Wound healing and treating bandage pressure point

horseobsessed

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I have a horse that cut the outside of his fetlock joint very badly two weeks ago. The wound has been cleaned and re bandaged daily, and i have just started to take the bandage off during the day to let the air get to it so it can start to scab over and heal. However since taking the bandage off, she has developed a lump on the back of the tendon half way up the leg. This is no where near the wound but where the bandage has finished so presume is a pressure point. What can i do to help disperse it? and will it go? she still needs to be on box rest so turning out isn't a possibility but could walk out in hand. Also what about magnet boots? are they ok on a leg with an open wound?! Many Thanks!!
 
Sorry to hear about your horses injury. Not sure about the lump on the tendon - it does sound like a pressure sore, but I presume you would have used gamgee or someother material under the bandage so I would be suprised that this has happened. I would consult the vet if you can to ask his advice. Magnetic boots should not (amongst other things) be used over an open wound, near the heart, brain, in an animal with tumours and many other circumstances that I can't think of off the top of my head. You are really lucky (although you probably don't feel it right now) that you are able to bandage such a bad cut without having to resort to a plaster cast and hospilisation. My first horse lacerated his fetlock joint from one side to the other falling down a ditch on a pleasure ride and catching his fetlock on a brick with the bank of the ditch and a tendon was severed and another tendon cut. The whole joint had opened up and he had an operation to flush the joint out, replace the synovial fluid and have a plaster cast on. Unfortunately plaster casts do not work very well on horses and he kept getting heel rubs which made him lame. The hospital he was at (Bourton Vale) battled really hard for three weeks trying desperately to save him and he had three ops under GA but he couldn't be saved as the heel rubs and terrible sores under the casts made him lame all the time. The last time after being lame for the fourth time he had the cast taken off this time under a local anaesthetic and he lifted his leg, and kicked it out and opened up the joint completely again, and what little healing had taken place didn't hold. He was euthanased. They said if they ever got a horse in with the same injury they wouldn't bother next time. However this was 11 years ago and things have progressed so I think they could probably save such an injury these days. Good luck with your horse. Hope my reply isn't too depressing.
 
So sorry to hear about your boy, i lost mine in the summer so know how hard it is. Yes bandaged with softban vet gamgee and vet wrap and def didn't over tighten although have been doing it for 2 weeks now.The lump is directly where bandage has been finishing and is very localised. If it is a pressure lump what can i do and will it go?
Also could i use magnet boots as they would not cover the wound itself?
 
My horse fractured his leg 2 yrs ago now and was in a Robert Jones bandage for weeks. There was so much padding that I was amazed he got pressure sores but it was where the bandage had slipped slightly. We made a donut out of bandages to 'lift' the dressings of the pressure points which were at the back of his knee and that did the job but then he got something that sounds just like you are describing on his tendon towards the top of his cannon bone but to be honest I wasnt too bothered at the time as my boy was lucky to be alive. The lump went of its own accord. If I was you I would either shorten or lengthen where you are bandaging too to release and spread the pressure on the lump.
Good luck I hope he has a speedy recovery.
 
No you really should not use magnets of any shape/size no matter what they are contained in over an open wound animal or human the rule still applies. I don't know what to suggest about the pressure lump to be honest. No doubt it will go but it is obviously there as an indication that something about the bandaging is incorrect. I'd ask someone at your yard for advice. Vet wrap is meant to protect pressure sores/lumps. This is weird. Sorry I'm not much help.
 
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