Puncture wound :-(

Well, Sandie and I had our first hunter pace today, and unfortunately somehow she ended up with a puncture wound on the inside of her back left leg! Not sure how in the world she got it since she was wearing sport boots and they don't have a hole in them or anything, but sometimes horses amaze me in that they end up getting hurt and you can't figure out for the life of you how they did it!!

Anyway luckily there was a vet on the grounds, and she took a look at Sandie's leg. She told me to get her on antibiotics which we did within the hour. She also said to take her home and scrub it out with betadine, then wrap her back legs.

Now, I'm going to visit her each day, repeat this with some hand walking outside as well. I plan on calling the vet with questions, but thought I would ask on here too in the meantime...

1. How long should I continue to wrap her legs?

2. In the past, I've been instructed to peel off the scab on a puncture wound and keep repeating it until it's healed from the inside out (1-2 weeks with her last one) How long does that normally take?

3. Any special ointments that would be good on it? Right now, I'm putting Novalsan on it, then wrapping it with guaze and then pillow wraps and standing wraps (both back legs so she doesn't favor one)

There was a good article in Equus magazine about wound care...
The Science of Wound Ointments for Horses

Normally I've been told to keep pelling the scab on a puncture would and then syringe it with a betadine solution... to let it heal from the inside out... I dunno?

Took my horse a month to heal up from his puncture wound. But it was really deep. I wrapped his legs probably longer than necessary because I was scared he would get an infection. I have never heard of pealing off the scabs before.

Well good news so far...the swelling was almost gone when I went out to see Sandie today, I hand walked her and she was putting full weight on the leg which is good, no lameness. She was even standing on it and resting the GOOD leg so that's a great sign!

Scrubbed it out really well with betadine and it appears that it's more of a skin flap than a deep puncture which is also good news. Still going to finish her antibiotics and keep it wrapped, but perhaps I can start walking her under saddle in a couple days and gradually get her back to her training as it heals. I can wait, certainly don't want to push her too hard, but I'm glad it doesn't seem to be bothering her much, save being a bit sore if you squeeze it.

Light exercise will improve blood flow and speed healing. Just watch for any signs of pain or infection. (I'm sure you already know that, though)

Sorry to hear your horse was hurt! Sounds like you have a great treatment plan, though. Just wanted to pipe up and say that it's important to complete the full course of antibiotics as prescribed by the vet - just like in people. I agree with peeling the scab. You can just soften it by scrubbing and it should come off easily. Just be sure the betadine is properly diluted or it can be irritating. I'd keep bandaging untill it looks well on it's way to healing just to be safe. I don't see why she can't do some light work if sh'es not lame. It might even help to speed thehealing.
Good luck!

Thanks everyone! I talked to the vet today and she said a lot of the same things, and she told me to keep wrapping until there's no more drainage coming out. She said it takes about a week on average, depending on the wound.

But no swelling, no heat, she's putting weight on it normally, and I free lunged her in the round pen yesterday (just walked mainly, she picked up a trot on her own and I was paranoid and asked her to slow down and walk again haha!) She is moving fine...so today, I may jump on and just walk her around a little to see how she does. The wound is still definitely sore to the touch, but she lets me scrub it out and wrap it without any issues, no kicking or biting or anything like that. So, so far so good!

Good news!