HELP! NAsty injury RU There Cindy!!

[Judi Ruffo]

Hey last night my race horse ( now retired) decided to try to hack her leg off throgh the fence...lovely...anyhow couldn' be stitched so the flap has been cut of and there is a 12 inch spot with no skin..now banadaged heavily, I know I read somewhere about a really goood product for nasty stuff like this and I'm sure Cindy Medway used it., i have dealt with many similar injuries ( we breed thoroughbreds) but nothing that has been so raw and exposed, everything else was able to be stitched, so I don't think my usual remedies are going to work..add to this she is a shocker, actually ripped a guys muscle out of his arm when she was racing ( good thing she is a winner! so there is not a memeber of my family that i trust to hold her whilst I have my head inbetween her hind legs..unless she is heavily sedated of course. have photos but ther\y are a bit grusesome

[rick]

a couple of years ago, one of our fillies sliced into her leg and exposed the cannon bone for a good three inches/75mm long and very wide. We found her at least a day after it had been done. How she didn't slice up any tendons etc, we still don't know.
It was unstichable at this stage, so, we hit her with antibiotics, (we didn't want to take any risks with potential bone infection, it had been scraped well) and wrapped, can't remember now what with.
As soon as there was a light pink covering across the bone, we applied a pad soaked in raw, cold extracted honey. This would be left on for a number of days at a time (it became really stinky), but was always a clean wound when removed.

Along with regular Reiki to the wound every time the pad was changed(lucky she's quiet), it healed very quickly, no proud flesh or scaring !

The honey wasn't anything trick like Manuka, just some bush/meadow honey from a nearby apiarist, but the crucial thing was it hadn't been heated in any way.

[Judi Ruffo]

Thanks rick I've used honey before but not on such a nasty wound so you give me hope there..the quietness is an issue... but I'll get around that somehow, she's reasonably intelligent and might just realize I'm helping her, in fact she came to me in the paddock last night like a lamb,"Help Mum I'm crook"

there was a lot of bruising like you I think it was most of the day injured, and full of mud and rain ..lovely, vet gave tentanus, bute and antibitoics and they are coming on thurs to help me chnage the dressing for the first time...just in case.

[Susan]

Hi Judy,

Sorry to hear about your mare... It sure makes your heart go into your mouth when you see something like that...

My old gelding who is 25 and has Cushings did a similar thing 18 months ago now. The vet wasn't very positive about the healing because of his Cushings, however, looking at him today you can barely see the injury.. and it's not because of his fluffy coat either.

We also used honey- Manuka stuff as it was the only stuff we could find that hadn't been heated- in fact it wasn't too bad because you didn't need heaps of it. We used to put it on some wadding stuff that wasn't fluffy and wrap it around his leg and leave it for a couple of days. Take it off, a bit stinky and yukky but the wound was clean. We did this through the middle of summer when you'd expect it to be really nasty...

When we eventually took the bandage off for good the wound site had no proud flesh and was a beautiful pinky coulour. We kept the new skin soft with Vit E cream and there is hair growing and all. Unbelievable.

We kept his Cushings homeopathy going and supplimented it with Arnica and Ledum.

I will have a chat with my friend who is a nurse and right up with the latest wound management- she guided Sovy's treatment. Her main argument was don't wash the wound frequently and apply Betadine etc as you can actually kill more of the good tissue growing than any bacteria. I guess that's why the honey worked so well.

Hope all goes well,

[Jytte]

Hey...sounds terrible!

We had one of our broodmares think she was a jumper and not quite mke it over a cement fence. The gash on her stifles was terrible and in such a place, bandagin was hopeless. We used a product called Dermagel...its brilliant! Not only did it heal up without any infection...there is only the minutest pencil line of a scar there!

One of our two year olds...super head-shy mind you!...got a chunk of his lip bitten by our cattle dog. We were away at the time and found out a few days after it happened. We (with great difficulkty getting it on him!) used Dermagel for that too and now you can't tell there was ever a bite mark...which is amazing because there was actually quite a gap there!

I highly recomend it! Great stuff :)

[Freya]

My horse did a really nasty injury on his pastern a couple of years ago....the vets used neocort, which worked wonders....we had tried honey and everything to try to get it to heal....but the neocort worked the best. I'd check with your vet first though.

[Judi Ruffo]

Where do I get dermagel?? also i'll stock up on the honey, my vet is pretty cool as he knows I've dealt with a few of these, but never this yuck, on smaller woulds I've used vinigar instead of washing, but methinks this one is too large for that, we're changing the dressing at 2 tomorrow so I'll update you'all

I'm a great believer in keeping these things covered? but again I've never had such an open raw one before
licky she didn't do any other danage although she is down to breed from only now anyhow
Check out her name "Just A Hoot" not much of that happening last night

[Jytte]

Your local produce store should have it, Judi. If not you would eb able to get it from your vet (but they overcharge by heaps!!!!) Even horseland would have it, I think.

[Glenn Pearce]

Hi Judi,
If you have problems dressing the wound try adding 50ml of bleach +teaspoon of table salt to one litre of water.Apply at least once a day (more often if possible)with syringe.You get to be quite a good shot after a few goes. Its brilliant yet so simple.
You also can use Ag lime and just through it on or puff it on with an old detergent bottle(once a day).
Good luck

[Naomi]

Glenn, I was horrified when my vet recommended bleach, sugar, salt and water solution for my horses wound. But lo and behold, it worked the best out of everything I tried on it!
No proud flesh, no infection, after it had closed up a little I started using pawpaw ointment and now there's no scar as well.

[Jytte]

Sounds like a great idea...I'll keep it in mind next time one of our twats decide to injure themselves....now that I think about it, they're about due for another injury! ;p

[Equine Elegance]

Is it on a joint? (knee, hock etc) They take forever and a day to heal.... I hope you are lucky enough that it's not! Rock cut his pastern just below the fetlock but because there was so much movement it's taken months to heal. We could have started working him 3 weeks after it happened, but we decided to leave it so it could mend... 4 months later and still hadn't knitted so he went back into work. That was October 2003 and am still picking scabs off. Tried honey and dermapred, but there was just too much movement.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

[Shirrine]

I have a mare cut her hock about 6 weeks ago and I didn't bandage it at all. To start with I used lotegen to seal it then Coopers fly strike powder and am now using Manuka honey and it looks fab. The mare was only just in foal after a struggle so was given nothing just in case.

This was the leg six weeks ago
http://img7.echo.cx/img7/3169/ashleysleg1en.jpg

and this was it about 2 weeks ago. As you can see it is healing well and the has been no proud flesh at all. Today it is about half that size again.

http://img248.echo.cx/img248/752/ashleysleg4weekson29xi.jpg

[tilly]

If you're looking for inexpensive, non-fluffy dressing pads - home brand sanitary pads are brilliant.

I have also used honey on hideous leg wounds - just plain old honey off the supermarket shelf, believe it or not, and it worked a treat.

[Jytte]

Thats looks terrible Shirrine!!! Yikes...hopw it heals without causing any long term damage!

Tilly: That's hilarious!!! I somehow can't se my dad giving me a hand wrapping a sanitary pad to my horses' legs....

[Freya]

Is it on a joint? (knee, hock etc) They take forever and a day to heal.... I hope you are lucky enough that it's not! Rock cut his pastern just below the fetlock but because there was so much movement it's taken months to heal. We could have started working him 3 weeks after it happened, but we decided to leave it so it could mend... 4 months later and still hadn't knitted so he went back into work. That was October 2003 and am still picking scabs off. Tried honey and dermapred, but there was just too much movement.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery!

Hey dan, didn't know that about Rocky!!!! Yeah above a joint is the worst place to get an injury i reckon...that's what happened with Billy and you know how long that took to heal...hope rocky's heals soon...at least you can still ride him with it. Casting Bill's was the only thing that worked....plus heaps of neocort!!!!!

Hope everyone's injured horses recover soon!!!!

[Cindy Medway]

Hi Judi,

Sorry didn't see this post earlier, I did get your e-mail and replied, hope you got it!!!

Hope things are going well with your mare, can highly recommend Equaide, after my mare got into a fight with a half dead cocksbur bush and came off second best I spent over 2 months treating with dermaprednaderm, then switched to Yellow Lotion and 4 mths later the wound was still half the size it was to start with. Discovered Equaide and it shrunk by half in less than 3 weeks and was completely closed up within 6 weeks! Brilliant stuff... my vet even started using and stocking it once he saw the results I was getting.

Let me know how she's going.

Cindy

[Jytte]

Hey Cindy,
Did your vet tell you to use dermapred/predmaderm? Becaue as far as I know its only to be used for greasy heel?? As for yellow-lotion, not the best product out there...

[Judi Ruffo]

hey guys thanks for your help, good news the injury is going weill, the bad news is first bandage change, she got me..fully sedated and almost took my fingure off, anyhow i've change the bandage since as she is back out in the paddock and he attitude has improved, I too have some gruesome photos more later, thanks glenn Ill doo the synringing at thirty paces job...you kno it;s serious when you where your crash hat to change a bandage..good thing she won a few races.

[Cindy Medway]

Hey Cindy,
Did your vet tell you to use dermapred/predmaderm? Becaue as far as I know its only to be used for greasy heel?? As for yellow-lotion, not the best product out there...

Hi Jytte,

Yes he did, basically because of the nature of the wound being a puncture and tear involving a poisonous bush we had some necrotic tissue working its way up the leg.... the dermapred worked well at sorting that out and, well the yellow lotion .... what can I say? glad I discovered Equaide, wouldn't bother with anything else now!

Hi Judi,

Sounds like risky business doing dressing changes!!! Are you sure its a nasty injury and not a lead difficiency???? Sorry, I've never had much time for horses with attitude, do take care and don't get killed trying to help her.

Cheers
Cindy

[Equine Elegance]

sorry to hijack your thread Judy, but while we're on injuries and treatments...

My filly came back from the vet clinic after she had her hind leg operated on with a fungus on her front leg. The hair was sitting up and it was scabby and the skin had a white "residue" (for lack of a better word) on it. We've been treating with dermapred and while it has softened and lifted some of the scab leaving big bare patches of skin, some of it hasn't lifted and we can't get rid of it. It looks like mudfever, but she was in a stall for 4 weeks and we can't work out how she got it. The vets didn't seem at all concerned. She has four white legs and very sensitive skin, and has had mudfever either last year or the year before, but it cleared up quickly. This isn't budging... What would you use on it?

Hope your finger is ok, it hurts even when its a little bite! Glad that the injury is looking good under the bandage though! Aren't they a pain when they fight the sedation? Our QH has to be fully sedated to have his teeth done and we still can't get him to stand. We usually have to try and back him up against the big gate post and then "corner" him from either side and he can still worm his way out of it, even with a skin twitch (a handful of skin at the base of the neck - only thing that works on him).

[Cindy Medway]

She has four white legs and very sensitive skin, and has had mudfever either last year or the year before, but it cleared up quickly. This isn't budging... What would you use on it?

Hi EE,

I have known people to use dermapred on greasy heal and same thing, not have it clear up entirely. I swear by White Healer for mud fever (GH), have a black TB with 2 white socks and he gets GH almost every year in the wet season. Ranvet make it and it should be available at most tack and feed shops, works a treat and clears it in no time at all!

[ann]

People always look at me in disbelief when I say this, but I've always had success with ordinary Cetrigen purple spray on greasy heel.

[Jytte]

Oh yes, cetrigen is great! But a little tricky to get on a stitched wound when you've just had a little colt castrated....NOT recomended!!! :-p

[ann]

Oh yes, cetrigen is great! But a little tricky to get on a stitched wound when you've just had a little colt castrated....NOT recomended!!! :-p
And tricky to get on the back of hind pasterns, too, although you can usually put a hand on the hock to get a feel for what might be coming. I've always found that once the horses know it's going to sting, they put up with it.

A friend used to trim my horse's feet for me, many years ago, and had a bad habit of doing it in bare feet. On one occasion one of the horses trod on him with an untrimmed foot, and it bled, so he sprayed it with Cetrigen. You should have heard him yell. He was jumping around, too, and got very cross when his wife and I fell about laughing.

[Jytte]

Ooooh!!! That would hurt! I once did a similar thing....one morning I was shaving my legs and accidently brought the blade across my knee, slicing it...that was painful enough...and then that morning I was putting that blue-stone powder on and got some on my cut....I never screamed so loud in my life! So painful!!!!! Now I refuse to use it on the horses because I know what it feels like!

[ann]

Ooooh!!! That would hurt! I once did a similar thing....one morning I was shaving my legs and accidently brought the blade across my knee, slicing it...that was painful enough...and then that morning I was putting that blue-stone powder on and got some on my cut....I never screamed so loud in my life! So painful!!!!! Now I refuse to use it on the horses because I know what it feels like!
Goodness! That would have hurt.

I've only ever used bluestone on granulation tissue (proud flesh) that has no nerve endings. It is highly caustic stuff. It's the same stuff we put down the toilet to eat away the tree roots in the sewerage pipes.

[Judi Ruffo]

I dipped my finger in Betadine, but then i had no feeling anyway, by the way it's better as you can tell from my slightly improved typing, Just a hoot is back in the paddock and I am about to attempt another bandage change,she is tricky but after winning about 6 races will be worth it to breed from and hopefully being a mum will settle her down, not her fault the attitude unfortunately a product of racing, pity really.

But as I delivered her when she was born, held her to stand to take her first drink ( she was not healthy at all) did all the early work with her, nursed her through a knee operation I would have hoped that she would not attempt to chomp me...there were tears i can assure you.

ps on citrigen, I had a colt get a very nasty swelling fomr it, turns out it was allergic, quite unusual apparently, but I've had it twice in thoroughbreds - mostly chestnuts.

[ann]

ps on citrigen, I had a colt get a very nasty swelling fomr it, turns out it was allergic, quite unusual apparently, but I've had it twice in thoroughbreds - mostly chestnuts.
I'vbe never had a horse allergic to Cetrigen, but one of my greys (now dead) was highly allergic to one of the pump sprays with a similar formula. It's the one that's more pink than purple. Can't remember which brand...

Oh, and she didn't die of the allergy. LOL.

[Freya]

My filly came back from the vet clinic after she had her hind leg operated on with a fungus on her front leg. The hair was sitting up and it was scabby and the skin had a white "residue" (for lack of a better word) on it. We've been treating with dermapred and while it has softened and lifted some of the scab leaving big bare patches of skin, some of it hasn't lifted and we can't get rid of it. It looks like mudfever, but she was in a stall for 4 weeks and we can't work out how she got it. The vets didn't seem at all concerned. She has four white legs and very sensitive skin, and has had mudfever either last year or the year before, but it cleared up quickly. This isn't budging... What would you use on it?.

Hey Dan,

Billy gets Greasy Heel bsically every April/May....and I do everything to avoid it......dry his legs very well after exercise etc. I think its just those damn white socks!!!! I think it is going out in the morning dew and then his skin dries out when the sun comes up. He had it this year too.....I was putting prednaderm/dermapred on it and it was sort of going away but not very quickly....what seemed to work was this other stuff called Quick Heal which is sulfer based ointment...however this was making it a little cracked so went back to dermapred....when the vet came out when he was sick, I got her to look at that and she said you could also try baby powder....but haven't tried that......the penicilin injections he was having cleared it up.....when Michael (vet) came out to check him again on tuesday, he said that if it is a bit serious and the scabs aren't going away, that is usually the only way to clear it as the topical ointment will just sit on top of the scabby bits.....so at least something "good" came out of him being sick ;-) Next year I will prob put some sort of white ointment/sunscreen on his hind socks from beginning of April to try to avoid this....also, wash the areas with mild soapy water, and then dry thoroughly before putting ointmrnt on...ppl say to pick off the scabs but some of Billy's were too tough to get off and it will just bleed if you try, so I just put the ointment on...if its not getting better at all after a couple of weeks i'd get the vet to come and have a look cos you don't want it spreading to other legs, or further up the one its on...



As for yellow lotion....I will never go near the stuff again....when my horse had a nasty pastern injury, a vet said to put it on...this only made it worse and when i took him up to different vets, they said it definately had aggrevated the wound (which was bads enough...needed 3 lots of surgery!!!!!!!!!!!!)...poor Billy!!!


Cetrigen is good....also a very similar thing...Terramycin Spray works wonders!!!!!!!!!!

And while we are on the topic of wound treatments etc. (can't you just tell my horse is slightly lacking in the self-preservation and luck area?-from now on things will be different-hopefully ;-)!!) I agree with Jytte on one of her posts about Derma-Gel....its good stuff!!!!!!!

[Jytte]

Yeah I think Freya has the best wound treatment experience...given Billy's history! Last year when we had our yearlings out in the paddock, Pepe (yes that's his name :p) got really bad greasy heel on both hind legs from his frog all the way to almost his hocks...and it wrapped around his legs. Being a little bugger that he is, it was extremely difficult to pick at it or wash it, but using the dermapred/predmaderm it eventually healed. The vet said he had neer seen it so bad on a horse...typical! It always happens to the ones that are hard to treat...though I must say that he is brilliant now when it comes to treating injuries...he's had it all done before!