[CDE Driver]

I have a horse with a gash on her forearm that requires bandaging. I am having a heck of a time keeping the bandage from sliding down.

Any tips?

What I am doing currently is this:
Medication covered with Telfa pads.
Wrap that with cotton.
Thick cast padding.
Brown gauze around that.
Vet wrap.
Elastikon over the hair on to the vet wrap top and bottom.
Standing bandage over the knee to support.

I have started using that heavy duty Gorilla tape at the top. Putting it half on the hair, half on the Elastikon.

The darn thing is STILL slipping down!

[SCMSL]

Maybe you need to tighten it a bit more? As the cotton gets humid, it decreases in size and as such the bandage will fall off. Any tapping generally doesn't work because it can't adhere to the horse's hair very well...

[mhtokay]

I looks as if you're wrapping the whole leg? If not, that would be my suggestion leaving a gap at front of knee for bend. The dilemma is that the lower leg has no muscle and the upper leg does which probably aggravates things. I used a Sleezy for a neck injury. Would there be away to use a shoulder guard thing and pin or tape the wrap to that? Or attach a long piece of gamgee (sp) to a shoulder guard up high underneath it and let it extend down over wound... the stretch of the shoulder guard might allow for some of the leg movement.

[SLW]

Unless you can make your horse lay down all day, the law of physics isn't on your side trying to keep a bandage on the horse's forearm. You are doing everything in the right order using the right products. The only other idea might be to clip way the long hairs so the tapes are adhering to the skin and not the hair.

Otherwise, Aluspray can be your friend for "paperless" bandaging.

[Grataan]

You have to incorporate the whole leg into the bandage-so incorporate it into the top of your standing wrap, and the top 3-5" of the bandage should be elastikon to skin to keep it there (clip hair if you need too.) The other alternative is running the brown gauze up to the elbow, then over the girth area, back around the leg, over the girth etc a few times. Minimize movement etc.

You're pretty much doing the right thing, it's just a beyotch getting those bandages to stay put. Making the whole thing stiffer may help (more like a modified Robert Jones) have you tried putting some lighter duty elastic tape (we used to use PowerLite before they quit making it, now we use their replacement whose name escapes me at the moment-it's basically a watered down elastikon stiffer than vetrap more breathable than the elastikon) all the way down the bandage to the standing wrap then elastikon-ing the top and bottom?

[Dutch Lovin' Dressage Rider]

Hey! Sorry to hear that someone has an injury! (I need to tell you about my trip. ;-) ).

What about a barrier of some sort above the knee to act as a phycial barrier to prevent the bandage from slipping down? I am thinking like a bracelet of some sort - a loop of velcro with furry halter fleece tubing to prevent rubbing? Something flexible, soft, but not stretchy so it will stay above the knee.

Here's a drawing of my idea. No idea if it would work, but it might.





:-)




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[animaldoc]

First, above the laceration as high as you can on the leg, put a strip of Elasticon directly on the skin. This strip will not be changed each time you change the bandage, but is to protect the skin from getting irritated from always removing Elasticon.

Use a standing wrap (quilt) and polos (to reuse) or vetwrap on the lower limb. Tuck the polo or vetwrap in at the end so that when you get the forearm part done you can incorporate that up the leg a little.

Then use a Telfa/medication and over that put Kling and then another quilt. Put brown gazue over the top of that (pretty tightly - hard to get it too tight with a quilt under it). Extend your polo/vetwrap from the lower limb over the quilt now. Then use Vetwrap over that and out Elasticon at the top starting on your permanent strip and then going down the bandage a little ways.

Alternately, you can do Telfas with Kling and then just put Elasticon over the top of that - no quilts. Kind of how you would bandage a knee. Just depends on how bad the laceration is and how much lower limb support you need. At first I would probably do the whole bandage, but after probably 5-7 days I might back off to the smaller bandage.

[CDE Driver]

Thanks everyone.

The bandage is staying up today. I must have done something different yesterday

For what it's worth and if anyone is interested in how she was injured....

My neighbor has nine or so Scottish Highlander bulls (don't ask...). Something set them off and six of them just came barreling through the fence to our mare pasture like it wasn't there. One bull was injured in the melee and stayed at our place until they could get it all sorted out. Said bull is the size of a mini van with long, sharply pointed horns. He really is pretty docile under normal circumstances.

Well, (you know where this is going, don't you?)... she appeared to have been gored by him. She has a large horizontal gash and then a hole up higher and farther around her leg. It is a nasty wound but healing well. And the good thing is the neighbor is paying her vet bills.