[One is Enough]

The fence is electric, except in the run in area and of course CG got hurt striking though the field fencing at the mare in the next pasture. He's been to the vet and the vet washed it and cut off the flap of skin that was hanging. I shouldn't have watched btw.

Anyway, it was wrapped and vet said remove the wrap after a couple of days and hose with water 10 minutes and apply Matrix, rinse repeat. Well we tried that but, his lovely heart-shaped wound on his pastern kept getting dirty, so we rewrapped it. I'm glad we did because it rained and was muddy out here. Took off the wrap Wednesday, hosed, Matrixed, and left the wrap off.

I get a call today that CG's nose is all bloody from picking at his wound. Agh, leave it alone! So much for the little bits of skin that were forming, sigh. It's wrapped again and I am sick of gory blood-streaming hearts. Be gone Valentine's Day!

I have found that my vet book, while going on and on about different diseases and even conformation, seems to have a lack of information about wound care. This is my first horse injury and I don't want to mess it up. Some advice please.

[Laurierace]

I would keep him in a stall and either apply raplast to the bandage or put a neck cradle on him.

[One is Enough]

There is no stall where I board, only pasture and run in with shelter. I don't think he picks at the bandage, just when the bandage is off. I've threatened to put one of these on him. http://www.marvistavet.com/assets/im...han_collar.gif

[Freebird!]

When my mare hurt her leg - huge skin flap - I kept it wrapped 24/7, changing the wrap daily. It healed with barely a scar, but it was a LOT of work on my part.

I never did keep her in a stall while it healed - I just made sure that the wrap was on well, so it wouldn't slip.

[atr]

Clean it up, apply goop of choice (mine would be panalog) wrap carefully, firmly and thoroughly, (you need some compression to get things to knit together nice and flat) topping off with elasticon, then leave for three days. Remove wrapping, check wound. DO NOT WASH, SCRUB, or otherwise disturb the healing tissue, except for a wipe over to remove any gunge. Reapply goop of choice, re-wrap. Repeat for a couple of weeks. Watch how wound is progressing--obviously, watch for infection or excessive granulation tissue (you shouldn't getthis if you've got the compression thing right and oyu use somethig like panalog.) You may well need to do this for a month or so, but it should heal cleanly and without issue--just don't frack around with it too much as long as it is clean and dry and under a bit of pressure.

One of my horses likes to try and cut his limbs off on the most unlikely things (road signs, sluice gates...), so I've got quite good at this...

[Dreamburger]

Ditto atr's response. That is exactly the procedure given to us from our vet. I've got a mare who managed to take off a huge flap of skin across her front fetlock. We use Novalsan ointment on gauze pads and daily bandage changes. Also restricted movement to a small dry lot area. No harsh scrubbing of the wound; just a rinse with antiseptic solution. It's going on 4 weeks now, but we're clearly making progress.

[Nancy!]

Unfortunately lots of experience with this type of wound. We are too far from a decent vet so we do the work ourselves. Once it is clean, we put Corona ointment on a diaper or an "depends" (adult diaper). Wrap with vet wrap and then put on a no bow quilt and a standing wrap. Daily we rebandage and wipe clean, reapply new diaper with ointment and rewrap with quilt and standing wrap. We continue to wrap until the leg is totally healed. Yes, it can take months but they end up with very little scar.

If they have a tendency to pick at it, we then use electrical tape over the standing bandage.

We had one guy really do a number on his leg. He decided to scratch his butt and the post gave away and he stuck his leg through the fence. So, this winter, his little brother slipped on the snow and stuck his leg (same leg as his big brother) through the panel and took a chunk of hide with it. Now little brother is on the same diaper and wrap routine that his older brother had been on. They now really look like twins.

Good luck,
Nancy!

[merrygoround]

My goop of choice is silversulfadiazine ointment. It can be used with out a wrap if slathered on religiously frequently. It is prescription, and used in human burn medicine.

However, in your situation, I would wrap. Should the bandage stay dry, leave it for several days, if wet, muddy, change it. In the fetlock and pastern area you can use mininal padding. but you do want compression.

As stated before, leave it alone. Minimal cleaning, just reslather the ointment, rewrap, and wish for drier weather.

Too many years experience with this stuff in too many legs.

[One is Enough]

I've been paranoid that not following the vet instructions would be bad for the wound. I can keep it wrapped, gooped, and daily changes, no problem. Not watering it will feel weird though. Thanks everyone.

[thatmoody]

What we did for our horse who cut his hock so bad he had to have joint perfusion was furazone, granulex, and wrapping. 4 months later he's back to jumping with a big scar, but totally sound. The granulex took care of any remaining proud flesh, and the wrapping helped with the healing/picking at/proud flesh formation.

Oh, and he was on stall rest (because it was a joint and she wanted to reduce movement of the joint capsule so it would heal over) with straw rather than shavings to reduce the chance of something working in there under the bandage. We always put the injured ones on straw because our vet feels that it stays cleaner that way, and we've had really good luck with this protocol.

[amdfarm]

I'm a picker, too!! My vet comments on how such a good thing that is. Maybe he's just helping you out so you don't have to get all dirty?

I'm dealing w/ a fillet front of a RH cannon from the bottom of the hock to the fetlock right now on a 2yo. I've left it open and spray it w/ antiseptic twice a day. It's awful to look at, but he doesn't seem to mind and he leaves it alone. (I don't blame him.) He's currently in "snow therapy" and been out 24/7 ever since and is doing great. It's been almost a week and it's about to the start to pick at stage. Whether or not he'll let me do it is up to him though.

Good luck w/ your boy.

[goeslikestink]

The fence is electric, except in the run in area and of course CG got hurt striking though the field fencing at the mare in the next pasture. He's been to the vet and the vet washed it and cut off the flap of skin that was hanging. I shouldn't have watched btw.

Anyway, it was wrapped and vet said remove the wrap after a couple of days and hose with water 10 minutes and apply Matrix, rinse repeat. Well we tried that but, his lovely heart-shaped wound on his pastern kept getting dirty, so we rewrapped it. I'm glad we did because it rained and was muddy out here. Took off the wrap Wednesday, hosed, Matrixed, and left the wrap off.

I get a call today that CG's nose is all bloody from picking at his wound. Agh, leave it alone! So much for the little bits of skin that were forming, sigh. It's wrapped again and I am sick of gory blood-streaming hearts. Be gone Valentine's Day!

I have found that my vet book, while going on and on about different diseases and even conformation, seems to have a lack of information about wound care. This is my first horse injury and I don't want to mess it up. Some advice please.

your horse needs to be in and constant vertinary care and to be more stable so his wounds can heal and you need to do it at leeast three times aday and keep it clean

[atr]

Two things I forgot.

1. If it's a weeping wound, 3M make a really good activated charcoal dressing that draws the goop right through it and does an amazing job of keeping the would clean and dry. (I've used these directly over the wound with a wad gauze sponge on top of them, a couple of wraps of brown gauze to help keep everthing in place, vetwrap, and then elasticon, or at a pinch, duct tape.) You can cut these to size so you aren't using a whole one every time you change the dressing (not what it says on the package, but trust me, I've done it, it works).

2. Clip the hair off the surrounding area--whiskery bits slow healing and hold bacteria.

[EqTrainer]

atr is spot on the only thing I would add is that if you are not familiar w/how to wrap something to have pressure but for it to be safe to leave on for more than a day - please do have someone teach you how. It can be a bit tricky over a joint. You don't want to cut off circulation or create any pressure sores.

My working student learned on one of my horses - he has a white scar across his cannon bone to prove it funny thing tho' - she bought him later, so now its HER horse w/the scar on his leg

[kookicat]

Ditto atr.

Mind, I'm very suprised that your vet didn't leave detailed instructions on how to care for the wound. Mine always does.

Sending a few jingles for him.

[One is Enough]

atr is spot on the only thing I would add is that if you are not familiar w/how to wrap something to have pressure but for it to be safe to leave on for more than a day - please do have someone teach you how. It can be a bit tricky over a joint. You don't want to cut off circulation or create any pressure sores.

My working student learned on one of my horses - he has a white scar across his cannon bone to prove it funny thing tho' - she bought him later, so now its HER horse w/the scar on his leg

My friend wrapped him the first couple of times and then watched me wrap him. She had a worse horse injury than CG's to deal with and lots of practice wrapping. I've been wrapping it on my own just a couple of times. CG always makes it fun by slowly pawing at the air while I try to wrap and instigating many do-overs. Today, I started above the wound and wrapped down past the wound and then up past the wound. I only had to restart once doing it that way.

[One is Enough]

Ditto atr.

Mind, I'm very suprised that your vet didn't leave detailed instructions on how to care for the wound. Mine always does.

Sending a few jingles for him.

I couldn't get ahold of my normal vet and went to more of an all around vet instead of a horse vet. Anyway, his instructions were to take off the wrap in a couple of days and water the wound for 10 minutes twice a day. I even had to ask him to repeat himself, because all I could think about was the vet cutting off the skin and CG bleeding everywhere. I guess being a vet is not in my future.

[One is Enough]

Two things I forgot.

1. If it's a weeping wound, 3M make a really good activated charcoal dressing that draws the goop right through it and does an amazing job of keeping the would clean and dry. (I've used these directly over the wound with a wad gauze sponge on top of them, a couple of wraps of brown gauze to help keep everthing in place, vetwrap, and then elasticon, or at a pinch, duct tape.) You can cut these to size so you aren't using a whole one every time you change the dressing (not what it says on the package, but trust me, I've done it, it works).

2. Clip the hair off the surrounding area--whiskery bits slow healing and hold bacteria.

The wound was a little gunky today. I sprayed with the Matrix cleanser quite liberally, http://www.drsfostersmith.com/produc...m?pcatid=16435 followed by the Matrix gel. I'll look for a charcoal dressing tomorrow. I know I can get some Wonder Dust, if you think that will help.

Anybody use Matrix...

crickets chirping...

[atr]

This is the dressing:

http://www.adamshorsesupply.com/browse.cfm/4,4912.html

I've never used the Matrix.

[One is Enough]

This is the dressing:

http://www.adamshorsesupply.com/browse.cfm/4,4912.html

I've never used the Matrix.

Thanks, we'll see how long it takes to get here.