Equine veterinary practice with a focus on lameness diagnostics and therapeutics. Based at Tudor Ranch in Penn Valley, CA
03/12/2025
what would you do if you found this in your horse's foot? We had a recent patient that had been found lying down and unwilling to get up, and this nail was found in the foot.
Once we evaluated the horse, the nail had already been removed so after some searching we found the tract along the frog and inserted a metallic probe (paper clip) into the tract and took an x-ray. Then we instilled a liquid that is opaque to x-rays, which showed a significantly larger extent of the tract. The nail had grazed along the deep flexor tendon, but fortunately didn't enter the coffin joint or navicular bursa. We performed several regional limb antibiotic perfusions (antibiotics in the foot blood vessels while a tourniquet is placed), IV and oral antibiotics, and foot bandaging for a month. His owners showed tremendous dedication, and fortunately the horse is currently sound and has recovered well.
Unfortunately not all horses are so lucky with nails, and these are considered true horse emergencies. One hint is that if you ever find a nail, try to call your vet for advice before pulling it out as an x-ray with the nail in place can provide a lot of information.
