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Equine wound
management
EQU INE WOUND
7
EQUINE MATTERS
Veterinary surgeon
Poppy Mitchell
XLEquine practice
Wensum Valley
Veterinary Surgeons
Poppy Mitchell VetMB BA CertAVP MRCVS,
Wensum Valley Veterinary Surgeons
If you find your horse with a wound the
most important thing to do is to keep calm
so that you can restrain and calm your
horse. If the wound is actively bleeding use
a thick absorbent dressing pad to apply
direct pressure; cohesive bandage can be
useful in helping to hold the pad in place.
Having a well-stocked first aid kit easily
accessible makes moments such as this
much easier.
Wounds that should be immediately
examined by a vet include those close to
vital structures (joints
(Figure 1)
, tendons,
the eyes, chest or abdomen), wounds that
are bleeding profusely, cover a large area
or are through the full thickness of the skin.
If you are ever in doubt do not hesitate to
call your vet for advice; photographs sent
via email or mobile phone can be very
helpful at this stage.
NEVER put yourself at risk by trying to
examine or clean a wound on a stressed
or painful horse, leave this job to the vet
who will administer sedative prior to
examining and treating the wound.
First aid
The greater the size and complexity of the
wound, the longer it will take to heal.
Whilst it is impossible to increase the
overall speed of wound healing, good
wound management makes sure that it is
not slowed down for any reason.
How quickly can wounds heal?
Wound healing can be affected by multiple
different factors associated with the wound
and the individual horse or pony:
●
Inflammation and swelling
(Figure 2)
●
Infection: Infected tissues and the
presence of pus or necrotic (dead) tissue.
●
Excessive granulation tissue: Granulation
tissue forms to fill in the wound and
provide a surface for the skin cells to
migrate over but it needs to be
controlled when there is too much.
●
Drying of the wound
●
Multiple trauma sites
●
Age of the horse: Older horses are
slower at healing than younger horses
●
Disease status of the horse: Horses
already suffering from other diseases
e.g. Cushing’s disease have delayed
wound healing
What can slow wound healing?
Horses, due to their nature, are particularly prone to suffering traumatic
injuries. The majority of these are superficial and heal with basic care
but others require veterinary treatment to promote healing. Large and
complex wounds can take weeks or months to heal and therefore anything
that delays the wound healing process should be avoided. Wounds of the
lower limbs can be particularly awkward to manage due to poor circulation,
a lack of soft tissue between the skin and bone, movement due to proximity
to joints and contamination from the environment.