Blistering - Barberic or worth a try???

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Happel

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Hi all,

This is my 1st post and I wish I was not writing it. My horse became lame about 9 weeks ago. She had rest for 2 weeks and as there was no improvement, we scanned & xrayed and found damage in the ligament between canon and splint bone just under the knee on the outside (don't know the official medical term)... There was also a stressline in the (lateral?) splint bone, so it is caused by trauma, either jumping or in the field.

She had shockwave treatment (4x) with an injection of the ‘human pill’ and walking in hand, and although she improved somewhat after that it was not significant.

She then had a steroid injection 3 weeks ago and we have been doing controlled walking (30min walker and 30min under saddle).

This morning she was still lame. The vet, who is a reputable lameness expert, feels she should have been sound after the rest and then fairly aggressive treatment, and has recommended me to blister her and continue with controlled exercise. He feels this is the best way to improve the bloodflow and reckons a 80% chance of success. I trust him, however I know some feel blistering is unproven and the time off makes them sound...

Any experiences with blistering good or bad??? And/or any other recommendations???

THANKS
 
There are blisters and there are blisters. I HAVE blistered my horse for splints on advice of the vet; the splints themselves were not a problem, but their position meant they interfered with her ligaments and made her lame after a bit of work. Before anyone decides to challenge this diagnosis, it was not mine, it was the vet's so have a go at him, not at me. And please remember that I don't live near any kind of vet hospital nor are the same treatments available here that are in the UK.
Anyhow, applied the blister for 2 days this did inflame PF's legs and made her legs a touch tender, but she was no lamer than she was before the blister was applied and she didn't go off her food or lose spirits in any way. After her legs went up (and they really did puff up, which is the whole point, I believe) I cold-hosed her twice a day and she was rested for a month. By rest I mean she was allowed turn out (and there was plenty of haring around), but I wasn't allowed to ride her. A couple of weeks later she came sound and after a full month I got back on board and haven't had any trouble since.
HOWEVER, I do know of people who have NOT had success with the blister (also used for splints), BUT they did not stick to the exercise regime and IMO were back in work FAR too soon. Too soon in fact for even letting a new splint run it's natural course. And I know of people who have used a very VERY harsh blister that even the vet tried to dissuade the owner from using. If your vet recommends the blister and he's tried everything else, I'd give it a shot on the grounds that IME it does NOT cause more than mild discomfort and doesn't make horses lame. I know lots of people far cleverer than me will give you proper veterinary reasons why a blister won't work, but you did ask for personal experiences and these are mine. Good luck, I do hope it works for you.
 
I can see how in the 'olden' days the method would have been considered cruel but these days presumably the horse would be given a certain amount of pain relief to make it comfortable. It is (or was) considered to be a very effective tool to promote blood flow and therefore produce a healing effect and if all else has failed I would certainly give it a go if it were my horse. A few days of pain against a life time of having a 'quality of life' is a no brainer. There are a lot of misconceptions in the horse world and I honestly think blistering is one of these. I would go by what your vet thinks and see what others on this forum would recommend. x
 
Blistering is a bit grim but it might be worth it. Slightly intrigued that your Vet is recommending it. If you are going to bother doing it you really need to do it properly & aggresively. Can your Vet source the Blister for you? I think we got ours from Ireland last time but that was nearer 10 years ago now.

All I would say is 9 weeks isnt very long in terms of tendon problems. Really time is the greatest healer........

I have known many horses come back from bad leg injuries & some racehorses have done well after blistering. However, I have only had experience of blistering with racehorses and I am not entirely certain I would have the heart to do it to my own horse as I am far too soft.

Maybe a 2nd opinion vet wouldnt be the worst idea. An hour's exercise a day seems quite a lot for the injuries you describe.
 
Thanks for the responses until now - pls keep them coming!

I have no idea where my vet sources it, he seems to find it very standard, he has done it to several event horses on our yard, who are sound now...
 
when my mare mare did her superficial flexor tendon the vets stared her on 2 lots of DMSO and a comlete waste of time and money!
we then got transfered to bristol were they gave her a steriod injection and controled walking and worked amazingly

we also had a steriod injection and controled walking for an anular ligament injury and is begin to canter without any swelling
 
I know absolutely nothing about the practice but it IS barbaric. Just because it was done years and years ago is no reason to deliberately and brutally harm a horse in today's more enlightened world. Don't forget, it used to be perfectly acceptable to send little boys up chimneys, children down coal mines, laugh at bear baiting in the street etc etc etc etc.
 
I agree with you is as much as it is a brutal form of treatment but so is branding but I'm not really against that either if I am pushed to give an answer. Like I say a few seconds of pain for a lifetime of gain, like tail docking, dew claw removing, freeze marking. I am sure that they would sedate the horse and give it some sort of pain relief. It really is meant to be very effective. We live in a much more sympathetic and empathic world these days, but sometimes it is easy to be too sympathetic and not agressive enough with treatment. Some of the old treatments are still considered to be the best! x
 
Im all for blistering, it was my winter job with the eventers and sj's. I spent hours on my knees with a toothbrush scrubbing the damn stuff into coronary bands. hocks, knees and shins. I have nothing against blistering so long as the more powerfull ones are backed up by some form of pain relief. The worst of all was the red mercury rubbed in twice a day ontop of the pin firing-that was horrendous
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Funnily enough, none of them lost their appetite or looked to be in pain. The smell was rank and the following up treatment of removing pus and scabs with the rubbing in of pig fat wasnt too pleasant. All of this was done in an equine clinic and all under control of the vet. Something somewhere worked and Ive seen horses return to the track etc perfectly sound after the 'barbaric' treatment. I would be happy enough to do it to one of mine. M.
 
Just to add, some of the old boys knew a thing or two and if we don't archive some of their knowlege it will be lost!!! and what a great loss it would be.

After all modern medicine is now starting to recognise the use of leeches and maggots.........how long before linoleum is recognised as a great floor covering for hospitals and brass as good for door handles....all things that were long known as sensible.
 
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I know absolutely nothing about the practice but it IS barbaric.

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If you know nothing about it, how can you judge it?
OP, Blister is not a magic cure - it'll make the leg look pretty, but not much else. It won't hurt your horse at all, so don't worry about that.
TBH, think you/your vet are being a bit impatient. Time is the only thing that will heal things like this. Leave the horse in the box until sound, the up the restricted turnout every week.
 
Leaving out the fact that it is burning the horse's leg no matter how you look at it - effectively or not, depending on who you ask - every horse I've known that was blistered was also rested, often cold hosed, often treated with anti-inflammatories (ostensibly for the blistering but they're going to work with any inflammation) and returned to work with a very careful, gradual schedule. I wonder how many horses would have returned to full use with the time, the care and not the blister?
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I know absolutely nothing about the practice but it IS barbaric. Just because it was done years and years ago is no reason to deliberately and brutally harm a horse in today's more enlightened world.

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I know quite a bit about it - and firing - and I agree. In 1977 (so quite a while ago!
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) I was working with one of the top 3 racehorse trainers in Australia! Blistering and firing were common place - in fact horses were sometimes fired 'as a precaution'!! I had several discussions - about firing in particular - with the VERY good equine vet who looked after the yard. He told me he fired or blistered for 2 reasons: 1. if he didn't do it, the owners would get someone else to do it who might not have done it 'properly' or provided pain relief; and 2. because it was effective at MAKING owners leave the horse in the field (because the leg looked 'messy') - so it got the time off it needed!! When horses benefitted from blistering/firing, he was absolutely convinced that it was the extra time at rest that did the trick!

There are FAR more humane and less invasive methods of stimulating the blood supply - hot foments alternated with cold hosing being the simplest (although needs to be done at LEAST 6 times a day to be fully effective.). IRAP is a more expensive method of utilising the regenerative and anti-inflammatory properties of the horse’s own blood cells to encourage healing - and it's showing positive results!
 
Agree wih janetgeorge - that exactly the reasoning I've always been told for firing and blistering - the number one benefit is that trainers will actually give their horses the time off they need to recover from whatever injury they have. And there are a lot of people out there who will do it without pain relief if the vet wont do it - which in my opnion is far far worse. The RCVS tried to ban it but trainers shipped lorry loads of horses to Ireland to be fired instead so that didnt work very well.
Ive seen IRAP carried out quite successfully - I saw practice with a vet in NY who was pioneering the treatment and people came from hours away to have them treat their horse. Early results were looking very positive indeed.
 
That is interesting. I had mine blistered and then turned out for a year 20 + years ago. I honestly think it was a waste of time as the rest would have done the job anyway. I am not sure where the scientific evidence is that blistering works either! I have a feeling it is questionable.

It caused a lot of distress to my lad and I swore I would never do it again. But as other people have said, painkillers are available now.
 
My big showjumper had a similar problem, and after four months of x-rays, MRI scans, trips to Newmarket specialists and faffing about with bandaging, box rest, working, and anything else we could think of, we decided to just throw him out in a small, flat paddock (about a quarter of an acre) with a large barn for him to wander in and out of, for six months. The plan was that if time didn't help, we would try blistering, and then give up. The vets were incredibly anti the idea of throwing him out for the winter, but, lo and behold, he came in 6 months later absolutely sound! We spent the next 6 months gradually building up from being led out in walk on the roads to harden his legs up, to being ridden around Foxhunter courses again.
I'd say give time a go first, and then try blistering, I've always found time is the best healer!
 
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I had several discussions - about firing in particular - with the VERY good equine vet who looked after the yard. He told me he fired or blistered for 2 reasons: 1. if he didn't do it, the owners would get someone else to do it who might not have done it 'properly' or provided pain relief; and 2. because it was effective at MAKING owners leave the horse in the field (because the leg looked 'messy') - so it got the time off it needed!! When horses benefitted from blistering/firing, he was absolutely convinced that it was the extra time at rest that did the trick!


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it is a barbaric treatment apparently...iv havent seen it done yet tho im told its still common in ireland...

and just to let you know its one they are now advising in the vet schools NOT to use along with pin firing..
in the past it has been used with sucess but one of the reasons givin was that it worked was that horses that were blistered or pin fired were usually kept on box rest the new for a long enough time...in studys done on horses with similar injurys that were put on just box rest the same result was seen...
iv also been told that blistering is often just a way to make the owner keep the horse on the rest it needs to heal...
9 weeks isnt long enough for a tendon to heal...these are the normal times to wait for healing to show progress but the whole process can take up to 18 months..
Flexor tendon repair or tendon transfer 3-6 months
Extensor tendon repair 3 months

if you want to increase blood flow use cold hosing!
 
Why not ring the advise lines at a few vet schools and ask the question.

Is it barbaric mumbo jumbo or effective treatment?

I am alwasy surprised how difficult it is to find a series of clinical papers on equine conditions. If you were looking at treatment for a person first port of call would be up to date cliniclal research.
 
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