My 12-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Sterling Story, suffered four months with what my vet and I thought was a hoof abscess. He was retired from the track as a 6-year-old, and I have ridden him in dressage and as a trail horse since. He is that one-in-a-million people-loving horse that has bonded with me as my true friend. I ride him on the average of five days a week to keep him fit and focused.

It was with great dismay that I noticed lameness in his right rear leg in August 2004. I had come out to ride early and found him in his paddock not wanting to move. When I did coax him in, he was almost hopping on three legs. I called my veterinarian, R. N. Schwyzer, DVM, who came right away. He examined Story and found no fracture, but an increased digital pulse (on the back of the pastern). He used hoof testers to locate a sole abscess, then cleaned the foot and used a hoof knife to look for any area that appeared to be draining, but could not find the suspected pocket of pus. The treatment was Bute and soaking his foot for 20 minutes three times a day in a warm Epsom salt solution. I kept an Easyboot on between soakings to try to keep things as clean as possible. He was better the next day from the Bute, but still too lame to ride. Three days later, my vet returned and found a thin dark line on the sole near the toe and pared out a small pocket of pus. He bandaged the foot with a poultice for three days and expected that I would be able to ride him in three to five days.

About a week later, after we had done some easy walking in the arena under saddle, an area on the coronet band “blew out” and drained. More foot soaking was in order, and I again adjusted his feed to suit his lessened exercise routine.

After each soaking, I applied the prescribed poultice and the Easyboot. About two weeks after the first abscess broke through the coronet, a second one broke in the same foot. For the next few months, Story would intermittently get sore enough for me to call my vet. He would usually find and pare out a small pus pocket, and we would soak some more. We thought each episode would be the last