# This horse needs bubble wrap *graphic pics*



## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Wow, poor guy. I sure hope there's no tendon involvement there or it could ruin his soundness forever.


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## corgi (Nov 3, 2009)

Are you saying that started out as a tiny cut and turned into THAT?????

That looks horrible.


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Wow, that's quite a wound. 

I am not normally a "call the vet" type of person.....I usually treat minor injuries myself, but this is no longer a minor injury and is something a vet should probably take a look at. Because, like Smrobs said, if that is the tendon showing that could affect his soundness for the rest of his life.

Poor guy! I hope he heals up well!

If he needs protection for that front foot, you can always get something like an Easyboot. I use them all the time trail riding and they work pretty well if you get them on tight.

PS. I just re-read that you DID have the vet out......so disregard that whole vet thing. Did it look that bad when the vet saw him?


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Does he bare weight on the bad leg at all? I noticed his good leg is also stocking up. If he doesn't bare weight on it at all, that would kind of make me concerned for his good leg.


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## amp23 (Jan 6, 2011)

I'd definitely have a vet check that out. I can't imagine how a small cut could turn into that without there being deeper damage to begin with


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

I have a feeling something else is going on here. 

Tiny cuts dont typically turn into this. I'm thinking puncture wound, and the infection is now deep in the leg.

dont slack on his antibiotics. Poor guy. :-(
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## MsLady (Apr 18, 2013)

Wow, I am so sorry. I hope he feels better soon!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

They have had the vet out 3 days ago. And he wont stand on it but he can hobble pretty fast when he wants to. BOhas decided that if he becomes unridable he will just be a pasture prince. I'd say get another vet out but chaparell wont even comeout and SEE the horse without 200 up front. Any their normal vet is on vacation.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

The cut was a nastyone to begin with but nowheres near that bad or vet worthy when it first happened. And when the vet saw him his leg was 3x that size all the way up to the hock. I have easy boots I can loan to them. Idk why I did not think ofthat yesterday.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

the vet came out today. cleaned the the leg and re-warped it. She will come out to change the bandage again Thursday. The vet saw that they where too afraid to wrap it to tight. They where warping it so loose that it would fall half was down the leg. The poor guy still is on 3 legs and will only eat 1 scoop of pellets.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Vets been coming out every week and warping the leg. The owners and occasionally I, end up re-bandaging it because he some how makes it slip halfway down. There is now more blood and less yellow puss but the wound looks as if it has gotten longer. The good news is hes somewhat eating and he can walk on it. But the owners seem to think it wont get better but I'm trying to convince them not to put a horse down from a nasty looking injury, hes walking and eating and is not in as much pain as he was before.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

That is not just one nasty looking injury it is one serious mess. The deep flexor tendon is exposed and I would hazard a very experienced guess that the little injury was a deeper puncture wound and infection set in.

He needs some serious antibiotics. Stalled for majority of the day with a deep bed to encourage him to lie down. Masses of hay and very little hard feed. 
The wound needs to be flushed daily and wrapped with plenty of padding around it before the bandage is applied.. This should be firm but not tight and if applied correctly it will not slip.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

He is on antibiotics mixed with bute (BO is not giving bute to him atm because hes not eating enough) every day. The only outside time he gets is supervised grazing (the more he moves on it the more he can stand on it. The more he stands still in the stall the more pus filled and swollen it gets). And the tendon is covered but the problem is that he is developing proud flash, but the vet wants to leave that alone until its healed more. Its still nasty but its a lot better. He still wont touch his hay half the time. He will after getting out and munching on the lawn but otherwise they are giving him Beat pulp and Alfalfa/Bermuda pellets turned into a mash 3 times a day. Here is a vid of him able to walk on the leg without grunting in pain.

Remember this horse was getting stuck in the corner of his stall a week before this vid (was unable to back up or turn without someone helping him). His leg was so bad he would put no weight on it at all and was obviously in pain.






(the vet wanted the Boots one like that because hes cutting up his legs in that area so no we are not having a sped moment XD)


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

I have a pic of him today. The vet will be coming out to remove proud flesh soon.


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## SammysMom (Jul 20, 2013)

Oh, wow. That is AWFUL. Poor baby.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Oh my god. That is crazy.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Good God! That's like 3 times the size it was :shock:.


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

Poor guy. Reminds me of my tb. Got what the trainer said was a cut, and to clean it and put a wrap on it. Next day unwrapped it, was just wrapped with a standard pillow wrap, the leg was 3x the size it normally is. Found out she punctured it to the bone and it got really infected. Someone gave information about a place that specializes in horrific injuries, would be a great site to go to, but I can't remember the name. If anyone knows the site, please post it. Hopefully he heals up.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Yes but at lease he can walk, and his tendon is not showing 0.0! that horse is such a sweety, he gets to wonder in the back yard because that's the only grass he will eat now, but he always stays close to his owner (he only gets out as long as someone is watching him lol he might cut himself on the grass -_-') . Hes such a love bug. And the vet is completely impressed that she has not had to restrain or sedate him the entire time working with him. How can BO stop the bandage from slipping? they have to re-bandage every day because it slides down to his hoof, and its not wrapped loose but they cant wrap it too tight ether.


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## dressagebelle (May 13, 2009)

Step ahead farm is the place, google it, but you need to be okay with graphic photos.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

I feel bad for him lol. He was raced at a 2 year old until he was 13, no issues besides not sweating. He goes into retirement as a pleasure horse and keeps hurting himself. (If anyone is interested his name is Wishinonastar). Ill defiantly look at the site! I hate seeing the bandage slipping so if I can stop that it will make us all feel better.


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## shelbyhagler (Aug 21, 2013)

Pretty much only thing you can do to keep it up is tape it. I have a horse that kept getting hurt the first few months we had him. Mostly because our other horses were mean to him. They actually ran him through a fence! But It looks like you guys are keeping it pretty clean and that's the most important thing plus antibiotics. And you can never go wrong with hydro-therapy. Water does miracles. Use a water hose and just let it run over his leg for 10-20 minutes. He will feel better and it helps with swelling. We did this one to two times a day with my horse and it healed in no time. I really don't understand why your guys wound is getting bigger? Weird. I hope he pulls through it!


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

You cant turn a hose on without him walking in front of it lol. We found out the cause. Because he dose not sweat he is losing hair and is itchy. He was scratching his butt and kicked at a fly and managed to cut his leg. So they are getting meds to make him sweat again. I have been wrapping it with the cotton wrap and vet wrap (scene BO has a hard time bending over). The vet was out yesterday and removed a lot of proud flesh so Ill try to get pics of that. I have pics from a week ago though.

Here is a pic of the leg.









He is starting to gain weight again.

















This is what he looked like before he cut his leg.


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## Critter sitter (Jun 2, 2012)

It looks like it is getting worse not better.
i would look up Doc Underwoods horse meds and get some Pronto google the name and you'll get buddys website . it is amazing stuff


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Critter sitter said:


> It looks like it is getting worse not better.


That's exactly what I was thinking :shock:.


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## amp23 (Jan 6, 2011)

That definitely looks like it's getting worse. Poor guy. His leg looks awful


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## Critter sitter (Jun 2, 2012)

My BO had a horse with Flesh eating disease it started with a small cut and grew like this. Lord I hope that this is not the case here. Sky did not make it even with thousands in vet bills.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

There has _got_ to be something seriously worse going on for the wound to have tripled in size like that.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

I agree that I do not see any improvement. it DOES look worse. A lot worse.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## morganarab94 (May 16, 2013)

Oh my goodness I have never seen anything like that before in my life! Poor guy, it's def looking bad...I hope he gets better soon!


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## Shoebox (Apr 18, 2012)

Do keep in mind that weight bearing does NOT necessarily mean improvement! He could have learned how to tolerate the pain, become numb to it, or infection could have killed off any pain receptors (The way a third degree burn does). 

This looks so much worse than it was. Healing wounds don't triple in size.


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## SlideStop (Dec 28, 2011)

That's what I was thinking. It's not normal for wounds to get bigger like that, unless there was some type of the trauma beneath the skin, the skin died and rotted away leaving this large wound.
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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

To keep a bandage from slipping you need to wrap all the way to the hoof.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

The pic of the wrapping was not me. I wrap from hock to fetlock and up again. No slippage. the original wound exploded in proud flash from infection. The infection is gone but he is still on antibiotics. Dressing is changed daily and he is no longer in pain (and is eating again!). The first week if he walked you could hear the grunting from the house (and he went from a body scale of 5 to about 3-2 in a week). The proud flesh had been removed. I wont be able to acquire pics or vid until Friday . The vet is pleased with his recovery so far, we are just waiting for the wound to close.

also keep in mind that pic is over a week and a half old. The bandage had slipped causing it to scab and its yellow because of a salve the vet put on.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Star is doing better. I think it would have been quicker but no one wants to listen to be and get the proud flesh begon. The vet just cut the extra flesh off every week (and taught a mutual friend to cut it too, which I don't like but w/e). I only have pics from october but ill get better ones tomorrow. He no longer gets his leg bandaged, its now coated in a thick layer of wonderdust to help dry it out.

From october.


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## CLaPorte432 (Jan 3, 2012)

Is that how it looks now? Because it looks worse then it originally did...

Is there quality of life left in this horse? What is his prognosis? Is it worth it?

I'm not trying to be crude...but that has got to hurt. And it honestly doesn't look better. :-(
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## natisha (Jan 11, 2011)

I'd stick with the WonderDust. Daily run a clean paper towel over the area & replace any WD that falls off. Don't pick at the hard crust. WD will help to remove the proud flesh. You needed the proud flesh to fill in the wound but now it needs to go back to skin level for the wound to heal. 
I think this will heal.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Its about half the size now (BO is sending me pics today). The vet was cutting it weekly. He blew an abscess in about every foot (not the one with the injured leg) and now hes done with that. He is finally gaining weight but refuses to eat anything without alfalfa in it (serious hunger striking if he gets no alfalfa). Good thing he is not hot for an OTTB.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Ok here is a pic from today


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## jcraig10 (Sep 14, 2012)

Wow. Reason #345340984 that I read this forum...anything can happen! Always interesting to see how things are handled. I am still learning equine first aid, so its good to see different scenarios.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

That does look a ton better, but even when it's healed, it's going to be downright ugly. Poor guy, I hope they plan to be his forever home because his resale value would be zip with that big ugly leg...even if he's sound on it.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

Well he is an OTTB who was raced from 2-13. At 16 he is green still so yeah. It would be hard to rehome him anyway (thought he did quite well as a racehorse). I also hope they are going to be his forever home but there is at least 3 people (including myself) who would take him if they could not keep him.


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