Should you still ride if your horse has cut his leg?

[Quartz]

Got down to the yard today at lunch time to find my horse with 2 cuts,one on each leg at the back. They are only small, but at the time looked bad as of course was lots of blood on legs. YO was on her French lunch break of two and a half hours so couldn't ask her opinion on his cuts. I cleaned them all up and then put the appropriate lotions and creams on. As I said I'm sure its nothing serious but didn't ride him, as felt better to be safe than sorry. What would you of done? Would you still of ridden him?

 

[Slave2Magic]

I guess it depends how bad they are. Is the horse lame? Is there any swelling? I wouldn't put cream on though as it traps in any germs. Salt water is best for small wounds.

 

[Cop-Pop]

It depends on how deep they are and where they are - if I stopped riding everytime my TBx did some damage to herself I'd never ride lol

 

[Quartz]

I guess it depends how bad they are. Is the horse lame? Is there any swelling? I wouldn't put cream on though as it traps in any germs. Salt water is best for small wounds.

Was resting the leg with the larger cut, also felt hot to the touch around the area, and that was after hosing down with freezing water. Problem is I think the cut would of happened yesterday as he would have had all day turnout as I wasn't there to ride him. Am going back in half an hour to check it out again.

 

[brighteyes]

No - there's a risk of getting contamination even deeper into a wound and the movement works it in. Risk of infection is high on legs anyway and there's too much of vital importance to risk! IME antibiotics are quite often required for leg wounds greater than minor, minor surface grazes.