Horse Impaled Hoof with Clip!

[CatchMeIfUCan]

My horse has become rather talented at creatively removing his shoes if his toes become a bit too long. This time, he ripped one side of the right front shoe off, causing the clip to impale the underside of his hoof, behind the wall (it did not go all the way in, maybe 1/2 in?). I took the shoe off as soon as I got out to the barn a couple of hours after I got the "your-horse-is-lame" call. The farrier came out early this morning (1 day later) to put the shoe back on, and now horsey is dead lame! He is fine walking in a straight line, but not turning around. It is very obvious at the trot and not as obvious at the canter. Farrier did not put the nail back in where the clip impaled and put the rest of the nails in the same holes as before. I put animalintex in his foot and wrapped it with vetwrap, gave him a gram of bute (morning and night), and put him on turnout per the farrier's orders. Horse is very willing to trot and canter, but is still lame tonight. I haven't had experience with this type of injury, so is there anything else that I should be doing? Should I call the vet out to check it? Farrier said it is quite possible he will pop an abscess from the location, but did not recommend soaking it in epsom salt.

To complicate it even more, horse is for sale and has a showing on Monday. I swear he must know and is torturing me!

Thanks so much!

[Beethoven]

Sounds like your horse is getting an abscess. That happens sometimes when the step on a clip.

[Thomas_1]

Don't let his toes get too long then and get him on a shorter cycle time.

[CatchMeIfUCan]

Definitely working on it. I just moved barns a week and a half ago, and old farrier won't come out to the new barn so I'm in a bit of a transition period with his feet. The past 2 cycles the old farrier kept his toes too long for my liking, so I am quite happy to be switching farriers. He was due to be done tomorrow!

[Highflyer]

Start soaking. And when it's not in hot water, I'd pack the hole with cotton soaked in betadine.

[BaroquePony]

Start soaking. And when it's not in hot water, I'd pack the hole with cotton soaked in betadine.

Agree. Should have been betadine packed ASAP. Soak in Epsom first.

[BumbleBee]

If it has only been one day that is to fast for an abcess. Might be a bad bruise or if horse has thin soles he may have come close enough to bruise the coffin bone. Is the shoe resting on the area he impaled himself on?

If the shoe is on the injured area he likely is reacting to pressure on the bruised area and would be helped but by having the shoe concaved heavily in the area or a rim pad added with the injured part cut out of the rim to relieve the pressure.

[AppJumpr08]

Ditto on the soaking. And I'd be tempted to put a poultice on there to draw out whatever is starting to brew. The shoe isn't covering the hole, is it?

[CatchMeIfUCan]

Yep, the shoe is covering the hole so I can't get a clear view of what's going on in there. I think I will call the farrier out tomorrow to have him take it off entirely. It is currently wrapped with a poultice pad for tonight, so I will go and soak/rewrap/betadine in the morning and see where we are at.

I can't believe I have dealt with tendon injuries, splints, realignment of vertebrae due to halter tag, a huge gaping wound on his hock from a run in with a fence post, various cuts that needed stitches, but never an abscess! He has never looked this lame in his life!

[FineAlready]

To be honest with you, I would have the vet out to check it and make sure that there is not an infection brewing in there and also to rule out any sort of damage to the interior structures of the hoof. I'm a "better safe than sorry" kind of girl.

[Laurierace]

My guess is you will need to pull the shoe so you can treat the hole.

[EqTrainer]

If he stepped on it more towards the toe, I'd be wanting xrays sooner rather than later. All the bony structures are easier to damage in that area. Pretty sure my vet would want a picture - tomorrow..

I had a horse do that once but at the back of the foot.. he was lame for what seemed like forever, did abcess, stayed lame for a while after that. It was a big mess. I hate clips.

[RiverBendPol]

1. Get the shoe off

2. Ask the vet to come out and carve open the hole

3. Soak the foot in HOT water and epsom salts 2-3 times a day. When the foot is not in the water it should be dried with a clean towel, packed with Magna Paste or Ichthamol and wrapped

3a. Wrap it well enough that NO dirt can get inside. I like a 4x4 gauze pad over the hole then vetrap then a slab of cardboard then duct tape. Be sure you go far enough above the hoof that crud can't work its way in from the top of the wrap

4.Continue this process until the hoof is healed and the horse is sound, generally a week-10 days

[2horseowner]

I agree w/ pulling the shoe also. Horse had a really good one near the toe, and the farrier would not put a shoe on. He called the vet because he didn't know if there was an issue w/ the coffin bone either. Love him for caring so much! Xray showed the "gas line" leading to the abscess. Don't be surprised if you have swelling/stocking in the other leg. Mine did due to unbalanced weight because of the pain. It took a good 3 weeks to heal, w/ ALOT of soaking and packing. The dmso/epsom salt poultice mix worked great. Good luck, sorry for your misfortune. Clips straddle that fine line of being needed to being a disaster waiting to happen.

[BumbleBee]

Clips straddle that fine line of being needed to being a disaster waiting to happen.
Amen

[AppJumpr08]

I'm a bit shocked that the farrier just slapped the shoe back on given it covers the wound. I would absolutely have the shoe pulled asap, and as the others said, depending on the location, have the vet out.

Good luck!

[CatchMeIfUCan]

Today was the first day I met this farrier, and he seemed a little rough around the edges, so I am quite hesitant about this guy as well. I am from Illinois and currently living in Madison, WI, and I literally have no idea of good/bad farriers and have no horsey friends in the area. This farrier does the entire 30 horse barn where I'm at (same situation at last barn). It seemed as though he was trying to make the horse sound for his showing, but I want to do it the right way, even if it means turning away a buyer. Health is obviously more important! I guess I'm off to start a thread about farrier recommendations!

I am going to call the vet out tomorrow morning ASAP (they know my horse now :rolleyes: ).

Thanks so much for all your help. I knew something wasn't quite right about what the farrier was telling me to do.

[AppJumpr08]

That sounds frustrating!! I hope you get some good answers in the morning - crossing fingers that he comes sound quickly for you and that no major damage has been done :)

[MunchkinsMom]

Maybe you can ask the vet for recommendations on farriers? Jingles that it all comes out well.

My oldest gelding used to get abcesses every fall. Farrier said it was because his hoof wall would get thinner in the fall, and it was hard to nail the shoe on without hitting soft tissue, causing the abcessing. He said it was due to the hot dry months preceding the fall, and to start using a hoof moisturizer on in the summer, and that did help. At any rate, I became a pro at soaking, packing and wrapping the foot. Get sanitary pads, vet wrap, disposable diapers and duct tape. Slather on the Icthammol, apply the sanitary pad, wrap that on with vet wrap, put on the diaper, and then duct tape on the whole deal. For the duct tape step, I make a big square of it on the leg of my jeans, and then peel it off, and put it on the bottom of the hoof, bringing the tape up around the sides (hope that makes sense). That would hold up for at least a day, or until the next soaking.

[Blinkers On]

I'm a bit shocked that the farrier just slapped the shoe back on given it covers the wound. I would absolutely have the shoe pulled asap, and as the others said, depending on the location, have the vet out.

Good luck!



Hve not read much of this, but YES to this post!!
I would be (and your farrier ought to have been) wary of puttin a shoe on this. IF this were me, I would have soaked, animalintex and 2 g bute. foot down up to keep clean. If the ground is wet, keep indoors...
I agree. Pull the shoe and soak, poultice and keep covered and clean

[whbar158]

You won't like my story but here it is: (nothing serious though just a pain!)

My horse stepped on his clip pretty badly of course on night turn out so no telling how long it was in there. Found in the morning shoe removed right away, also had ankle swelling. Treated both with soaking and hosing, poultice on foot. Did put shoe back on as you could still treat the hole with shoe on, and he doesn't do well without shoes so we though maybe he was still sore, shoe didn't help. So now we are a little over a week pull shoe to wrap and poultice more thinking abscess, ankle swelling completely gone, think it was from him pointing toe. Nothing helps, he moves barn (already planned) lameness is getting better but still off, hole still there. So after a month we have x-rays taken thinking he broke something, vet agrees it could be serious does not think it is soft tissue, x-rays are completely clean vet is very surprised says x-rays look great esp at 17! Basically says she has no idea and horse finally goes sound after the hole grew out 2 months after injury, and hasn't had a problem since. So nothing serious just took forever!

[rcloisonne]

I guess I'm off to start a thread about farrier recommendations!
I'd post this request on horseshoes.com. There are a number of good farriers in the area.

I am going to call the vet out tomorrow morning ASAP (they know my horse now :rolleyes: ).
IMO, any deep puncture wound to the bottom of the hoof should be seen by a vet ASAP. A tetanus booster should also be given if he hasn't had one in six months or more. These types of injuries can have devastating consequences if not cared for properly right from the get go.

I too am aghasted a farrier would just nail a shoe over a puncture wound. Wow.

[CatchMeIfUCan]

I went to the barn this morning with the intent on calling the vet ASAP. But, horse is sound this morning, so I didn't make the call. There is no heat or tenderness in the hoof. I still cleaned it well and wrapped it with the poultice. He had a gram of bute 16 hours previously, so I will go back out later today to make sure he is ok. The clip didn't make it in all the way, so from my assessment, it wasn't a deep puncture.

Thanks so much for all the information, and I feel so much better now that I know exactly what to do in this situation!

[Montanas_Girl]

I hope your horse just bruied his hoof and will be fine now. Definitely keep an eye out for signs of a brewing abcess.

On a side note, this is one of the reasons that I absolutely hate shoes with clips. (The other is that, rather than helping to keep shoes on, all they seem to do is allow the horse to rip even MORE of his hoof off when he loses the shoe.) My last farrier wanted to put toe clips on my horse because "that's what I do for all my clients who jump" but I asked him not to. The horse has sprung exactly three shoes in ten years, and he has never damaged his hoof in the process. I've seen some real disasters with horses who have sprung shoes with clips.

[WNT]

Ditto the Amen to the fine line of need and disaster that are quarter clips.

Definitely recommend pulling the shoe at least for a couple of days so you can really get in and treat the puncture. Hot water, Epsom salt, and betadine are your friends. I'll use the Epsom salt and betadine as a poultice itself, mix enough betadine with the Epsom salt to make a thick paste, glob it over the sole, cover with cotton/diaper/pad, vetwrap to secure, and duct tape to finish off. If he's turned out, put a boot or extra duct tape for protection. I had a heck of a time with my horse pulling his shoes this summer, with a couple of slight clip issues (in the wall, not into the sole) so I too got really good at packing and wrapping. He would even come in in the morning with the wrap still on!

[DMK]

I just make a practice of not putting the shoe back on for 3-4 days after they impale themselves with a clip, assuming the worst is going to happen and pack with animalintex or the mentholated epsom salt stuff (aka "gooood shit") for a couple days. Then if things look OK after 3 days, I have the shoe put back on. But every damn time I've told myself that the clip looked like it was on the good side of the white line or this would be the time it didn't cause damage (generally because the damn fool horse was galloping around the field with said clip in his foot) was the time I treated myself to an abscess that went up the hoof wall instead of down.

[AHorseSomeDay]

The same thing happened to my horse but it happened the day after I bought him. He was turned out and went nuts in the pasture and ended up twisting his shoe and having the clip go into him. He was lame for the day. It took my trainer a half hour to get off the twisted shoe.

I soaked his foot in a mixture of betadine and epsom salt. After that I wrapped his foot in vet wrap and duct tape.

[NorCalDressage]

Would anyone recommend antibiotics for this type of situation? Starting the day it happens?

Or does that not do anything?

[EqTrainer]

Oral antibiotics, for the most part, don't do much for infections inside a hoof capsule. IV antibiotics, such as penicillin and gentocin together, do. Perfusions, where the leg is tornaquited (sp?!!) and antibiotics are injected directly into the vein are even more effective.

But no, your routine SMZ's won't help.