Misplaced Nail

"'Who here has never stuck a horse (driven a nail into sensitive areas when shoeing)?' asked host Ric Redden, DVM, founder of the International Equine Podiatry Center in Versailles, Ky., during the 16th annual Bluegrass Laminitis Symposium. Only a very few out of the 550-plus attendees (mostly farriers) raised their hands, showing that the following problem could happen to anyone."...

• When you suspect a misplaced nail, look for a low nail, not the highest one--that is likely the most carefully driven one in the whole foot.
• If you've misplaced a nail and the foot is bleeding out of the sole, don't set it down--that will pack dirt in the wound.
• Hot-seating a shoe can help kill surface bacteria.
• If you've misplaced a nail, immediately put on antibiotic and don't drive another nail within an inch of the spot (that can push the soft inner tissues to close the wound and seal in bacteria). Recommend not sending the horse to any performance events in the short term
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• A "hot nail" can be a legal responsibility as well as a moral/ethical one.
• Redden recommends packing a hot nail hole with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and Betadine (iodine scrub), then packing the hole with a cotton ball.
• If you see exudate 24-48 hours after you shoe a horse, that's not from your hot nail, but from a problem that was already brewing.

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