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Nasty foot injury...need some encouragement...

12K views 91 replies 27 participants last post by  Golden Horse 
#1 ·
I wonder sometimes if horses LOOK for something to hurt themselves on. I keep my 4 horses on a 20 acre field. No trees, no stuff, just a big rectangle of flat grass. Two nights ago, my barrel mare of all things comes off the field limping and I find her right front foot covered in blood. Upon closer examination I find why. It LOOKS like she stepped into a wire and then yanked back catching herself just above the heal and it's now a gaping horizontal line deep into the fleshy part of the back of her foot. Luckily no damage to the hoof itself. Just a huge horizontal cut or separation. We decided against stitches because there's too much movement going on back there. I'm now treating her with Underwoods and of course have her on penicillin shots. I'm looking into placing a wedge on the foot to keep that gap from opening so much with each step. I'm not wrapping it per Underwoods' directions. My vet is satisfied with how we're approaching everything. My mare is in good spirits, eating and drinking. It'll just be a long healing road I'm sure. Why my barrel mare??!!! I need encouragement that she'll recover from this. Anyone have any good Underwoods success stories? Anyone deal with a similar injury and if so, how did it turn out? :cry:
 
#3 ·
well, ive never had an injury recently, but one of my dads gelding sliced his whole leg probably about where your saying running into a barn.. and he had to have surgery and blah and it sucked,, and he was fine after a long recovery time!

I hope your mare recovers. I say the same thing about my barrel gelding.. Of all horses he is the one to get caught up in the fence! :(
 
#5 ·
#6 ·
Here's a couple from yesterday. It happened Thursday. These are when she stands square on it. When she leans forward, it gapes open quite a bit and looks worse but no more bleeding. She's obviously limping but still tries to play tag when I go to put the halter on her. She's got spirit that's for sure. It's what makes her so good at her job, which hopefully we'll get to do again some day. :cry:

Grass Sporting Group Plant Liver Canidae


Tree Trunk Plant Woody plant Root
 
#10 ·
That is GOING to get infected unless you dress it somehow. Too late to stitch it now, even if stitches were going to hold it...

Honestly I would wrap the whole foot, and pastern, and fetlock. Tape it at the top with an adhesive tape or bandage that will stretch a little but not a lot. And change that dressing at least every 2 days, preferably daily.

AND I would not keep her in the pasture as too much movement will inhibit healing and may prevent it entirely.

I will share a story of a broken bone - my mother's - to put into perspective how much movement can damage the healing process.

She came off a horse, snapped her humerus. Had a plastic removable "cast" put on it, which was moulded to her arm shape so that it sat the break nicely for it to knit. Was given physio exercises to make sure she didn't lose muscle while it healed.

Did the physio exercises. Every single day, as directed.

The bone would knit, and then when she did the exercises it would snap again from the movement. Eventually it gave up trying to heal. 6 months later, the specialist decided she needed surgery. 5 weeks after that, she got in for her op. It's since been ANOTHER 8 AND A HALF MONTHS and it's STILL not 100%.

Movement inhibits healing. And may stop it entirely. I know bones are different to skin but if it tries to heal and then is ripped open every time it begins to knit it will eventually give up trying. SOME movement is good, but too much is detrimental. Pasture will not be good for this mare, a stall and hand-walking daily will.
 
#11 ·
Did you ever find what she cut herself on?

If you can borrow a metal detector, it would be a lot faster than taking a metal garden rake across 20 acres, no matter how flat and treeless you are.

That's one big Owwee:-( I hope she heals soon but that looks like you're done for this season:-|

There are some horses that just seem like they should come with bubble-wrap:cry:

One of my four is like that but his latest injury was human-induced by a Farrier that thought he knew more than me. Right now the poor horse is in the side yard with a leg/hoof wrap big enough to be another leg. I don't know what kind of drugs the vet injected into him this morning but he's "gimpin' around" pretty darn good - I should've asked for some of whatever it was:-p
 
#12 ·
Oh she's definitely not out in the pasture. I actually took these pics right before I ran the water hose on it and cleaned it with betadine. The Underwoods highly encourages not to wash it with each treatment so I clean it in the morning after she's been laying down and getting it a little messy and then I treat it 3-4 times a day with the Underwoods and baking powder which its supposed to create a bandaid of some sort. I'm so tempted to wrap it but I was strictly told not to with the Underwoods. Moisture retention is bad with this stuff apparently. My vet can't tell me if she'll be sound again right now. We do have the advantage of no hoof damage and she said its just amazing how these guys sometimes bounce back from the nastiest injuries. But yes, our racing days are probably on hold for quite some time. I have another one I'm starting. Guess he'll get more attention than we were both banking on now.
 
#14 ·
One Week

I think I'm going to do weekly updates just to see if y'all see any progress. I know that an injury like this is going to take several weeks and even months so one week is really not much yet. But I'm treating her with Underwood Horse Medicine four times a day right now. Those of you familiar with it, you sprinkle it with baking powder after you spray it on and you are NOT supposed to wrap it which goes against my grain but I really want this stuff to work and I've seen some amazing before and afters. So anyway, today is exactly one week. Not much difference I guess but inside the gap is fresh pink and there's hardly any swelling in that ankle any more. Everything is cool to the touch and no bad smell. We carved her a one inch thick wedge out of oak and gorilla duct taped it to her hoof to help keep the gap closed more when she takes a step. It's not pretty but it does help and also elevates the injury some to keep it off the ground. She's completely stall bound at the moment which is driving her crazy because she's used to 20 or so acres every day. But she's being a good patient. I don't even have to put a halter on her when I come to spray her. She stands perfectly still. So it is what it is. My vet is content with our efforts. Oh and I did find the culprit out in the pasture. There was one strand of barb wire that had come detached from about 3 t-posts on the back side of the pasture and ended up laying on the ground. We've replaced quite a bit of our fencing with finish line and one inch electric strap on top (highly recommend finish line fencing by the way...easy and relatively affordable) but with 45 acres, we can't do it all at once. The back side is still barbed wire and I do ride fences regularly to check them. I'm sick that I didn't catch this loose one in time. We just baled hay in a field that shares this particular fence with her pasture so I'm not sure what happened to cause it to dangle on the ground since then. And it wasn't the lowest wire either so she didn't step into it and then pull it off. I HATE barbed wire! Our place was leased out to cattle folks before we bought it so it was completely barbed wire fenced.

Straw Horse Grass Foal Bovine


Straw Snout Grass Horse Foal
 
#16 ·
I've been giving her the pen shots but according the vet's dosage and she got a tetanus booster the day after it happened. I know it looks bad now but the Underwood does make it look worse. It's a dark brown spray and the baking powder creates a "crust" that you're not supposed to pick off. You are not supposed to wash it or wrap it. I know it's all very opposite of what we're used to. It does keep the flies off and disinfects with each application. I have a friend who experienced this very injury with her horse but many years ago and she said the Underwood healed it completely. He was a trail horse for many years after the injury. And she too said don't wrap it! Let the Underwood do it's thing. So I'm praying that I'm doing the right thing.
 
#18 ·
I just don't know.. I'm not familiar with Underwoods but every instinct tells me that foot is just not going to heal if she's allowed to use it normally... it's just going to keep gaping open.

My pony had a nasty, nasty cut in a similar location. It was cut all the way down to the bone, starting on the back of the foot, wrapping around to the front and actually through the coronet and down into the hoof. We tried for several weeks to get it to heal using a topical cream and wrapping it with cotton and vetwrap, but with every step the pony was ripping the wound open. My vet eventually ended up putting a hard cast on it for a week and that did the trick. Once the cast came off, the leg was weak but much, much better. After some rehab, he was 100% sound.

I don't doubt the Underwoods works but I just am not sure due to the location of the injury, whether it's going to work here. What does your vet think?
 
#19 ·
She said that she does believe it'll heal, it'll just take longer than a cast. It was actually her idea to put a wooden wedge on it to keep the gap from opening so much with each step. I just read a lot of horror stories about stitches and a cast so I'm personally refraining until I just don't see any improvement what so ever. I may just cave and go with a cast anyway. The finances have just not fallen into place for us lately. We had a barn fire last fall and now our home A/C needs to be replaced in the middle of a Texas August. My credit card is bursting at the seams. Nikelodeon, it is good to read that your pony is sound after such a bad injury. Thanks for commenting.
 
#20 ·
I had a 6 month old filly that from all guess got her front right leg over a fence, got stuck, panicked, and basically sawed her leg down to the bone. By the time I saw it, she was dragging her leg and hobbling around. I thought for sure the vet would put her down. Nope...he's real old school and gruff...said she'll be just fine. Gave her tetanus, pain meds, antibiotics, and some wound care stuff. My farrier recommended the underwoods.
I'm an RN and it went against everything nurse wise to not clean it. I would still use the underwoods and clean her wound. My farrier said...look, just trust me and follow the directions. He has never steered me wrong so I agreed. I did look like hell for a long time, but within 6 months everything had healed...completely. Everything grew back, even the hair was the same color and barely any scar. I wish I had before and after pics to show you. You could not even tell she had this massive gaping gash in her leg 6 months before. The underwoods is some a may zing stuff!! I say stick with it as long as she isn't showing any signs/symptoms of infection, and it sounds like your vet agrees with your current treatment plan.

I'm sending healing vibes your way!!
 
#21 ·
Oh and she was completely sound to ride when the time came. Absolutely no limp, tenderness, or gait abnormality at all. The vet thought I was crazy bc I just didn't believe she would recover so well!!
If that had happened to one of us...we would be in the hospital for a very long time!!
 
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#23 ·
With the injury gaping open like that, I would for sure recommend wrapping it. We had a gelding cut the back of his fetlock on the fence - deep enough to hit a small artery, but not deep enough to hit a tendon. He walked around spraying blood everywhere, but not limping. The limp came a bit later - guess it started getting sore.

Needless to say, we called the vet out. By the time the vet got there, we had pretty much stopped the bleeding. He cleaned the cut out good, and because of the location, advised against stitches. He did, however, recommend keeping the the whole hoof and lower leg wrapped to keep debris out of the wound.

We changed dressings every other day for almost two weeks before the vet said it might be safe to leave it open. We also used a powdered antibiotic the vet gave us in a puffer bottle. Horse healed up fine, but it sure was a lot of work.

Now - I have nothing against Underwoods at all - its great stuff. I used it on Rain when she stuck her foot somewhere it didn't belong and ripped the front of her fetlock open. Daughter was all panicked wanting to call the vet, but when I got home to see the injury for myself, I realized it looked bad, but was not deep. It healed up just fine with the Underwoods, and it sure was a lot less work than the gelding's cut was... but it was also a lot less serious.
 
#24 ·
My mare cut herself in that fashion, she severed an artery when she did it. We stitched and wrapped. That being said, Did the vet say soaking would be ok? I would want to soak it in some kind of betadine solution.

BUT... I had a cut on my older horse years ago, we never figured out what he did, it almost looked like he ran into something during a storm, he had a perfect 90 degree angled cut that flapped and went really deep. By the time we found it, (the next morning) it was past the 5-6 hour window for stitching so we used some type of granulating spray on it. The first few days I cleaned it with a betadine scrub daily and then sprayed that spray twice a day. After a few days I was told that by cleaning it everyday I was delaying the healing process because it needed to be allowed to scab so I just started spraying the spray over the ick. It drove me nuts because there would be dried sawdust in it or pieces of hay that I couldn't pick out w/out disturbing the scab. But it did heal so... I would follow the vets advice, just keep a really good eye on it.

Any soreness or oozing and you need to have the vet check it sooner than later. Any new swelling or heat, etc.

As for the underwoods stuff, a friend of mine used it for a huge cut/gash over a fractured canon bone and her horse healed with no scar whats so ever.
 
#25 ·
I have never used Underwoods on a gash like that, but it really does work, and you don't have to wash the wound.


Little Baby Flight managed to find a nail and put a flap cut at the top of her leg, I washed it well first, which she hated, but then I just used underwoods and powder on it. It was a lot easier to do, didn't have to restrain her, or fight with her, less traumatic for her, and for the wound. I was twitchy about it because being a baby she was lying down a lot, and it looked grungy, but it healed quickly and cleanly.

If the vet is happy with the protocol you are using, and if you watch it like a hawk and deal with it if it gets hot or swollen, I say keep doing what you are doing.
 
#26 ·
Boy do I need your cheerleading right now and keep the success stories coming. I am so praying I get to be the one to share a success story some day. I've had horses since the age of 14 and I'm almost 39 now and believe it or not, so far this is the worst cut I've ever had to deal with. I've been blessed in that department. The vet is definitely satisfied with how we are handling it outside of casting it and I am sending her pictures every couple of days. So now I just need to be patient I guess. It looks ugly and dirty but I'm impressed how cool everything feels and how the swelling is going down. The inside of the gap is moist and it kind of bubbles when she steps but its clear and smells normal. I check on her every hour or so. Luckily I have her at my home and the stall is just a carport and a haystack length away. She'll be one pampered little girl by the time this is all over but she deserves it. Wish I could do more. Better yet, wish I could go back in time and find that blasted wire before she did.
 
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