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Discussion on Hock Wound
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New Member:
gefflong
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Posted on Friday, Nov 28, 2008 - 6:19 pm:
Hi there.
We recently had one of our horses slide under one of the panels in the round pen and caught his hock on a piece of metal that sticks out a little where you hook the panels together. Anyway, he didn't do any internal damage, but he tore the skin off of his hock. We had the vet come out within a couple hours and he put a couple stitches in, but they didn't hold.
This happened about 10 days ago. I've trimmed back the dead skin as much as I could. We've been cold hosing it every day for about 5 minutes or so and putting on a clean bandage each day.
I would just like to know if everything is looking normal so far. I do see some proud flesh forming.
Anyway, I am attaching three picture we took today after we got done cold hosing the hock.
Thanks for any and all input we can get.
Geff
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 29, 2008 - 9:06 am:
Looks pretty normal Jeff, I don't see any proud flesh that needs trimming yet. Are you treating the wound with anything?
Are you restricting the exercise level of this horse? It will help minimize proud flesh formation. The struggle here is to get this wound closed with a functional scar and not a keloid (a large fragile chunk of scar tissue) and I have found stall rest or at least limiting to a small paddock in a quiet environment helps. In cases where folks have lots of time I have even created clam shell splints with PVC or casts to limit movement yet allow the bandage to be changed.
Jeff this is one of the largest anterior hock wounds our members have posted on the site, this would be a great case to follow with photo and treatment updates if you have the time. The shape of the wound, being round, increases the difficulty of getting this healed well.
DrO
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New Member:
gefflong
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 29, 2008 - 4:20 pm:
Thanks for the reply.
We are not putting anything on the wound, just a clean bandage after hosing.
This horse is a yearling, soon to be 2 year old standardbred harness racing horse. We had just gotten him broke and jogging to the cart for a few weeks before this incident.
He is on complete stall rest and has been since the injury.
I wouldn't mind continuing with the posts and pictures at all. However, I'm not sure how long we will have him. We were in the process of selling him when this accident occurred. We still have someone that is interested, but we wanted to keep him until we were sure he was well on his way to recovery.
Treatment-wise, we would be willing to try anything you think is best for the horse.
Our current procedure is to cold hose, dry, cover the wound with a bandage (sanitary napkins), wrap that with Vet Wrap, cover with a leg quilt and then put a neoprene hock boot on to hold everything in place and restrict motion a little. It seems to work pretty well.
Geff
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Member:
paul303
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Posted on Saturday, Nov 29, 2008 - 9:00 pm:
Lot's of us would really appreciate the chance to follow the progress of this wound as long as possible. Thank you so much for the opportunity.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Dec 1, 2008 - 9:48 am:
Hello Geoff,
I am sure what you want to know is there any specific treatment that will speed up healing and minimize complications. And in a healthy healing wound of this type it is not clear there is. We have several recommendations and treatments to specifically avoid in the article on long term wound care. However with excellent care and no signs of complication I am not adverse to no topical treatment but reducing surface infection may reduce inflammation and improve healing. Recently we have seen a resurgence in the recommendation of using sugar containing products, like honey, to aid in the healing of wounds but it is surprising how much is still unknown about what is the very best treatment in such cases. I have had very good luck over the years following the recommendations in the article but this is going to be a tough wound to get healed under any treatment regimen. Once a mature healthy granulation bed has formed many dermatology professionals would recommend tunnel grafts to establish islands of epithelial tissue to speed reepithelization.
DrO
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New Member:
gefflong
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Posted on Thursday, Dec 4, 2008 - 7:07 pm:
Here is an update of what the injury looks like now... at about 16 days. These were taken after cold hosing.
Geff
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Dec 7, 2008 - 3:54 am:
The wound has really granulated in well Geff so the next hurdle is likely to be proud flesh. For more on this see Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Wounds / Burns » The Treatment of Proud Flesh or Exuberant Granulation Tissue.
DrO
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New Member:
gefflong
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Posted on Monday, Jan 12, 2009 - 10:51 pm:
I just wanted to let everyone know that we did sell the horse that had this injury, so I won't be able to do any further updates.
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