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Discussion on How long to bandage, restrict activity?
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New Member:
sdlacrow
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 8, 2011 - 4:50 am:
My 3 year-old TWH cut his rear leg on the front of his fetlock joint 3 days ago. He is pastured with 4 other horses and we think he slipped on the ice. The cut is about 3" across the fetlock and gapes open about 1 1/2" It was initially very swollen halfway to the hock and he was slightly lame on that leg. After 24 hours the swelling improved about 90% and has stayed the same and is barely favoring the leg. I initially flushed wound with diluted nolvasan under pressure and then now daily flushing wound and cleaning with gauze with nolvasan soln. Light bandaging daily with nolvasan ointment on telfa then absorbant material then vetwrap. (It's 15 degrees outside and I don't have a good place to hose the leg without causing another large patch of ice and not sure if a good idea when it's this cold anyway.) Should I bandage until the granulation bed fills in? longer? With the wound so low on the leg I'm worried about it getting contaminated easily. He's being boarded so it would be very difficult to address the wound more frequently than once daily. He's being stalled now with couple hours in arena to walk around. How long until safe to put back out into pasture with other horses and ice still present? Can you work them (ground/riding) before a wound is completely healed? after contraction starts? Have owned horses for less than 2 months and already an injury. I just keep saying to myself it could have been worse. Thank you so much for your input.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Saturday, Jan 8, 2011 - 6:07 pm:
Welcome Laura,
Yes I would bandage until the wound granulates in and possibly well past that point since the fetlock is an area of high motion. You will find many references to bandaging including the points you raise in the article HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Wounds / Burns » Long Term Deep Wound Care.
As to when it is safe to return to the pasture, it would appear it is never perfectly safe. When should the horse be put out to pasture will depend on many factors but in general wounds on the fetlock heal best with minimal motion so as to limit the bending that will constantly stress this wound as it tries to heal.
DrO
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