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Discussion on Hide is just gone.....
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New Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 9:38 am:
Got home last night and my thoroughbred mare has about 40-50 square inches of hide just missing. Yes....it's HUGE. It looks like it has been 'fileted' off. It's a somewhat 'v' shaped chunk of skin and hair that is missing on the right side of her neck from right above where her blanket sets on her lower neck almost to her chin. The edges are VERY sharp with no jagged edges. No indication of any kicks, bites, or tears. Her blanket had no dirt on it, no tears, and no indication of any type of fight or trauma. It's so weird.
THe flesh had already formed a kind of dry wrinkly skin when we got home. Absolutely no blood on her or her blanket, no traces of skin or hair, no oozing, no nothing. It literally looks like someone just used a filet knife and cut it all off. It was very warm and swollen.
She was eating and drinking fine so we waited until the vet returned our call to do anything. We are using silver sulfadiazine(?) ointment on it
and 10ml of banamine for the swelling. THe vet also recommended we get Vetericyn HyDrOgel to speed healing.
We searched the property and couldn't find any remains of her skin or hair. We also couldn't find any indications of her getting into the fence or possibly getting caught on the feeder. It's really weird.
Any other suggestions? Any idea what she might have done?
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Member:
canter
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 10:40 am:
How strange! Because you can't find any remains of the missing tissue, the only explanation I can think of is a wild animal just barely got it's teeth in her before she successfully fought it off. Even that doesn't really add up because I would think there would be at least some indication of teeth marks & blood and I would think you would have noticed paw prints (unless the ground is really dry?) around the area.
Good luck solving the mystery, and I hope your mare heals OK
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New Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 1:07 pm:
We have pretty much ruled out any wild animals. She is in the pasture with two geldings and the three of them stick pretty close together. We didn't see any signs of fighting or struggle on any of the horses. They all had blankets on and their blankets didn't even have mud or dirt on them (and it's really muddy right now). Also, we have a big yellow lab that is VERY protective of the property and our horses. She - the dog - gets along with the horses but keeps all the other neighborhood dogs away from them....so, I figure she would do the same with a coyote.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 4:22 pm:
Hello DCCR,
It sounds like the skin (the hide) is still there because if removed it would bleed profusely. This sounds more like the outer epidermal layer down to the follicles has been rubbed off. This generally is caused by a strong abrasion which may be either self inflicted if itching or a accident. A image might help with our assessment.
The question is how badly damaged are the remaining layers of skin: will this progress to a large ulcer. As long as it is hot, cold hosing seems logical and I like the silver sulfadiazine idea but keep it light.
DrO
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 4:25 pm:
Sounds like one of those weird stories of animal mutilations; only those animals were all dead.
Aliens just needed skin?
Someone needed a new pair of gloves?
Can you post a picture?
Very strange sounding. Nothing she could have gotten caught in and pulled back?
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New Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 4:55 pm:
Will get pictures tonight. It was so dark last night that we concentrated on getting her cleaned up and comfortable.
We will also walk the property again tonight with what daylight is still available. It's easy to miss stuff at night even with the huge flashlights.
I'll repost in the morning!
Thanks so much!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 7:24 pm:
A mare belonging to my daughter was kicked many years ago, which was witnessed.
The resulting injury was amazing. A huge L-shaped injury.
During the winter months when it is much cooler, each year two of my horses tend to peel the hide off of each other in large chunks just for fun.
It is unbelievable how much hide can be missing on each horse.
Is your horse turned out with others?
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Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 9:12 pm:
Well, we have found the culprit. It would appear that she somehow ran into the guy wire for the elctric pole. See pics.
It still looks very painful but she was doing fine this evening. We dressed it with a little more silver sulfadiazine and 10ml of banamine for the swelling.
Poor baby. The wire will get "re" flagged and we will be building a small fence around it to force them away from any spot that is low enough for them to reach. I'm learning how impossible it is to horse proof 'open' land.
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Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 9:15 pm:
pics attached 
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 12, 2011 - 9:21 pm:
Yikes, we have one of those in our pasture too, but the elec company put a yellow plastic tube on it, those things are dangerous! The cows are always itching on it. Poor girl
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Member:
canter
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 - 7:42 am:
Yikes for sure! She really did a good job on herself, but at least you solved the mystery and can make sure it doesn't happen again. Sounds like your mare is a good candidate for bubble wrap!
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 - 7:45 am:
Ouch! Glad you found out how it happened.
My husband wants to set up solar panels and a wind tower in our pasture this summer; your story is the proof I need that we have to fence those things off. I'll be coming back to view the pictures if we have any discussion going on here.
Hope she heals fine.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 - 8:18 am:
A common cause of injury to the shoulder of the horse DCCR and a great warning to those who have power poles in their pasture: get the support wires covered as Diane describes above.
DrO
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 13, 2011 - 10:10 am:
A friend of mine had a horse who broke her neck on one of these things after living with it in her pasture for years.
Believe she got to racing around during a thunderstorm.
Glad that you were able to figure out this mystery.
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Member:
dccranch
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Posted on Monday, Jan 17, 2011 - 11:51 am:
**UPDATE**
Within less than 24 hours of calling the electric company they have put nice thick plastic guards on all of the guy wires on our property. They are bright yellow and probably 10 ft long. That should help a LOT until we can provide a permanent barrier around the wires so the horses can't even get close.
Dixie is doing quite well. The local vet recommended using Vetericyn HyDrOgel at least once a day and it is healing VERY well and much quicker than expected.
Thanks to everyone for their concern!!
Mickey
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Member:
canter
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Posted on Monday, Jan 17, 2011 - 12:39 pm:
Very glad to hear Dixie is healing so well, and am quite interested in hearing how the Vetericyn works. I purchased some last summer when my usual favorite wound treatment ran out and I couldn't find it at the tack store. Haven't used it on anything but the smallest scrapes on my mare and have wondered it it's as good as they claim. (We are currently using it on one of the barn cats who has an abcess on the side of his face).
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