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Just how deceptive can a wound be... *graphic*

11K views 70 replies 35 participants last post by  palominolover 
#1 ·
I wanted to share this as a "warning" of sorts. Warning isn't the right word, but it is late here and my brain is in shut down mode. Also for anyone who is interested in the progress of something like this.

On the 10th of April my wonderful old, retired standardbred, Kody, hobbled up to the fence and greeted me with this...



After some colourful language and cleaning I was left with this...



I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking "it could have been so much worse!" I bandaged him up and chucked him in to a yard.

The next day, while doing morning chores, I stopped at the fence of his yard and called him over. He made his way to me, cautiously and obviously sore. As he got close I watched as he dragged the toe on that foot. And I watched as he struggled to flip the toe back up to step forward. And then he knuckled over. Shoot.

So I called the vet. She came and confirmed what I had suspected when that foot went over underneath him. Severed lateral extensor tendon. With the added bonus of a decent amount of suspected nerve damage.

That little, what should have been minor wound was much, much deeper than it looked. There were also two "pockets" under the skin underneath the wound that were collecting fluid.

He was obviously put on antibiotics and I began bandaging from hoof to hock to stabilise the fetlock joint and try to prevent the horrible knuckling over. He was locked up and our journey back to pasture soundness began.

Now as if that wasn't enough, we had a setback when Kody developed a nasty allergic reaction to one of the antibiotics he was on. I went out in the evening to feed and rug and found him standing in a corner, looking completely miserable. Under normal circumstances he would have turned his head to greet me with a nicker. I could see him looking at me, the white of his eye was showing as he looked back at me.

Shoot again! I haltered him, which is when I got a good look at his chest and saw how swollen one side of it was, and asked him to flex his neck. Nope, no deal, wasn't happening. I asked him to lower his head. Nope, no deal, not happening. Took his temperature. Elevated. Dialed the vet again. She came out and diagnosed an allergic reaction to the Neomycin. Each site that he had been given an injection in had swelled. The neck had done so internally, which is why he could not move his head more than a few inches in any direction. He had also collected some fluid on his lungs.

This was his chest while we waited for the vet...



I spent that night monitoring him very closely, checking his temperature every hour or so. I had his water bin up on a chair so it was at a height he could reach. His feed bucket was tied up high as well. He was interested in neither for the next 12 hours.

So obviously he was pulled off the Neomycin and we continued with the Penicillin.

At 7 days, we had this...



At 10, we had this...



So here we are at day 39, after 3 full courses of antibiotics, plus the discontinued neomycin. Daily bandage changes and having finally discovered an awesome, innovative way to stop him from knuckling over altogether thanks to a girl on another forum. He has a tennis ball strapped behind his pastern :lol::lol:

This is what we have now...



Our focus now, is getting that tendon healed. We still have a long way to go.

So there you have it. A wound that, honestly, when I saw it all cleaned up on that first day I thought "pffft, I've dealt with worse!" has turned out to be one of the most challenging things to deal with (and one of the most expensive too! Nearing a grand in vet bills, well over that if we factor in the cost of bandages, gauze, etc!).

Bloody horses!!
 
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#31 ·
Never ending! Leg is progressing well. Went out this morning and he has some minor patchy swelling on his belly and a little swelling on one side of his sheath! Going to give his sheath a bit of a clean and see if that helps....oy vey!
 
#33 ·
wow, thanks for sharing this, i hope he is doing well (not going to lie, didnt read all 4 pages of responses). i had a similar situation with my horse where she got a little wound on a hind leg that i thought i could handle. got infected and got some antibiotics from the vet but it still wouldnt heal. turned out she had a bone sequestrum and needed surgery! ended up taking like 2+ months for her to heal. those injuries can really trick you so when in doubt i always have the vet out now :)
 
#34 ·
I had one of those many years ago. Not as bad, though. I saw that my horse had a smallish cut on her front canon bone, but as she has feathers and had her winter coat, I didn't get a great look at it. But she wasn't lame. I washed it, put some neosporin on it, and continued riding as normal (being 17 and a bit dumb). Several days later, I came out of school to hear a message from on my mobile phone from one of the barn workers, saying horse was lame when they brought her in from turn out and they had phoned the vet. I hurried to the stable and met the vet, who told me it was an infected puncture wound and if it hadn't been treated, "her leg could have fallen off."
 
#35 ·
It's amazing isn't it, how something minor can turn nasty quickly!!

I am still a little baffled by what occurred with his sheath. When I cleaned it up I discovered three small, but distinct puncture wounds as well as several smaller scrapes and scratches. I have ZERO idea what could have caused them. I walked his yard several times and can not find anything that could have caused injuries like that!

Luckily though, with a good clean and fly spraying daily the swelling has subsided and the punctures are healing. Strangest thing!

Leg wound is doing great. He is definitely starting to get more use from that tendon too, so obviously that is healing well now. He is still bandaged from hoof to hock, but only with one roll of vet wrap now instead of the two we were using previously! His bandage changes are now also every second day instead of daily! WOOO!
 
#37 ·
For the first 6 weeks we used natural honey and since then have been using just an antiseptic cream called Septicide.

Here's the boy this evening. I will try to remember to take another shot of the wound when I change his bandage tomorrow. As you can see he has decided it is good fun to pull the padding out from under the bandage!

"It's hard work, this healing business, Mum. I think I need more carrots!"


"If I smile REAL big can I have more carrots!?"

 
#38 ·
interesting! Glad I asked :D
I've never heard of local honey being used to treat wounds before. I've heard of people eating it to help with allergies (which I then read somewhere doesn't actually work, but who knows?), but never for wound treatment.
Does it have antibiotic/antiseptic properties?
Tell me more :)




What a ham he is! I love him so much!!
 
#39 ·
The honey was what the vet recommended to me. It has antimicrobial as well as antibacterial properties. It is also pretty fantastic at controlling proud flesh. The day 10 photo is the most granulation tissue we have had over the entire course of treating the wound. Not once have I applied anything for the purpose of decreasing proud flesh. It just hasn't grown.

Obviously, its something you want to discuss with the vet if you are thinking of using it for a nasty wound, but it will definitely be something kept in my "vet kit" from now on!
 
#40 ·
HowClever, thank you for posting this thread. Very educational and while so unfortunate for you and your very handsome and personality loaded boy, it is one of the main reasons I joined years ago. To learn and share with other horse people.

Glad he is doing well. It is amazing how they can injure themselves even in a padded stall it seems. If I thought wrapping them in bubble wrap would work I would do so without hesitation. But, we all know it wouldn't.

Please keep us posted on his progress. Looking good!
 
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#43 ·
Holy cows! I just went back and reread the whole thread and boy does his leg look great now! You did a wonderful job! I can only imagine how happy your vet is also to have client as dedicated as you are! :D

It doesn't even look like the leg is much bigger in that area of the leg where the wound is. But its hard to tell.

Again, fantastic job to You, the horse, and the vet!
 
#44 ·
Wow, thanks! That was a heck of a lot of compliments! :D

There is very little swelling at all now. He's a little fluid-y around the fetlock, but it is barely noticeable without laying hands on him. He's got a little bit of a bump just below the wound, which I assume is scar tissue, so it may or may not hang around.

Overall, I'm really happy with it!
 
#45 ·
We have had a major setback.

We've have had ridiculously wild weather here. Two storm fronts, both the equivalent of category 2 cyclones in 3 days. We've got trees down all over the property, even the old water tank that has been here for several decades is now shattered all over the ground.

Sometime in the chaos Kody has reinjured the leg. He's roughly a 4 out of 5 lame. His fetlock is hot and swollen. The vet visited him today and the prognosis is not particularly good. There is a chance that he has simply knocked it or wrenched it, however there is also a chance that he has fractured a sesamoid or had a piece of bone chip off. If he were a younger, sounder horse we would xray and treat accordingly. Being 23, arthritic and still healing from the tendon damage it would almost be cruel to put him through another massive recovery and there is no saying he would come through it.

For know he is being given bute twice daily as well as being cold hosed twice daily and continuing with bandaging for support. If he does not show significant improvement, or if he worsens, then we may have reached the end of the road.
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#52 ·
Thanks for all of your thoughts and well wishes.

I am daring to be a little more optimistic at the moment. The swelling has drastically reduced, the heat is all but gone and he is walking much better. Having said that, he is confined to an area that is about 5 metres x 6 metres so he hasn't been doing an awful lot of moving.

He went off his food for a few days which had me really preparing for the worst, however his appetite is back with a vengeance now and he has polished off 2 feeds and about 15kg of hay today.

I am having to mix his bute up in honey and syringe it down his throat morning and night as he has grown wise to all my usual tricks though! Ratbag!

Here he is yesterday morning...



So keep the jingles coming! It seems that so far they just might be working!
 
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