Today i was taking a lesson at my Trainers barn and one of the training horses was in the pasture, she got spooked, and ran right through the fence. She was fine beside a cut (not very deep) right below the fetlock and another a little deeper above the cornet. Her owner brought her in and called the vet to examine her, but the vet was busy and couldn't come for 2-3 hours. im just 13 so i couldn't help but i was just wondering what anyone could have done to help the horse in the hours before the vet came. The bleeding stopped in 10-20 minutes but it was still very swollen. just for future Reference! thanks! BTW i called my trainer and she was doing okay.
In that situation, with the vet not being able to come out for a few hours, the best thing would be to clean the wound and keep it clean.
Bottled water would be a better choice to irrigate the wound than a garden hose. Then, if it was available, I would apply nitrofurazone (the yellow ointment that you buy at the tack store) and wrap the leg with a nonstick gauze pad and a standing wrap. I recommend the nitrofurazone because its medicated, but more importantly because it will keep the edges of the cut moist. If the cut was deep enough to require stitches, dry edges need to be cut away first.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com
Because you know what was causing the swelling, bute would have been a good idea to help fight inflammation.
Then I would look through the horses records to know when the last tetanus shot was given.
Edit: Water soluble ointments (the kind that wash away with water and no scrubbing) are fine to use on a cut that might need stitches. Powdered medications and non-soluble creams are not good.
Lots of great suggestions! You are very lucky usually when a horse runs through a fence it is the hock area that is cut and not behind a pastern!! That is a bad place to get proud flesh when the flesh starts to granulate, so watch it closley and if proud flesh starts to grow I have found the very best to put on it is Copper Sulfate.
Maybe cold hosing will help bring down the heat and swelling. I would check to make sure that there is no foreign material in the wound, and don ' t apply anything to it other than a fresh, clean pad and water. Just wait for the vet, as long as there isn't blood spraying everywhere, you're going to be fine.
First thing would be to get her out of the fence, using wire cutters if necessary.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Then bring her in and calm her down a bit.
Examine the cut and then take boiled water cooled with some boiled cold water and with a handful of salt added and disolved and lots of cotton wool buds! Wipe the cut with one piece of cotton and discard. Take another piece of cotton, wipe once and discard and so on.
Generally the bleeding should soon stop but if there is a flap or a gaping wound it would be better to get the vet to have a look. NEVER put creams on wounds if the vet is coming out. He will not appreciate having to clean a load of gunk out of the wound before he can see and treat it. You might use a patch of melolin and soft padding and a stable bandage to keep it clean from droppings or bedding.
If blood is just oozing that is not such a problem but if it is pumping or spraying then you would put pressure on and keep it on until the vet comes, not removing dressings but add more on top and if more blood comes through add more on top and continue the pressure. This pumping means that the horse has cut an artery and it is vital the vet comes out soonest and that the pressure is kept on.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Horses are generally very stoical and what would make us cry with pain is usually a minor inconvenience to the horse and if handled calmly he should not react. It is humans that get freaked out by the sight of a cut. In fact some blood is a good thing as it is washing out any impurities. The wound that does not bleed or has not bled that is the one that is more serious!
You want to clean the wound without doing any harm to healthy cells needed for healing. When you use harsh products like iodine solutions or hydrogen peroxide, healthy cells are destroyed and become food for bacteria, which encourages infection and impairs healing.
For first response to any open wounds you should have sterile isotonic saline on hand. It is a 0.9% saline solution, and you can get it at any drug store. You want to flush the wound with the saline using moderate pressure. You can buy saline for wounds that delivers the flush at the right pressure, also from most drug stores. Don't try to make your own saline solution. If there is too much or too little salt, it will kill healthy cells. The sline must be an isotonic solution. Also, since table salt is iodized, it should not be used on wounds.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Isotonic saline is balanced with body fluids. This means it won't cause healthy cells to swell and rupture like plain water will. The salt in the solution dehydrates and kills bacteria, and flushing both drowns microbes and debrides the wound.
