My horse has a boo boo!

Ever horse owner, at some point or another, has had to deal with an injury. Being the proud owner of a gangly 17H thoroughbred who thinks a rusty nail is his best friend, I have had more than my fair share of them. Most injuries are easily dealt with at the barn. A scrape here, a scratch there. An occasional puncture wound or two. Every horse owner, every horse person, should be comfortable with diagnosing, cleaning, and treating these “minor” injuries. But what exactly should you be able to treat by yourself? When should you call the vet? And what is the best way to take care of that oozy, nasty looking cut?

When to send out an SOS

No one likes to have their vet out. It usually either means a) they are coming out for routine (aka expensive as hell) vaccines and checkups or b) there is something seriously wrong with your horse.

But what a lot of people forget is that a phone call is free and if you have a good working relationship with your vet (which every horse owner needs to have, I don’t care if you have to bribe them with presents on every major holiday) they can often tell you what is wrong with your horse AND tell you how to treat it without you having to spend $60 for them to drive up your driveway, look at your horse for all of five seconds, nod slowly, and say “Yep, that sure is a puncture wound. Cold hose it twice a day. Here’s some SMZs and a $200 bill.”

Now, there are several situations where you should have your vet out immediately (do not pass go, do not collect $200):

- You cannot stop the bleeding. I don’t mean a slow trickle of blood coming from a scrape, I mean a reasonable amount of blood coming from a wound that may or may not look serious, but will not stop bleeding. This includes large gashes and cuts, where it is obvious that stitches will need to given.

- An eye injury. I made the mistake three years ago of not calling the vet when my horse came in with a slightly runny, slightly puffy eye. I washed it out with saline solution and put on a cold compress. The next morning his eye was swollen up to the size of a golf ball and he spent two weeks at the vet clinic after undergoing emergency surgery to save his eye. Turns out a pony in the field had kicked him and sliced off the top layer of his cornea. Eye injuries need to be taken seriously. A lot of times a runny eye is just allergies, but sometimes it’s not.

- Any type of tendon, ligament, or bone injury. I know a lot of people like to deal with bowed tendons and splints themselves. I personally don’t. I consider a bowed tendon a serious injury and while I know how to treat one should it occur, I want to do so under the supervision of my vet. Generally an injury of this type will hurt your horse immensely and they will be very sore, if not three legged lame. There should be lots of heat and swelling. If you can, cold hose while you wait for your vet to arrive, but don’t make your horse walk any more than they absolutely have to if they are in a lot of pain. If you suspect a bone injury, don’t move them at all.

- The ever-so-fun mystery lameness. Your horse does not have any obvious wounds or injuries. There is no heat or swelling. You’ve tried cold hosing. You’ve tried bute. You’ve tried stall rest. You’ve tried hand walking. Nothing works, they are still mysteriously lame. Everyone has a different timeline on when to call the vet should this type of situation occur. Some people don’t call the vet for months and months. Some people call after the second day. I generally allow 5-6 days for this sort of lameness to clear itself up, and if it hasn’t by the 6th day I call. Or I call if I see it getting worse. Either way, if you’re horse is not sound and you have no idea what is wrong, you need to call the vet at some point.

I am not going to include colic or founder on this list, mainly because I am talking about wounds and injuries. However, if you feel your horse is colicing or foundering then please, be a good horse mom/dad, and call your vet ASAP.

Treat It Yourself

I’ll break down treating an injury/wound yourself into three easy to follow steps. I realize that this might not be what you do, but it’s what has worked for me over the years and since my TB (who injuries himself on a bi-weekly basis) isn’t dead or permanently lame yet, I’ll keep doing it this way.

1) Diagnose the wound/injury. Is it bleeding? How deep it is it? Is your horse lame? Are they in pain? Is it a puncture (which should be treated the most seriously, as it is very prone to infection)? And, most importantly, do you need to call the vet or can you treat it yourself? Depending on your answers to these questions, proceed to step two.

2) Clean the wound/injury. I love cold hosing. It has become my best friend since I got Darwin. If the wound is dirty, cold hose it until it looks fresh and clean and pink. If you’re not 100% certain you’ve gotten everything out, keep cold hosing until you are. Now, the water should never be sprayed directly into the wound. Your best bet is to take off the spray nozzle completely and hold the hose just above the wound, letting the water trickle into it and on down the leg. If you are treating swelling, cold hose for five minutes, hold off for three, cold hose for five minutes, hold off for three, and cold hose for five. When I am dealing with a soft tissue injury I generally repeat this 3-4x per day until the heat and swelling is completely gone.

3) Once the wound/injury is clean, assess how you are going to treat it. Most scrapes/cuts can be dealt with by applying antibiotic ointment. Everyone has their favorite, mine is furazone and NFZ. I also like corona, but sometimes it’s a little too gooey for my tastes. Use what works for you and your horse. If the wound is a puncture, I generally don’t apply any ointment. I want the puncture to breath, I don’t want to clog it up and risk infection. As I said before, punctures need to be watched very closely. If your horse gets a puncture and they are not UTD on their tetanus or botulism, call the vet and ask for their advice. Either way, I generally put my horse on SMZ’s during the course of treatment for any type of wound (including puncture) that looks like it is an infection risk. Once I have applied an antibiotic, I generally leave the wound alone. I very rarely wrap anything that isn’t a tendon/ligament injury. For the next week repeat steps Two and Three up to three times per day, and you should begin to see an improvement. If the wound/injury starts to look worse, smell worse, or isn’t getting better at all, call the vet. It could be getting infected, or is worse than you initially thought.

What wounds have you dealt with?