help needed with an indestructable horse!

[brackenhappy]

was wondering if anyone could give me some advice regarding my very indestructatble horse!! shortened version of what happened yeaterday is a land rover/range rover (am not good with cars!!) went right through my stable with my horse still in it is a miricle both she and the driver walked away from it as it was one hell of a mess when i got there!! now the old girl is a bit beaten up as expected but is still alive thankfully however she has cuts to her eyelid that need bathing and thats part of my problem!! she is headshy and whilst she is letting me put drops in the other eye that has scratches to her lense she does not want me near the other eye that needs cleaning :-( i have tried with the headcollar on but she is fighting me and as she has lots of cuts on her head i dont want to be to harsh to her. she is not happy at being tied up for me to do it and does struggle a lot again i dont want to hurt her any more than she is already hurting so if anyone has any tips on how to clean a cut on a headshy horse that would be great and also any tips on making her walk about as she has cuts to all 4 legs that are a bit swollen and warm again she is very reluctant to move as she was bashed quite a bit. she has been given bute, antibiotics, antibiotic cream and a tetunus so they will help with the pain and any possible infection that could arrise but the vet wants all cuts cleaning with salt water as well!!!
also posted in vet section all help needed as soon as!!

 

[hoofprint1]

I would try using a twitch and it will act as a sedative. be careful tho as some horses this makes them a bot head shy and could cause further problems.

It is common knowledge that the horse's lips are extremely sensitive and this is the reason the horse twitch was devised to begin with. An alternative solution is to massage the lip area and the gums above the upper row of teeth. Another option is to massage the tips of his ears. These three sites will release the same endorphins as a horse twitch and will calm your horse without the unpleasantness.


hope that helps

 

[brackenhappy]

erm am not that brave!! she was endescoped this week, twice! for a gutteral pouch wash and both times with heavy sedation and twitch she tried to kill the vets and she managed to cut her lip on the twitch!! they only managed to do one side!!! i have tried to twitch her in the past and its definatly a no go zone!! shes also not to fussed with you messing with her ears either :-( but thanks anyway

 

[martlin]

if it's just salt water you are supposed to use I would try not restraining her at all, or let her walk around on a headcollar and leadrope and syringing the cuts from a distance (about 10 inches) if it ends up somewhere else on her it won't do any damage and with a bit of practice you will become pretty accurate in flushing them It will also take care of getting her to walk around as she will be trying to avoid you, therefore move around.

 

[brackenhappy]

yep just salt water on one eye, but salt water and cream on the rest of the cuts on her head :-( will give it a go but dont want to stress her out to much the old girl; has been through enough this week!! wll try and put pic of her eye up so can see just how close to eye it is :-(

 

[Natch]

Poor old girlie! Glad she's still with you. Sorry, not more suggestions about how to clean the cuts, apart from try to distract her with a nice haynet/dinner/treats?

 

[Apercrumbie]

My horse is headshy so when I need to clean him I always approach him from the front and do his forelock while sneakily cleaning the bits I need to as well. Most horses love having their forelock done so while brushing/cleaning that just gently go a bit lower until you reach the cut. This works with mine so have a go. Good luck!!
xxx

 

[martlin]

I've got one that is head shy and everything else shy and she gets a bit agitated when I do that, but much less then if I try to restrain her, also, when I need to put cream on something I tend to just let her walk around me and then dab at it quickly - again if I miss, it won't hurt healthy skin, it's a bit of a waste of cream though
I find she prefers it directly from a squeezable tube than from my finger - she is a bit of a weirdo I'm afraid.

 

[brackenhappy]

she was soooo lucky, i have no stable left at all not even my back room is standing :-( god know how she managed to get away with her life the old girl has a heart murmur as well! she is lucky she didnt have a heartattack in the stable and with her being in her twenties she knows all the tricks regarding haynets and treats!!! the feed unfortunatly is laced with drugs so i have to hold that to make sure she eats it :-(

 

[ajn1610]

I'd ask the vet if it is really necessary to clean them, if she's had antibiotics etc I can't see that a little salt water will make any difference tbh.
If you really have to do it I wouldn't get into a fight over it, it won't help either of you, ask for some ACP to take the edge off and try a few different approaches.
A horse I ride is very head shy and I can't brush him in a normal way but he will let me stand on a box as if to pull his mane and gradually work a brush over from the wrong side, they are weird if you can find an approach she doesn't associate with a negative experience you might be able to do it.
Also they often associate the sight of cotton wool bag with something unpleasant as it only ever comes out to clean a wound so try a flannel or small sponge instead and hide it in a flat cupping hand rather than a gripping one. Start by stroking her with the heel of that hand at the point where she will happily let you touch and then work across to the eye. If she tenses up work the hand back to where she is comfortable and start again. Just keep pushing the boundaries of her comfort zone in a continuous quiet non-threatening way and you will gradually desensitise her.

 

[brackenhappy]

will give that a go but am not going to hold my breath on it working!! she probably knows that trick but is worth trying incase she doesnt!! thanks

 

[brackenhappy]

was leahurst that said to clean out all the wounds and there are quite a few of them :-( with salt water is possibly because she was covered in glass from the rear window of the car :-( so they probably want to make sure any slivers are flushed out, shes not bad with cotton wool on any other part of her body so will try the sponge on her eye and head to see if that helps at all.dont really want to ACP her if can help it as shes had two lots of heavy sedation already this week and as she is unusually quiet at the moment which i do understand thinkl i would be very quiet if had car plough into my bedroom!! i dont want to mask anything with the ACP's

 

[LynneB]

I know it will not be easy but is it possible to have a saline filled bowl in the - well, not stable I guess at this point - but wherever she is and leave her loose then put a really tasty handful of food in one hand and then do the eye with the other? It may take a lot of her walking about and you trying to get the right place but the food may take her mind off what you are doing.
What an awful thing to happen though, I am really glad she is ok poor thing, what on earth did the driver do to end up in your stable?

 

[brackenhappy]

his foot got stuck between the accelertor and the brake :-( and with it being an automatic it kept going :-( am just trying to upload some pics so damage can be seen!! he was very lucky as well. i will give it a go and see if she falls for it!!

 

[LynneB]

eek, he needs to wear smaller footwear when driving...I had another thought as well, if she doesnt like you rubbing it, do you have an empty syringe that you could just run from above so it can flush a bit as well

 

[brackenhappy]

some pics!!
what was her stable

her eye

she has more cuts and bumps over her but she is still alive so i really cant complain. she also is not homeless!!! the yard owner has given me another stable to use!!

 

[brackenhappy]

ooops thought i had re-sized these :-( i will try syringing it as dont like the thought of her having glass in the wounds. am going to go back up there in next half hour so will try as many of the hints as possible!! thanks all

 

[Tuppence88]

if your cleaning out the cuts with salt water its probably stinging. try using savlon anticeptic wound wash (for humans) its really good and doesnt sting like most anticeptic washes (trust me i've done extensive personal research being accident prone) and of course the mummy's got lovely food for you approach.
Get well soon tho.

 

[TS_]

Haven't read all the other posts so sorry if i repeat this but when my horse cut up all her legs and i had to clean them. I made up the solution and put it in a spray bottle and sprayed from a distance on the cuts. A thing to remember when doing this is wear a helmet and put your arm down to her legs and keep your head up in the air, not down where your spraying. Or you could get a leg in the face.
Also my horse won't let me anywhere near her when cleaning wounds if she is in anyway restrained. So i just dont hold onto her and clean it that way, if she moves i follow her and carry on. She doesn't like it that much but she'll tolerate it whereas with any sort of restraint she'll rear and lash out with her front legs.
Hope this helps and hope she gets better soon!