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Horses and Barb wire just don't mix!

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USgal-In-Manitoba

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Good Mornin' everyone,

I need everyone to write a response with there opinion and past experiences. Here is the situation:

My yearling got caught up in barb wire about 1-1/2 week ago. Had a vet out and the prognosis wasn't good. It was wrapped all the way around the left front leg between the foot and the knee joint. Leg was very swollen to begin with and has gone down considerably. Wound is very nasty now and somewhat infected. We've been cold water washing twice a day and using an ointment named Nitro-Furacin on the infected areas and following up with Pen G daily. Tendons are damaged on the back of the leg just above the foot. Horse is still eating as much as she did before the accident. I know it's gotta be painful but she has been really good to work with and easy to handle. There are some things I need more information on. Any input on what to use and what to watch out for would be helpful. This is a very nasty wound and covers at least 3" of the leg up and down and all the way around.

Things I need to know more about:
Proud flesh - what is this, what causes it and is there a cure or medication?
Pain medications - which one is the best, what form does it come in (powder/pill/injection), and how much do I give?
Torn ligiments/tendon - does anyone know at what point of damage these will not repair at?
Can anyone refer me to a website where I can find a skelatal map of a horse and all of the "technical" terms?

Any other tips and inputs would be appreciated!

Thanks bunches,

Usgal~
 
US Gal how close are you to Beausejour Manitoba. The chuckwagon guys use transmission oil on cuts like that keeps things nice and soft. I have a friend that is a very good horse vet that practices at Beausejour-he'll give you the answers you need.
 
I wont ever be without this stuff. "Underwoods Horse medicine" it's the absolute best stuff I've ever used on a wound. It's not readily available at any ag supply store but if you call this man he will send it ups and it'll arrive the next day. Talk to Buddy on the phone he'll explain how to use it. My horse got into somethin that we never figured out and cut his left pectoral muscle all the way in two. had a gash on his chest 8 inches wide and 6 inches the other way. Healed completely in no time. The stuff looks really nasty but you dont do the water flush with it.

Underwood Horse Medicine
Buddy Underwood
Rt 2 Box 59
Wynnewood Oklahoma 73908
405-665-2682
http://www.underwoodhorsemedicine.com/
Click on testimonials..my horse was almost as bad as case number 4.
 
id highly reccomend any kind of racehorse topical treatments, there the strongest and ones the work best, as for proud flesh i was told it shows up when you instantly put cold water ona wound, the best thing is to treat the leg with what you have, and wrap it up and change the bandage daily, keep treating with the furizone and keep changing bandages every morning, the leg should get better in time, a good wash of iodone works wonders if your thinking it may get infected.
 
Cold water baths work pretty good-rea;lly soothing and take the swelling down-they don't cause proud flesh as far as I know. Had a horse lay a shoulder open on a gate hinge and that is pretty much all we did for her-hardly has a blemish now.
 
I've found that nitrofuracin to be good stuff- I've used it a lot-...Also a product called Wonder Dust (don't even know if they sell it anymore)- but I have used that on horses to prevent proud flesh- contains activated charcoal....

We had a 2 year old filly cut herself to the bone just above ankle all the way to the hock- even cut into the tendons- I was going to shoot here, but an old uncle said he would doctor her--Put nitrofuracin on it a couple times a day for over a year before it healed...We used her for a brood mare and she could do plumb fine- except for the scar, you'd never have known she was cut after it healed... Old horse people used to swear by using the old wagon black axle grease for prevention of proud flesh....
 
It sounds like the first thing that you need to do is contact the veterinarian that examined and treated your horse. Although internet advice can be helpful, it cannot replace the advice of the examining veterinarian. He has seen the horse, we have not.

There are a million different topical treatment that are sold as miracle healing products. Some are worse than others. If you think that the wound is infected, and tendons are involved, I would not put anything (other than what the vet left you- nitrofuracin) on the wound before consulting your veterinarian. (esp. axle grease, transmission fluid, etc.)

Proud flesh = exuberant granulation tissue. Basically, the granulation bed gets carried away and continues above the skin margin. Various treatments depend on specific case, and extent of proud flesh.

Pain meds = most commonly Phenylbutazone, Flunixine Meglumine (Bute, Banamine). These are only available via veterinary prescription. Once again contact your veterinarian to see if he believes that this case warrents.

Torn tendons/ ligaments = This can be a serious issue. Healing depends on many things- amount of damage, type of injury, etc.

Website = unsure of any website that shows detailed anatomy, however www.myhorsematters.com is an excellent equine reference site for horse owners.

Horses are amazing animals and can from recover from some terrible looking accidents. It is very important to keep your veterinarian informed, and continue with treatments as prescribed.

As you can see from my reply, there is no one way to treat all wounds. One must take into account the individual case, and treat accordingly.

Good luck. Keep us posted.
 
Creoline if in fly country,and liked previous advice about transmission oil,I know it sounds weard,but have learned alot from them old guys that have been there ,done it? And doesn't cost vet bill?
 
I'm old but I had an oltimer tell me to use Borax (soap) and pickling lime. I've used it for years. I don't know about the tendons but on any gashes it causes the wound to heel from the inside out. No proud flesh.
 
Ok. I had a weanling filly strip an eight inch by 3 inck strip of hide and soft tissue off the outer side of a back leg. I called our expert neighbour to come and wrap it and he said " Oh just leave it" Dumbfounded I did as told but the next morning the surviving tissue had shrunk and the prominant feature to her leg was the bare bone being exposed almost the length of the leg from the hock to the ankle. OMG

We packed the void with some Hibitane cream and wrapped it. ( Hibitane is blander to the tissues and doesn't promote granulation as much as furacin) ( my opinion )

Within a few days ( maybe 10?) soft tissue had grown around the bone to cover it. During these first days we kept her blood levels of Pennicilin high.

With the bone now covered with a pink disorganized tissue, our treatment was as follows.

In the morning we would remove the wraps and hose down the leg with cold well water. This allowed a somewhat numbing of the tissue and we were able to clean and pick off the edges of growing skin, removing any granulation bits leaving a healthy pink edge. Then to keep the mounting mass under control we would dust it dry with farnams "Wonder dust" It has a bit of an astrimgent action and kept the level of tissue nice and flat.

Then we would turn the filly out for the day. In the evening we would wash it down again cleaning it well and apply the Hibitane cream again and wrap it to keep the moisture in.

This alternating wet and dry treatment over several weeks worked amazingly well as each day the skin would inch together closer on either side of the wound. Eventually it sealed itself shut with the new skin also growing hair. Diligence made the difference.

Two years later the filly won a race.
 
Yep, diligence can turn the tide. Good for you and the filly for taking such good care of her. Sounds like an ugly deal in the beginning.

We had a palomino horse cut his foot between the ankle and the hoof. That's a nasty spot to try to heal. We were getting ready to take him to the vet because it was pretty deep, when I mentioned it to a woman that heals a lot of horses. She said to spray it with a 50-50 mixture of apple cider vinegar and water and then lace it with black pepper. We kept him in out of the dew (moisture encourages proud flesh) and treated him morning and night. We healed that up and you could barely see a scar. Had to take him to the vet for something and he asked about the wire cut. He hadn't been too happy when I cancelled out on the wire cut appointment. I showed it to him. His words were, "There's something to be said for persistence."
 
Start with stall rest for the tendon, until it heals. You don't want to tear it more. I don't know if I'd go heavy on pain killers though. Even though you hate to see them hurt, if you kill the pain completely, the horse will use the leg more and harder than is good for it.

We've had good luck with a product called Dermagel for big open wounds. You can get it from your vet. The wound heals up super nice, and quite quickly, with no white hair where the scar is. Proud flesh is not a problem either. I agree with Faster Horses that it can be a problem with Furacin. With the Dermagel, you wash the wound twice a day and apply the gel. Bandage is optional, and depends on the location of the wound, and how clean the horse can keep it. For a leg, a bandage is probably a good idea.

Whatever you do, be patient. These things take time to heal. Can you post a picture?
 
Google -> Livestock Proud Flesh

http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=Livestock+Proud+Flesh&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8

Old days I used "Sheep Dip" (Not For Sale Now) (Here)
On a hunting my dad got a mare Chest Cut "Bad" (I could see bone) - - I used Sheep Dip/a Hole Punch and Raw Hide to sew her up and rode her all day to work the soreness out

6 months later I could hardly find the scare :clap: :cboy:
 
Proud Flesh is more common on some horses than others. It may have something to do with nutrition or color but probably just genetics and envirement. (Interesting enough, African American humans also get proud flesh.)

I notice it more around the joints and moving skin than on skin that gets stretched and pulled less. I suppose its just the bodies defense against a laceration that needs to heal fast and strong. I have had some proud flesh on horses that I could actually grab and jerk off with my fingers as it was healing. Back in the 1960's they had a powder (Dad called it magic dust) you could put on the wound, it was very effective at preventing proud flesh. I have not seen that powder around but they do make a greasy yellow cream stuff that is basically the same thing and it works great in stopping the proud flesh.
 
If your going to do internet research DONT just google it. If you must google search for the Colleges of Veterinarian. Aulburn & NC State & Cornell...ect they all have information regarding livestock.
Always make sure you are getting information from a Trusted and knowledgable source.
 
aside from everyone having their miracle goop (mine is Simple Green :wink: ), notice that cleaning in often is something that keeps popping up.
We had a good wire cut about a year ago where he sliced his foot on the backside of his coronet band. We scrubbed it out twice a day, hosed it with Simple Green and let nature take it's course. Within a couple of weeks it was healing nice and within a few months had haired over and covered the scar.
Horses are irritatingly fragile, but they're amazingly reisilient, too.

Keeping it clean seems to be the biggest thing.
We never did have proud flesh, btw.

Good luck, and definately keep in contact with your vet.
 

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