Ridecamp: Re: [RC] Leg Wound Help

Well, Val, not seeing the wound I can't really say.  But I'll tell you what
I did when Sig torn the skin off his hind leg in one long continuous strip
about 4 inches wide from front of hock down to top of hoof and was walking
on it plus gashed open one front leg about two inches down to bone just
above the knee.

First I gave him pain killers -- injected.  (I always keep pain killers in
my first aid kit and I feel every horseowner should know how to give shots,
ALL kinds, into muscle, vein.)

Then I poured bottles (that's bottles with an 's' on the end) of Hydrogen
Peroxide down the hindleg.  When I was done --I'd say about a gallon.
Trimmed skin.  Washed it off with some HP, rolled and packed in ice (from my
camper freezer).  Later froze skin.

Mixed a solution of apple cider vinegar, baby oil and a little alum and with
a light facial brush women use to put power on with -- painted the whole
surface of his leg both over the wound and a couple inches onto the
surrounding skin and hair.

The vet came up and I bought some more pain killers and he felt the leg
would never heal.  One could see the tendons, white membrane covering over
bone and Sig  only had a few patches of skin and hair left down the wound.

The front leg wound, I washed it with HP, made sure it was clean and packed
it with Bickmore Gall Salve.  And left it alone.  It was incision type slash
so no ragged edges.  Didn't stitch anything.

Luckily, this happened a week before Christmas.  Cold weather -- no flies.
I didn't bandage.  The cold weather about average 30's to 40's help draw the
heat out of the leg.  So daily routine was wash leg with cold water from
hose every two hours for a week or so, pour on HP, paint.  When swelling
went down I kept the leg painted and gave him pain killers twice a day.

After a couple days (or so, not sure of time), I took skin out of freezer,
let it thaw, washed with HP and cut little wedges out.  Then I stuck 'em to
Sig's leg in a random pattern.  Some stuck, some didn't.  When one fell off,
I put another one on.  I'd paint over each transplant session to keep the
patches from falling off.  And after about a couple days had patches stuck
to his leg about every inch or so -- boy did some people laugh at that!

After a week I dropped, pain killers to once a day and within two weeks --
he was laying down in stall with shavings.  Leg had formed a heavy clear
seal over it and within a month -- new hair was growing on leg.  I kept
painting it at least 2, 3 times a day for a couple months -- I just put my
camper at barn and lived there.  My world revolved around caring for Sig --
no job, no husband, just Sig.  Told my boss at work (I was a Secretary at
Lockheed then with about 125 people so it wasn't a take lightly job) that I
had a 'sick family member' and would be gone for a month.

Front leg healed and as it healed, the Bickmore grew out with the healing.
No scarring.

I rode Sign in about two months just lightly around the barn and hauled him
on a horsecamping expedition to the Sierra four months after accident.  20
years later the only damage one can see to hindleg is some scarring of about
two inches.  All the hair is there and it still matches his other while
hindleg.  If I had a scanner, I'd scan the pictures for all to see.  If you
want to see him, go to website www.twohorseenterprises.com -- Sig's the
sorrel with white blaze and white legs on highline logo.

Three vets came up to look at him and really were amazed at his recovery.
One had suggested putting him down.

Bonnie Davis


----- Original Message -----
From: "Val Nicoson" <sweetmare55@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Friday, December 06, 2002 6:46 AM
Subject: [RC] Leg Wound Help


> Yet another learning experience for my mare and I want
> to be sure to do the right thing for her.  She has a
> nice horizontal cut (gash) just below her left front
> knee but the stable says it doesn't need stitching
> (marginal IMHO).  She also has some scrapes around her
> fetlock and pastern areas.  All these wounds are on
> the front of her leg.
> She is swollen a ways up from her knee and all the way
> down to her fetlock, perhaps some minute swelling in
> her pastern but hard to tell.  The swelled area does
> have heat and there is definitely fluid about the knee
> region.
> This all happened on Wednesday but due to the weather
> the stable manager didn't call me...and didn't call me
> yesterday either.  I discovered it when I went out
> last night to visit her.  There was a note from the
> manager on the stall door...she had washed it off and
> put some
> ointment on the wound.
> Another boarder suggested 3 grams of Bute which we did
> give her (she needed something).  Did hose her down
> for 15 minutes which reduced the swelling nicely and
> then put some yellow ointment on it.  She does get
> some MSM in her morning grain ration so did double
> that to help with the joint swelling.
> OK...here are my questions...
> 1.  What else can I use besides Bute?  Banamine I can
> get but it is expensive.  Anything else out there that
> would help and for how long should these meds be used?
> 2.  Ice or Heat?  Did hose her leg down with very cold
> water.  When does one use both...20 min of ice and
> then 20 min of heat?  Can only get to the barn once a
> day... so it that OK...is once a day OK or should it
> be done twice a day?
> 3.  Should the wound be wrapped or left open?  If
> wrapped should there be ointment/gauze under that?
> 4.  Should she be turned out at all for 1-2 hours or
> kept in the stall?  If stall kept, would handwalking
> help or not?
> I will be calling a vet today to obtain some meds and
> perhaps he might order some penicillin or other stuff.
> Thanks for your help...this is my first at dealing
> with such an injury,
> Val + Sania
>
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 Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net.
 Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp
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 Ride Long and Ride Safe!!

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