Hello..
I'm new to the forum - looking for some advice. At the beginning of August I called the vet out for my thoroughbred. Just out of nowhere his hind fetlock swelled up to about twice it's normal size and he didn't want to put any weight on it at all. Seven x-rays later the vet said it was just an abscess and told me to walk him for 15 minutes, soak his hoof in epsom salts for 15 minutes, put Mag60 on it, and wrap it every day. I also gave him a dose of Banamine every day for a week. He showed huge improvements within a couple days, the swelling went down almost entirely and he was just barely favoring the leg. The thing is, that's about where the progress stopped. I've had my farrier out a couple times and he can't dig deep enough to get to it.

So as of now he shows very little to no lameness (I lunged him for about 15 minutes today and he seemed just fine during and after) but his fetlock and pastern are just a little bit swollen and I've seen no evidence that the abscess has burst. I've never dealt with an abscess before, so I don't know if it's normal that it's taking this long to clear up or if there is anything else I can do. If it's necessary to call the vet back out I will, but if I can do something myself I'd certainly like to try that instead. I'm still recovering from that last bill

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

How long has it been? Some deep absesses can take awhile to work their way out. However, i have never heard of an absess causing swelling in the leg itself. Most of the time, your horse will be lame then hoof test sensitive when he has an absess.