Horrendous wounds - give me hope?

A horse on my old yard virtually skinned one of her front legs, it looked absolutely horrific - but eventually healed leaving a few scars and a bit of proud flesh - she was never lame on it though.
 
Wow thanks everyone for both the reassurance and the success stories.

Foxhunter - how did you hear about the 'Resolve Wound' product and did you get it direct from the States?

And Snowflakedale - when did you apply the manuka honey? (At what stage of the healing process?)

Our vet has advised to just clean it but not to apply any products ATM.

Thanks Spring Feather for your confidence that all will be well :) Vet was concerned it may be a PTS job initially but after cleaning it and removing the hunk of flesh that was still attached he decided he was fairly optmistic about her prospects of recovery.

As for how she did we think it has to have been on the wire :(
 
I too have seen worse wounds than that heal with barely a scar, so keep hope.

Do what your vet says, report any little thing you are worried about and it should heal fine.
 
Snowflakedale said:
My horse cut through the front of a back leg on a wire fence. He severed both extensor tendons which sprang back inside his legs and could not be reattached.
The wire had begun to saw through the bone, and the total area of exposed bone couldn't be covered with both hands.

After 4 months in vet hospital and 3 months at home, extensive skin grafting and 2 operations for sequestrum (dead bone chips), the wound had almost completely healed and the horse was nearly sound.

I couldn't believe how far he'd come, and how amazing the healing powers of his body were :)

Sadly, shortly after this the whole thing blew open again and he was PTS. A bit of sequestrum had been missed and his cannon bone had, in effect, died.

But I will never ever be shocked by an injury again (I hope!). It was a freak thing that finally ended things for him; the healing that happened prior to this really was amazing.
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I'm afraid it was predictable. I've had two youngsters sever the extensor tendon and cut themselves right through to the bone on electric fencing. The first was a yearling filly. She was shod with an extended toe and a metal bar which went up the leg outside the dressing to hold the foot forward so the extensor tendon could heal (it's never worth trying to stitch them!) The periosteum was intact and she made a good recovery and is now a graded brood mare - having passed a full vetting 18 months later.

The second was a 3 month old foal. In his case, the periosteum WAS stripped for about 6" down the cannon bone. The senior vet at 3 Counties said: "IF he was worth £10,000 (he wasn't) and IF he had full vet's fees insurance (he didn't) I would still advise he be put to sleep now! He predicted that at SOME time in the first 4 months of treatment - probably at the point where we thought we were winning - the cannon bone would start sloughing off and it would be curtains! I took his advice (with some relief - the cost of treatment would have been - as I'm sure you found out - horrendous!)
 
Remember....where there is bleeding there is healing! So don't worry if it still bleeds when you clean it, that's no bad sign!

If you want to have a look at some pictures of amazing wounds that have healed, try taking a look at the Gambia Horse and Donkey Trust facebook page....in particular look at Molly...whose photos can be seen here (BE PREPARED....PICTURES ARE GOREY!!!):
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...3568885.113787.320686914610671&type=3&theater

I nursed her back to health, and although of course it took time, it was well worth every second and she made a full recovery. She was also the sweetest little horse you could ever hope to meet! As long as you are willing to put the time in, I am sure your horse will do just fine. It is amazing what they can get through if we just give them the chance. Fresh aloe vera was what we used mostly on Molly, and am also another fan of Manuka honey, which can be used at any time in the healing process, as can aloe vera.

Good luck...you will get there I'm sure, just stick with it! :)
 
minesadouble said:
Our vet has advised to just clean it but not to apply any products ATM.
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Your vet is right. Keep it clean and let it 'settle'. Then - the BEST thing in my experience for nasty woulds is a product not available in the UK (our ruddy licensing is just SO expensive) but available easily from Australia in about 7 days is Lotagen Concentrate (the gel is available here but NOT as good for an extensive wound!) You dilute the concentrate to a 20% solution with boiled water, and spray it on the wound daily using a syringe - or a pump spray bottle. It is astringent, promotes healing like NOTHING I've seen in MANY years, and prevents proud flesh. You don't need a prescription - http://www.vetproductsdirect.com.au/gbpeur/ItemDesc.asp?IC=541

I used this on some horrendous injuries in Oz - one was a horse who opened up his chest on a large fence post - you could have fitted at least 6 fists in the wound! It healed with just a fine line scar. Another was a pony who hung himself by a hind leg from a high tensile wire fence - the legopened at the hock to the bone. Again, it healed - slowly but surely - to just a fine line scar.
 
JanetGeorge that's all true unfortunately.
If I knew then what I know now I would have had him PTS on day one. However I didn't have experience of such an injury so I listened to the vets who (wrongly, I'm now inclined to think) said it would heal and I should treat him.
It was horrendously expensive.
The horse was an eventer worth 20k + but he was an absolute saint and worth millions to me :(
He had the extended shoe aswell and a Robert jones bandage on for the full time.

Like I say, knowing all this I wish I'd just PTS. :(

But I was still astonished at how the injury seemed to heal when there was nothing there. The flesh healing was amazing - just wish I had been told more about the risks with the bone.
 
minesadouble said:
Our little TB broodmare sustained a horrific wound in the field a couple of days ago. She has basically taken the whole of the back of her fetlock off! The little that was left has been removed by the vet as he felt there was no chance of it healing back in. He's hopeful that no tendon damage has been done as she wasn't too lame but at the moment it just looks so horrific I can't even imagine it healing :(

Anyone got any inspiriational tales to lift my spirits?
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I had a little cob who did something similar with his new owner, it did look fairly hopeless but I felt sorry for him and bought him back for meat value - he made a full recovery and his feather covered the scarring. It really was rather a dramatic wound. Also knew a lady whose horse completely impaled itself on a fence stake and recovered, I didn't believe it till I saw the photo's. Make sure you keep it clean, and get antibiotics at the first sign of infection. She'll be fine :)
 
Mine got badly attacked by a pitbull. The vet thought she would die from blood loss. As well as dozens of puncture wounds & small deep cuts, she had a hole in her stomach, through which you could see internal organs. So big infact I had a beach towel inside it, & another half in, to try & stem the bloodloss. Also a hole the size of my fist & right down to the bone below her elbow. Plus about 10 or so cuts that could have done with stitching, however there was no skin to actually stitch. Forgetting the bloodloss & severe shock, vet thought the risk of infection was too big to make it likely she'd survive. Made worse by the fact the first towels shoved in her stomach weren't even clean, let alone sterile. However, we were very, very lucky. Although she has scars, she is grey so once the hair grew back they just blended in with the dapples. She's got about 20 tiny scars where the hair never grew back, but they are literally pin size, & only noticeable when first clipped, & only then if I point them out, they just look like fleabitten bits. The hole in her stomach never grew hair back over, however its only small now, & near her udders where it can't be seen. And it was about 15yrs ago, so treatments weren't as good then.
 
Our 24 yr ols ex intermediate eventer took exception to bring put into a small paddock this spring. He thought he would have a go at jumping out, but bottled it at the last minute and crashed into the strainer post.

He basically took all his shoulder skin off, and it took the vet 3.5hrs and over 60 stitches inside and out to put him back together. In the place it was, we were unable to put dressings on, or really even effectively any medications.

However with patience and time, it has finally healed after 7 months, with just a 5 inch scar to be seen. Amazingly enough, he was never even lame, and from about day 10, was gently ridden bareback to keep him from stiffening up. He boxed rested for about 5 weeks, and then was turned out wearing a shoulder saver - the only way to keep the flies out of it.
 
My mare had a terrible accident seven weeks ago today she put her foot through a bridge and got a very deep wound into which the vet could put his hand and feel the pedal bone, vet has done an amazing job and she is doing well, fully weight bearing etc. We have dressed it every other day with Manuka honey and I have been like a thing possessed to keep her stable clean which the vet stressedwas so important because of where the injury is. We never know if any horse will make a full recovery from an injury until they get back to work but this thread has made me feel optimistic and I hope it has helped the OP too. Good luck to everyone looking after injured and poorly horses keep your chin up xx
 
I am always amazed by how some awful looking injuries on horses can heal. And the pics you get on here in either NL or Veterinary section are very helpful/instructive for when/if you have to face such a thing with your own horse. Though some times I feel like I need a stiff drink after viewing the before pics! OP I hope that does all come good for you and your little mare, glad she's being such a good patient. We had a horse at the yard where I keep mine that sliced open the front of his foot in the pastern area in a very clean line across- I'd never seen anything like it, skin just peeled away above and below. Wasn't stitched but just treated by vet for proud flesh as it formed and 3 months later you'd never know...no sign of a scar even.
 
I don't have pics as it was before we got him but my sister's tb got to a plow when he was 6 weeks old and stripped his leg from the elbow to his knee. he was stiched back up but the top part got infected. When we got him at 11 months old he still had a small open wound and his vetting said he wouldn't be able to do much as he was short on that leg.
We got the last of the wound cleared up and did physio to loosen the scar tissue and now, aside from a scar, you'd never know he'd done anything like he did.
You can feel where the stitches were right round the leg and he has an area several inches across which had become infected and is now just hairless skin but completely sound and no problems.

Definately talk to your vets about using manuka honey on the wound - it will prevent infection and may help prevent proud flesh which will be your enemy in this
 
I have healed some horrendous wounds using honey for dressings and then microcurrent technology. Google 'arc equine' and contact Ian Thirkell for information - it is not that expensive and has had fantastic results.
 
that will heal no problem!

Taz put his foot through some sheep fencing, panicked and pulled back. he removed the whole bulb of his heel, went through 6 arteries and completely de-nerved his foot! he was on 8 months box rest and we didnt even know if his hoof would grow back properly as he had mangled his coronet band but it did and hes now completely fine!
 
Another vote for Manuka Honey (the highest + you can find) as a friend of mine told me about a TB yearling that had got his leg caught under a door & stripped all the flesh off it whilst she was working at a racing yard in New Zealand. She said that they had dressed the leg with Manuka & it healed really well.
 
lapland031205134.jpg

Hopefully pic will show my mares leg after goin down a cattle grid out hunting.
 
This is one of the wounds my horse suffered Xmas day 2010
He did the same on both hinds - sepsis in the tendon sheaths - you name it, he did it.
He had emergency surgery and 19 weeks of box rest, impaction colic and £7,500 in vets fees. He made a complete recovery.

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Have heart - the healing process can be slow but amazing all the same.
I am sure all will come good.

With my horse, once the hair grew back, you would never have known that he had suffered such horrendous injuries.

Good luck x
 
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