[CrimsonInClover]

So today the farrier came and it was a disaster To make a long story short, the heat we have been experiencing in the south disappeared to a cold, wet, rainy day which just fried my 3 year old TB mares brain. At one point she spooked and stepped on her left front with her right front and cut her coronary band pretty bad. We are still unsure of how she did as much damage as she did because her shoes had already been pulled and hadn't been put back on yet. After getting her reshod we cleaned up the wound, which had bled quite a bit, covered it with a clean dressing and secured with vet wrap. My question to all my fellow COTHers is what is your treatment protocol for a coronary band wound? What type of dressing would you keep on it? She wasn't lame when I turned her out for a bit, nor when I brought her back up for the night so I am keeping my fingers crossed she will stay sound. I went ahead and gave her some bute with her PM feed just in case though. Any advice is greatly appreciated!!!

[atr]

It's a wound like any other flesh wound, really. They do bleed quite copiously though and can be quite sore.

Absolute worse case scenario, the CB is damaged enough to cause the hoof to grow out with some deformity permanently--like damaging your nail bed. But it has to be pretty serious for that to happen and is unlikely to result from an unshod hoof.

You may well see some damage grow down through the hoof, like when an abscess pops out the top. This rarely causes an issue in my experience.

(I have one that is a master at stepping on himself, so I see these injuries more than I would like!)

[Freebird!]

I would treat it like any other wound on the legs - keep it wrapped, clean daily and use whatever ointment your vet advises you to. Once the wound is healing over, you can use Prep H to decrease scarring. I don't usually like to Bute unless warranted - swelling, pain, lameness, etc. especially with wounds, since it can tend to slow down the healing process, IMHO.

[ElisLove]

I agree with treating it like any other wound. My older guy nearly took off the bulb of his heal and has a permanent deformity of the hoof, but that was an extremely serious injury.
My young horse is currently growing out a small deformity on his hoof from a small injury to the coronet band, in the next 2 shoeing cycles it will probably gone and it hasn't caused any issues.

[AliCat518]

My gelding lodged his foot under his stall door last night, bruising his coronary band and hoof pretty badly (luckily no blood!) but he is pretty lame. Vet recommended bute as this can be a pretty painful, sore type of injury.

Im curious to see how his foot grows out.

If there is a wound, I would keep it wrapped if possible!

[Auventera Two]

One of my mares freaked out in the stocks at the vet clinic while sedated. She started kicking and panicking violently and within seconds the clinic looked like a CSI murder scene. Turned out it was a flap of coronary band maybe 1/2" wide that had been sliced and peeled up. The vets cleaned and bandaged it, and I just kept it cleaned and coated with various types of wound sprays and salves and it healed up fine. It was on a black hoof, and a white stripe grew down the hoof, but it eventually grew back out to black again.

[CrimsonInClover]

It looked so much worse initially than it has turned out to be thank goodness! She was completely sound today which makes me very happy! I'm gonna keep it wrapped for the next couple days just to keep it clean but I think it is going to be just fine . Thanks for the tips!

[authentic pony]

Bumping this back up. How long was recovery/how long until you had a sound horse and when were you back in the saddle? If the coronet band was damaged, how long was this damage visible for?

My horse hurt his coronet band on Saturday - really good 2.5" slice across and a small verticle slice into the hoof. No idea how he did it but boy was he lame, we thought he broke something! It was bad enough that they actually ended up doing surgery (after X-rays to make sure the coffin bone wasnt broken) to make sure the coffin joint wasnt punctured and to flush out infection. He's in a foot cast for 10 days to make sure the coronet band heals without a deformity, and 3 weeks after that of stall rest once the cast comes off and he comes home.

I was assuming I wouldnt be able to ride for months until the foot had grown out a bunch, but from what I am reading here, am I over-estimating?

[SquishTheBunny]

My gelding sliced right accross his coronary band at the top of the hoof line (hind foot, but the front of the foot not back). To be honest, I did nothing - you couldnt wrap it really (each time he moved his foot bandage would shift and bunch). I think for 1 week I did put a stable wrap overtop of his hoof/leg to protect it from the dirt (which again, didnt work great).

Pretty much time and neglect did the trick. He developed proud flesh in thearea (which was good...because that was the only way it was going to close and stop oozing). As time went on, the proud flesh diminished and kind of grew into his hoof. It looks like a very small scar at his hoofline now, barely noticible.

During this whole time, he was always sound and showing in the amateur owner hunters. He (and I) were very lucky.

[candysgirl]

FWIW, my 6yo Arab clearly injured his coronet band before I got him when he was 3. I have no idea what happened, but he has a small scar on the inside of his left front. It actually grows all the way out with a small crack in his hoof. Vet and farrier seem to think it's no big deal. He's never worn shoes a day in his life and I do endurance on him barefoot. I just have to stay on top of his trims (6 weeks max) or it starts to chip a lot at the bottom of the crack. It doesn't seem to bother him in the slightest though. So it's not necessarily the end of the world.

[goodhors]

I would agree with no Bute, you WANT her to feel the wound if it really is painful and REDUCE her playing around. Pain serves as a WARNING to horse that they are not 100%, so go easier in their activities.

Sorry to sound hard, but seeing Buted horses turned out and destroying days or weeks of healing time, wound repair and their bandages just makes me ANGRY. He hurt himself, now feel a bit of pain and CONTROL yourself while healing!!

Pain is universal warning to whoever is having it, things are NOT NORMAL, and most react pretty well by limiting themselves so pain is minimal.

You are not dealing with children, can't explain because horses only understand the NOW. If it hurts, they move slower, letting things get better by not stressing the injury. Bute may make YOU feel better, but probably not helping the injury or horse in getting healed by easing the pain reaction.

[Hunter Mom]

DD's mare has cut hers twice. Both times were from scrambling in trailers - once when we figured out there was a problem and once when bad mommy forgot the shipping boots at home. Both times, it looked nasty and she was a touch off for a day or so, but then it just looked icky. We kept it clean (thankfully neither happened when it was muddy as she hates being stalled at home) and it healed fine. It did, however, create a horizontal crack in the hoof that grew out over time. Our amazing farrier worked with it to make sure it didn't create any problems - and she was barefoot the last time it happened.