Just What I Needed To Do TODAY !!!!! Horse Wound...... UGH

[chickenzoo]

After a very long, long day of fixing fences because potbelly attacked horse and horse pulled down fence then having to chase potbelly around the yard, put him in his pen, only to find out he had a hole in it..... So had to chase him again..... then chase everyone back to the other pasture................. finally get everything fixed, go take a nap - I wish. At feeding time I go out to feed up and my horse Dante comes up to me with a big 4 inch gash in his chest deep enough to put a few fingers through and a hunk of flesh attached with skin. Great! Vet is 2 hrs away so hubby brings home supplies and I get to play vet and suture him up. Thank goodness he is such a gentleman. We back him up into the chicken barn, he is standing on railroad ties, but it is the best light I have out there. Poor guy gets no numbing because I have none, just ice to help it some. i have hubby feed him horse cookies while I stitch....... i swear i could take dantes head off if I just kept feeding him cookies. He didn't even fidget, just a few skin flickers- that's it. I never knew horse skin and flesh was so thick. I had a hard time, but he was a trooper. Poor guy, I still don't know what he got wrapped up in. A shot of Pen G for good luck and he's sleeping in the barn tonight. What a day !!!

 

[Overeasyplz]

Wow, you should be tired after that! Maybe a bit of fence ripped him open. Or the killer potbelly did lol

 

[chickenzoo]

LOL, I know ! I'm still sore this morning, but at least the stitches held and the swelling is going down and he looks better. I don't know what he got caught on, as the fence he pulled over where corral panels. The potbelly prob couldn't aim that high, he just goes for the legs........... but only with Dante. They have dislike each other from day one. I'll scout the fence line today and order better suturing supplies for next time - hopefully won't need them.

 

[CoopCrazy]

Poor thing .. Your days sound WAY to much like mine... Hope today goes better for you ..

 

[bonnylass79]

I had a TB mare get an injury like that after my alpha mare decided to run her around the pasture. She had caught a part of the fence just right and ripped herself open trying to get away. Sounds like Dante may have torn some muscle too. Skin isn't usually that thick. Can you get antibiotics from the vet? I've also found tea tree oil to be the best thing for reducing scarring.

 

[cmjust0]

Quote:
Lidocaine is cheap.. I got a 30 or 50ml bottle (can't remember) for like $10 from my vet.

 

[Camelot Farms]

Did you have to sew inside and outside?

We had the same thing here and had to do inside stitching of that chunk of flesh *gag* and then outside for the skin.

Might be a good idea to have some disolvable stitches in your med kit too...just in case. Hopefully, like Lightning, this wont strike twice.

Good job Dr. Chickenzoo!

 

[chickenzoo]

I'll look into getting some from my vet, and I'll order suture stuff from Jeffers. It was a wedge shaped Flesh cut out thingy shape, so when i rinsed it out with beadine and packed it with Furizone, it went back in place and held with 5 stitches. The wedge kind of holds it all in place, if you can picture it. I left a gap at top and bottom so it can drain. He is on Penicillian for now. Poor old man. Well in my 20 years of having horses this is the first one I've had to stitch, hope it's the last.

 

[Cetawin]

aaawww poor Dante. What a good boy he is. Wishing him well and sending healing thoughts to him.