For some reason my horse has gotten into the bad habit of running into his stall when he is brought in from the pasture at feeding time. This happens every now and then, and I'm usually able to fix this problem, or at least make it a little better. Yesterday Susan brought him in and he started to run into his stall. She stopped him, but he got all antsy. She thought she had him under control, but at the last second he leapt into his stall.
This is the result of his action.
What you are seeing is the back of his foot, more specifically the heel area, of his right front foot. He must have stepped on the heel of his front foot with his back foot, and tore his heel open. There is a nice flap of skin hanging off, but since it's on his heel it's not something that can be stitched closed again. Stitches just won't hold in this area.
The reason I know this is because Kaswyn has done this many times before. Usually I don't worry too much about it, but of course he had to do it EIGHT DAYS before the show.
Well crap!
I called Dr. B. He called me back and said "Okay, here is what you need to do. Amputate at the ankle and let it heal as an open wound."
I said "Can I duct tape a brick to the stump so I can ride him?"
He said "Sure, but you might have to put some extra steel on the other front shoe to even out the weight of the brick and make him travel level."
Then we got serious and he confirmed that stitches would not hold, so first I needed to clean it really well. Then he told me to put Nolvasan on it - it's a topical wound cream. He said get it down as deep as I can in the wound, and on the outside as well, then wrap it up really tight. With any luck the skin flap will stick back down and the whole thing will heal quickly. I got to the injury pretty soon after it happened, so it's possible that this will work.
He wanted me to keep it wrapped up for as many days as possible, but I'm going to have to unwrap it today because my farrier is coming today to reset Kaswyn. Perfect timing, horse! So the plan is to unwrap it for the farrier, clean it again, slather it with more Nolvasan, and wrap the crap out of it. He won't be allowed to get turned out, so he'll have to be hand-walked, which will hopefully help keep the wrap on. Then, if the wrap is still holding up, I'll ride him on Tuesday.
After that, I'll just take it a day at a time and see where we stand by Friday. Unless he's lame, or the wound just looks too bad, he's going to the show.
Seven days until the show! Horse, heal thyself! And quickly, please.
6 comments:
Oh no! Hope it heals quickly and cleanly.
I second that vote, Kaswyn: heal thyself!!
Don't you just love when they do stuff like that. He may have gone years without this kind of injury, but nope, gotta do something stupid right before a show. Good luck, hope it heals quickly.
Bell boots all the time! C
well forgive him this time :)
Cheers.
OOO, ouch, I hate this kind of stuff, but as I have been told horses would get hurt even if they were in a glass box (meaning no sharp edges, or other ways to get hurt). There is also that time during maturity, somewhere during their yearling year, that they just cannot help but get hurt. Hope the healing goes quickly!
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