I have 3 of my own too(long story).

About 2 weeks ago, DF's girl pulled up dead lame on her back hoof. I was going out of town, DF was looking after barn. DF wrapped, poulticed said hoof/leg and called me on vacation to let me know a huge abscess had worked its way out, so she stopped wrapping it and doing the poultice.

Mare is off and on lame now(it has been one week since it came out) and the abscess extends to the middle of back of hoof/bulb area and about a 1/4 way from the front of the hoof at the top of the coronet band. My DF is going out of town and of course tells me I can give her mare any treatment necessary and leaves all the poulticing, wraps, soaker boot and banamine--mind you she hasn't done anything to it since it worked itself out. I don't mind, except for the fact, *I* think she needs to call the vet to view it as it is pretty huge (about 5" long) and the mare is still showing signs of lameness and her poor leg/fetlock looks painful when she walks. She even asked me what I would do if I were her:confused:. Oh well, I will of course treat her poor foot and give her some banamine, but should I take it upon myself to call the vet? Or just treat it as it probably should have been treated after it abcessed?

Thank you for listening and any advice.

[twofatponies]

What is 5" long? The wound where the abcess came out???? My understanding is to keep soaking for a while after it opens, so it continues to drain, otherwise it can get reinfected. Especially if it opens in front or on an upper surface where gravity will not help drain it.

Around here the vets send the bill to the owner of the horse automatically. So if that is how it works there, call the vet. If the vet will only do it if paid by you at the visit, you have to decide if you will be able to work that out with your friend, or if you are willing to spend the money and maybe not get paid back, and have a problem with the friendship. If it were me, I'd call the vet, pay for it, and if the friend had a problem with paying me back, that would put a big dent in our friendship and I wouldn't babysit her horse anymore. But it would be worth it to ease the suffering of her poor horse.

[JoZ]

My DF is going out of town

Has she left yet?

She even asked me what I would do if I were her:confused:.

And what did you say in reply? I would've said "Well *I* would have the vet out -- should I do that while you are gone and if so will you leave a blank check for the vet?"

but should I take it upon myself to call the vet?

If the horse remains the same as it was when DF left, and you did NOT tell her that you'd be calling the vet if it were your horse, I would not call the vet unless it became worse. I'd do whatever seemed appropriate to relieve the horse's pain and maybe help it drain out some more.

If DF hasn't actually left town yet or is reachable without making her think it's an emergency, I'd have this discussion with her ASAP -- say you just don't feel comfortable watching the horse in such pain and would really prefer to call out the vet. But I'd guard against making it seem like you kept mum and then ran up her bill the second she was out of earshot. ;)

[Mr.GMan]

Yes she left today. When she asked me what I would do if I were in her shoes, I did say I would have called the vet. Yes the wound is 5" long around the coronet band. I probably won't call the vet unless she gets worse, I just hate seeing her limp along :(. I know my friend would have no problem if it did get worse and I called the vet so that won't be an issue. So, in the meantime, I nurse her foot for her. I am glad she is a laid back girl and doesn't give me trouble.