Major horse injury - manuka honey for wound?

L

leonh

Active Member
Joined
8 October 2010
Messages
43
Visit site
advice needed please by anyone who has any tips!

i have put a video to this thread on youtube under "Voodoo's injury-warning - you will see blood!".

So, to cut a long story short, last friday when checking my 6 horses at my stables, which are at my house, one of my polo mares had a large A4 size of flesh hanging down under her belly, flapping, it was the whole of her hide, fat and nerves. i could see lots and lots of clotted blood, and muscle from her belly. i would love to post a photo but it is very, very graphic hence youtube for those who are interested. vet and myself think she did it on the cleft oak rails or fence posts. (suggestions?) the wound shape is a large 'V' with the pointy bit about a foot from her boobs. the edges were torn, ripped, and you could just tell it had happened very quickly, and she hit something very hard, as if she had reared up along fence post and tried to leap out of the way and hitting the wood with her belly. all my horses get on, they have a pecking order and are calm and happy (however, Voodoo is spookish around a certain mare who is in the video staying out of her way when all others crowd round and share empathy with her). after the vet had left (he got there in 20 mins stayed 3hrs) i scoured the whole of the 11 acre field looking for fur, blood or skin. anything to give me a clue. nothing. we have no nails, metal, wire either. Anyway, vet stitched up edges after cleaning wound and cutting off dead /destroyed skin, but today after 3rd bandage removal wound not fixing back and edges started in slough and die. infection will set in if we dont do something. So, vet going to remove whole large flap friday. wound size will be big as mans hand spanned open.

question is, i have bought lots of activan manuka honey this afternoon via internet, but someone just told me aloe vera is best. what will heal this wound, which is down to bare muscle, best, as seen on video? and has anyone had a serious flesh wound on their horse? do they heal that well? if so, whats healing process like, any tips? she is a good, kind, playful mare and only 7yrs old, ex-racehorse, ran a few times, irish TB and steel roan grey. brilliant at hacking and polo and would love to jump her one day. She is fine going out in fields with others grazing as long as dressing/bandages stay dry. she is pretty chunky at the moment due to me going rugless this yr and fattening them up before winter. think i went overboard as she is a good doer and twice her 'polo' weight!! so any feed suggestions that help immmune system and are lo cal greatly apreciated too!
 
I'm sure that your vet will give you fairly detailed instructions after he debrides the wound so don't worry too much.

To be honest I expect you will be suprised by how quickly it heals, assuming there are no bits of wood etc., tucked away in there.

I have found manuka honey to be very useful in this type of wound, and quite low maintenance as it tends to seal the affected area, keeping it moist but clean whilst it continues to heal. Other (less sticky) ointments do require more application, and tend to necessitate more frequent cleaning of the wound, which I find can slow healing down a bit.

Good luck!
 
I worked for Dechra's PR agency a couple of years ago, and wrote up several case studies about severe wounds which were successfully treated with Activon.
I'd suggest that you contact Georgie Hollis-from Intelligent Wound Care www.intelligentwoundcare.com. Can't recommend her highly enough
 
Have found Manuka honey very good for any woundworks for humans too,,a friend had horrendous leg ulcers which healed brilliantly in a short ammount of time after months of useless treatment from her doctor.
Sounds as though she is in good condition which should help the healing process
 
Manuka honey is amazing ,but so too is the natural healing ability of the horse. Honey is weird stuff ,Eva crane wrote a book on it,(about 4 inches thick) one day I will finnish reading it.
 
I'm a huge convert to using manuka honey. My youngster has mud fever on her 3 white legs and I experimented with different methods on each leg. The one with the manuka honey has healed beautifully. I then tried it on a grass wart and it went overnight!

Obviously your horse has a far more significant wound to treat and you will need to work in conjunction with your vet but I'd say give it a go.
 
Hi leonh,
I got your e-mail so will be in touch today just to have a chat about what to expect with Voodoo's wound. It will be fine i'm sure.

Just thought i'd join the forum (and thanks for the motivation to have my pennyworth!) to clear up the difference between Aloe and Honey.

Honey is great stuff and is probably the better option for your wound at the moment. Its role is as a debriding and antimicrobial agent.

Honey, particularly Manuka, has a broad antimicrobial effect that has been shown through centuries to help with wounds. Particularly dirty ones. About as strong as topical gentamicin, a thick layer of honey will help debride all that slough and gunk that is stopping your horses wound from healing at the moment.
Aloe Vera is good stuff too, but its better for a different type of wound. Usually, it is used on clean wounds to encourage healthy blood vessel formation, so once honey has done its job, then by all means switch over to Aloe, but really looks like honey is the better option at this stage.

Just a word of caution for honey lovers! Don't be conned into thinking the higher the + value on the manuka the better - it usually goes with a higher price too - all you need is a UMF (unique manuka factor) of +10 for wounds. unfortunately the people who do the testing of manuka and subsequently licence this UMF(r) rating charge to use it, so not all companies can afford to use it (or have their honey tested at all). So beware the fraudsters!

Contains Manuka doesn't mean its 100% Manuka and Active 10, bioactive 10 and kanuka factor are NOT the real deal and won't necessarily be appropriate for wounds - but you can bet they come with a good price tag. :-)

The best and 100% pure manuka honey i know of for wounds is the Activon range available from Dechra Veterinary Products. And i don't work for them before anyone asks!! Its just not too expensive at £2-3 a 25g tube and i know for a fact it is not blended and meets all the testing standards.

:-)
hope all that helps and happy to help debunk any wound dressing myths! :-)
 
Not used manuka honey, but a 20 year old horse escaped from his field and went through barbed wire. He shredded his forearm in the same way your mare seems to have done, a big V shaped rip from the top of his leg to just above his knee. It also would not hold its stitches. The wound was kept covered (pair of trousers!) when he went in the field (summer, lots of flies). It was left open the rest of the time, but kept covered in Derma gel with Sudocrem on the edges. It looked horrendous at about 2 weeks as the wound granulated, lots of oozing and weeping fluid (hence the Sudocrem on the edges, so the good skin didn't blister as much). It healed so well that all that was left was a very small ridge of scar tissue you had to squint to see. So I think the healing ability in horses is quite impressive- hope the same happens to your mare.
 
We've had a few nasty wounds over the years, and one that sounds similar to yours on a weanlings foreleg - the flap died after stitching which we pretty much expected, but it healed really well and eventually left only a small scar from a wound easily a handspan from top to bottom and just as wide. I have to say the best stuff apart from honey I've used was Intrasite gel - they use it on humans for leg ulcers - expensive stuff and is basically a collagen gel to provide all the building blocks the body needs to heal itself but worked wonders and certainly speeded up the healing process, along with antibiotics too of course, and a dressing pad over the top to stop the dirt and gunk getting in.
 
..doh!! just realised George has posted to my thread above!!! brilliant!!! will keep you all posted! thanks a million everyone who replied. weird as it sounds feel better that have support of feedback xx
 
... glad i bought all activon honey .. went on medicalhoney and bought some algi 10x10 dressing, box of, and 12 x 25g tubes of the honey. cant wait for it to arrive and praying get here before friday afternoon.

also, always thought 25+ was best to get. in fact spend a fair few hundred quid of it for myself as i had quinces (bad tonsilitus) two yrs ago and was willling to try anything. knew it was good internally but never knew manuka was above par on wound healing/dressing. thought it was waste of money and honey.

however need to think outside the box. nature has all the answers after all. googled this topic till 3am so seen evidence of miracles with antibitical healing powers. Going buy it in bulk and slap it on thick.... can see it now .. greedy yellow labrador following her around paddocks licking his chops ..... should have called him pooh bear
 
Hi,

I have never used Manuka honey on my horse, but my flatmate had a horrible leg injury, was in and out of hospital and it just wouldn t heal at all, on her last visit to hospital the wound got infected with a localised MRSA infection:eek: Well her mother is a reflexologist / new age card reader / general all round hippy (for want of a better word) and my poor friend had been point blank refusing any help from her, any herbal/ non-medical treatment was a complete no- no up until this point. All those years growing up with a new-age mother has turned her into a very scientific, no hocus-pocus kind of gal! But i think she was just so fed up, her leg wasnt healing, and now instead of getting better was contaminated with a highly contagious, antibiotic resistent localised infection....so she let her mother arrive on our doorstep brandishing two great big jars of honey... Manuka to be specific, I think it was +15 UMF... she slathered the stuff all over the wound - my friend promised she wouldnt wash it off, and she kept dressing it for a couple of weeks. Within 3 days, the wound looked so much better it was incredible. Within two weeks she went back to the hospital and they said the infection was gone (and this is an antibiotic resistent bug) and she was healing nicely. Once it was fully healed she, now only has a small pale scar on her leg!

I had never heard of it before, but have since used it on my own arm when i cut it, and have mixed it as a drink with lemon when ive had a throat infection. Im definitely a convert to its healing properties now!

Horses are much stronger and resilient than we give them credit for, but if i was in your situation I would be definitely asking my vet about manuka, and using it in conjunction with their treatment if possible. I wouldnt advise going against your vets advice. They tend to know their stuff! If they say its too soon, maybe wait until its started healing, as it will probably help reduce the scarring left in the final stages.

Anyway hope Voodoo makes a full recovery ! Fingers crossed xxxx
 
I would really take your vets advice. Manuka Honey is great but may not be man enough for the initial healing. Your vet will know what to do.
 
For the record and well reminded Huntley... certainly would not advocate managing a wound like this (or any wound - even small ones) without professional guidance from your own vet.
 
Hi

Just thought I would share my experience of using manuka honey. Friday my dog jumped the fence into our front garden and some **** had smashed a pint glass on our fence, resulting in dog ripping his paw pad , blood everywhere and about half the pad was hanging off . Took him straight down the vets and they cleaned it, put manuka honey on it and vet wrapped it. He's been back every other day since and yesterday when we took the bandage off I honestly couldnt believe the difference. Its healed so well and quickly that he now only has a light bandage on, can be walked again and on friday night I can take it off completely. I asked the vet why it healed up so quickly as was so shocked (expected to be going back and fore the vets for a few weeks) and he put it down to the manuka honey. The other great thing about using the honey is I thought it would stop the wound drying up but it hasnt the wound is pretty much dry. Yesterday the vet just put some wound powder on it just to make sure.
 
Mine had a similar wound a few years ago when she spooked when tied, pulled the metal ring and wood it was attached to off of the outside of the stable (without snapping the bailing twine, oh yes she is talented) and galloped down the field, tried to jump the gate into the field and impaled herself on the fence post. Vet was called immediately and found she had actually dislodged all the muscle around the area. With internal and external stitches, draining by the vet, cleaning and dressing by me, antibiotics and stable rest she was fine in a few weeks (I would not have thought it possible). Trust your vet and try to follow their instructions closely, try to get their advise on any other treatments before you administer them.

Good luck, I hope she recovers quickly. Keep us posted!
 
I`d try the manuka honey!
One of my mares tore her hock to shreds in 2009 (no idea what she done it on, have never foudn the culprit) because of where the wound was the vet couldnt stitch and he didnt really have much hope of it healing nicely. My mare had a puncture wound as well as welt up her hind leg and two huge gashes across the hock, it was oozing for two weeks and wouldnt heal. My brothers ex (vets nurse) suggested manuka honey, so using a poultice pad I used the honey and changed it every few days, within a few days the wound started to heal and now there is very little visible scarring. Scars that she has from before I bought her have all healed black, this scar and all wounds (she`s a self harming horse :P) have healed with her natrual golden colour .
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top