|
|
 |
|
|
Horse Wound Care
|
|
|
 |
First Aid: Be Prepared
Like all horses, your equine friend may have his or her share of minor injuries. Despite your best efforts, you will probably find that small wounds from jumping over some underbrush or bumping against a fence are, after all, inevitable. Your best course of action is to be prepared for the potential mishap with the proper first aid materials.
When your horse does need first aid for a wound, you should first assess the wound or laceration and decide if it is something that requires the care of a veterinarian. If you find you can handle it yourself, one of your first aid staples should be a horse wound and treatment product, like RestorAid EQ™, which is a safe and effective, patented formulation that soothes discomfort while helping to heal superficial wounds, abrasions, minor wounds, irritations and skin lesions. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
First Aid Guidelines: While You Wait for Your Vet
If the wound is very large or deep, if your horse is lame or if the wound is near any joint or tendon, it probably needs to be seen by a veterinarian. According to the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP), there are certain things you should NOT do while waiting for the vet to arrive:
- Avoid touching the wound or clipping around the wound, since doing so may contaminate it
- Do not apply medication to the wound as many antiseptics, detergents, greasy ointments and powders interfere with healing. Check with your veterinarian.
- Direct pressure (using a thick bandage) can be applied to the wound to stop bleeding, but never apply a tourniquet—it should only be applied by a veterinarian.
There are, however, steps you can take. Writing in the UK publication Horse & Hound, Christine Keate offers some practical advice for optimal equine wound management. When cleaning a wound, according to Ms. Keate, you should be aware that:
- Bathing with cotton or wool can introduce contamination
- Strong antiseptics can kill cells as well as bacteria; instead, use very mild solutions such as a saline solution
- Colored sprays and wound powders can act as foreign bodies and can be irritating to cells; instead, use creams and moist wound dressings as recommended by your vet
- "Second skin" products can seal in infection—avoid using them
- To avoid damaging delicate tissues when flushing out or bathing wounds, use a light water mist from a garden sprayer, such as a hand-held trigger variety on a soft setting
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Basics of Effective Horse Wound Care
Writing in EQUUS Magazine, Ruth Ann Mosby explains how to focus on the most effective horse wound care to help your horse heal quickly, with little or no scarring. According to Ms. Mosby, all wounds, whether inflicted by a protruding nail, battering horseshoe or surgical scalpel, go through the same stages of repair to return the tissues to wholeness.
When the healing process is compromised and wound closure is hindered during one or more of these phases, scar tissue tends to proliferate. Thus, the best scar-minimizing strategy for horses is an early and appropriate intervention that encourages rather than impedes the healing process.
She identifies four stages of the healing process that affect the amount of scarring:
Phase 1:
Immediately after a horse is wounded, the blood vessels at the site constrict to taper blood flow and prevent hemorrhaging. Fibrin, a fibrous protein activated in the blood, forms a clot in and over each pinched vessel to help contain the damage and protect exposed tissue. On contact with air, the clot dries, forming a natural bandage, known as a scab.
Phase 2:
Inflammation is simultaneously signaled by the first-response cells on the scene and typically lasts about six hours, barring infection. This increases blood flow surrounding the wound to speed delivery of the materials necessary for the cleanup and repair activities. This localized flood of blood is responsible for inflammation's "cardinal signs": heat, swelling, redness and pain. Debridement (the removal of contaminants) continues in conjunction with inflammation.
Phase 3:
During debridement, fibroblasts, which are cells that produce a raw, reparative matter, begin to migrate into the area. Fibroblasts generate the mix of collagen fibers and granulation tissue that fills the wound site and causes the formation of myofibroblasts, which are smooth-muscle-like fibroblasts that contract and pull the wound edges together to minimize the wound size. Next enter epithelial cells, which protect the tissue under repair. This initial skin covering is strengthened by keratin, a horny protein found in hair and nails, and made thicker than normal skin by additional collagen and multiple layers. It is in this stage of healing that a scar is born.
Phase 4:
Wound contraction may go on for weeks, and collagen maturation may continue for months, until the scar tissue consists of dense fibrous tissue that is ready to withstand the lines of stress experienced by that area of skin. But even after the horse's wound appears healed, the skin has a way to go before reaching its final form. Though scar tissue strengthens over time, it regains only about 80% of the strength of undamaged tissue because it lacks the cross-links found in normal collagen. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
How to Help Minimize Scarring
The EQUUS article also describes how proper horse wound care and proper follow-up treatment has a significant effect on the degree of scarring. Whether suffering a minor scrape or an extensive injury, your horse will heal more effectively if you heed the article's guidelines:
- When in doubt, consult your veterinarian. Even if stitches are not necessary, your veterinarian may want to treat the wound to prevent infection.
- Keep the wound clean and moist. Flushing the wound with plain water or saline solution is a safe way to clear dirt and debris from an open wound. Moisture also encourages healing.
- Wounds that are left uncovered may benefit from daily cold hosing to prevent contamination, but avoid vigorous spraying of the site. High-pressure hosing may drive contaminants deeper into a fresh wound, harming the new tissues.
- Whenever possible, keep the wound covered: a bandaged wound remains cleaner, moister and better stabilized than an exposed wound, thus accelerating the healing process.
- Restrict movement. Healing of lower-leg wounds may require limiting your horse's activities or applying a bandage or cast to give epithelization a boost. Wounds elsewhere on the body may also need protection from rubbing, biting or other irritation that will disturb the fragile tissues.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
RestorAid EQ is a non-drying, nutritive skin-conditioning cream that helps diminish itching, burning and swelling, while it promotes the natural healing process debridement. It also helps support cell repair and suppresses the development of scar tissue. Its key ingredient, arginine aminobenzoate, is a patented formula that encourages microcirculation, the natural process that focuses your horse's innate healing response at the site of the injury. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Additional Reading: Horse Wound Care
"Proper wound treatment can reduce complications"
Article on equine wound care from New Zealand-based HorseTalk.com
"Minimize Scarring with Effective Wound Care"
From the publisher of EQUUS, Dressage Today, Horse & Rider, and Practical Horseman
"Horse Injuries and Wounds Treatment First Aid"
Article on wound treatment from publisher of American Horse Rider & Horses and Horse Information
"Wounds in Horses"
Written by: Spencer Barber, DVM, DACVS
"Wound Care"
Article on equine wound first aid from Australia-based Cyberhorse.com
|
|
|
|
|
