Wire cuts on horses

Well, we have had another run of "bad luck" my son's horse went through the fence sometime last night, along with the rest of the horses. I have had the vet come out as I did not want to stress her anymore than she already was. She has 39 stitches in her flanks, and both back legs have fairly decent wire cuts. I also have my sister-in-laws horse who has a wire cut on her chest and back leg (chest is a fairly minor one), and my kids other horse with cuts to both back legs. I have no clue what put them through the fence. They have been in this pasture for at least 2 years with no issues before. So now preggo me is out cleaning cuts and dealing with horses 3 times a day in hopes of healing them all up nicely. I am really worried about the first mare because I have only ever had one other horse with cuts this bad before and we ended up having to put her down as she kept ripping it open. Same place as this mare in the flanks. I have this mare in a very small confined area, she has to stay tied up and can only be led around for about 15 min a day until her flanks heal for fear of the stitches ripping out. I thank my neighbor for allowing me to put her in her barn as I don't have a barn just yet! The worst is my sis-in-laws horse is a nut job to try to deal with. I have phoned my sil to let her know I cannot deal with her horse and she made an offhand comment that she will heal. I told her if that was her attitude she can either sell her horse or come and remove it from my property. I refuse to let a horse or any animal try to heal by themselves, especially the leg wound as it needs care the chest one will heal on its own without much issue, or should anyways as it is not too major.

I don't own horses smoky but fully support you in your comment to your SIL. Sounds like a mindset similar to viczoe's post. Some people just don't grasp what their responsibility is to their animal.....with all due respect to your SIL.

If you are able, smear honey on the wounds. Other horses will lick this off so the horse MUST be confined, there is a good chance the horse will lick it off if she can. BUt honey will stop infection. although not stop stitches from ripping.

Yes, horses will heal. BUt I find the off-hand casual, uncaring comment to be offensive. As an owner, SHOW UP. If there is nothing you can do, then there is nothing you can do, but if an injury to your horse is not enough to even warrant a visit and to check it out with your own eyes....yeah, you're a wad.

Sorry we all have people like this in our lives. It is true, a horse in a padded room wearing protective clothing that finds a twist tie will maange to massively injure itself! Horses are the MOST accident prone creatures I have ever met! BUt still, show up with your honey and betadine and bute and act like it matters. Sorry about this, Smoky.

Stick with it Smoky, you cannot put yourself at risk with this mare, as frustrating as it is.
It's your SIL's responsibility to help her mare - does she really grasp how bad it is?
I hit my limit with care as well, and it was "only" a duck...but I still reached out, and received, help from wonderful people. It's up to her to do the same or do it on her own.

I do have to say one thing in her defense she has no vehicle to get to my house to deal with the horse. Her car is broke down and her fiance keeps saying he will get it fixed but has not yet. I was upset with her nonchalance about the whole deal being she knows my condition and that I am really supposed to be on partial bedrest. (nothing strenuous, and no more than 20 min excercise at a time). I have sent a text message to her fiance telling him about her horse and that I need help with it, but have not heard anything back yet. Hopefully he will come to help at least every second day if nothing else. That would be better than nothing. I have told her that if they do not come to help out with her horse, I will have animal welfare come and pick the horse up because I cannot and willnot endanger myself or my children trying to deal with this horse. She was very upset I would tell her this, but this mare just tried to kick my son, succeeded in kicking me in the calve, and that was just in catching her. We did not even get to cleaning her up as she started rearing and fighting like crazy. I am not messing with something like that. I wouldn't mess with something that was that much of a nutcase if it was my own horse, it would be put down immediately as I refuse to have a horse that will intentionally try to hurt a human! I understand animals in pain react differently than an animal that is not in pain, but this is just a little too differently for my liking. I have 2 other mares that are being awesome about it. The badly injured one is a little jittery, but is not trying to kick or even stamp her feet when we are cleaning her up. The other mare still comes to me and cuddles wanting the attention and actually allowed me to pick bits of twig and straw out of the wound with no halter on her. In my opinion it is a matter of caring for the horses in the beginning and getting them used to handling which allows my horses to react the way they do and her mare act the way she does. I do not blame the mare, I blame my siL for it. She has had this mare since the mare was weaned as a foal, and the mare is now 8 or 9 years old. Obviously she just does not care enough about her horse, in my opinion. I think she needs to rehome this mare and let someone else shower her with love and attention she needs and hopefully they could get past her issues with her and help her out. SIL does not like my suggestion, but I don't really care, I am frustrated, tired, and cranky about the whole deal!! The least she could do is try to find someone in the area to help with the horse, she knows people here who she could pay to come and help!

I did not realioze this horse was being dangerous. Forget it. As sad as it is for the horse, a horse can kill you. At some point your safety, and that of your children, is your top priority. The whole situation is crappy.

The issue of the dangerous mare and you and your children having to handle her should be good enough to get your SIL out there. I have to ask: is her fiance the only man who can fix her car?

It is absolutely beyond my ability to grasp, though, that your SIL and whoever else is involved (or not involved) should put you and your unborn child at such risk!!

What the hell is wrong with these people?!?!?

The issue with the car is she does not work and fiance does so he says when they can afford to get it fixed. Not a good situation for her, but she is content to stay in it.

I spoke to her fiance and explained things tonight that the horse needs care which I cannot give her and they have the choice of hiring someone to care for her, coming to care for her themselves, or getting rid of her. I will not work with this mare anymore. I also told him if they were not here by 6:00 pm tomorrow I was calling animal welfare to come and get the mare. He laughed when I said this and commented that my hubby would be pissed if I did this, and I politely informed him that I was dead serious and if hubby didn't like how I dealt with issues when he gets home he should be here to deal with them. I also told him that I was sure if hubby was home and seen how this mare was acting towards us he would not even give her that option, he would just shoot her. He wanted to do that with a gelding we had purchased for $2700 and within a month of getting him he developed cracked heel which needed treating and he tried to kick twice. I talked him out of it, and now we still have that gelding and we can do anything with him. So he would not think twice of shooting a horse who was rearing and striking when you tried to catch her. (Please don't think my husband is abusive to animals in wanting to shoot one, he just refuses to have a dangerous animal around his family and does not want anyone else hurt by the same animal, so would prefer to just put it down quickly and easily!)

I will see whether they show up, if they don't I have a lady who is willing to come and pick up the mare and look after her. She has said she will do it for me, but there will be a bill sent to my SIL if this has to be done. We are not charging her to keep her horse here. She does not pay feed, farrier, or worming for her mare right now, but she WILL pay for this or I will sell this mare and pay the bills then give her what is left if anything is left. I am pissed that she has such little care for a mare she has had since a foal. One that she will put her 5 year old son on to ride which scares the hell out of me also!!

here is an OLD timers recipe - sounds nasty but I've seen it work and have a girlfriend who swears by it = was showing me photo's of before & after on couple horses - huge diffence.
Vets don't like it (it's cheap, easily put together and it works) having said that - if these are top end show horses where a scar can/will make a differance then spend the dollars and get the vet to do it, follow his/her instructions to a T. If you are primarily concerned about keeping it soft/clean so it can heal and/or removing proud flesh - I'd try it (jmo!).

Step 1
1 part turpentine to 2 parts mineral oil. Mix in any container and apply - I've used a paint brush but if risk of kicking - try a squirt jar (like dish soap). NOw the 'heads up' with this... it will tingle/burn (like iodine I've got it in cuts on my hand). The mineral oil keeps the wound soft/supple and the turpentine 'disinfects' (also seems to deter flys!), I'm not sure I would apply this to a fresh/day old wound but if it's had a few days and/or is scabbing over or getting granular tissue on it - then use it.
Step 2
If you are removing granular tissue/proud flesh paint on the liquad then throw a handful of lime onto it. It litterally 'eats' away the proud flesh, I watched some friends treat a horse who'd got into wire, outfitter owner wouldn't look at it as he "could by a new horse at auction for less then what vet bill would be" (don't get me started!!!) and so I had gf take a look at it. Said in reality a vet should come out and trim off proud flesh (knee was over 3x normal size) but friends couldn't authorize and owner wouldn't... so we asked if they could try this - owner said fine if we wanted to mess with it/long as didn't cost him any $$$. So the friends got the stuff, mixed it, painted in on and limed her - I think they did 2x day as so bad - had knee down to normal in about a month... big scar, but normal shape and proper tissue trying to fill in. I've used just the liquad on my guys when cuts reasonably new and no proud flesh.
If lots of proud flesh that you need to work your way down thru - you can tell when you're getting back to healthy tissue as the lime burns (not tingles) and they will let you know that it's starting to hurt! Listen to the horse - they'll tell you 'enuf'!
Edited to add: I wouldnt use this where there are stitches in place (not sure if it would affect them or not) so just use on the leg cuts etc that weren't stitch able - to high of motion areas etc.

There is a commercial product I've seen at the trade shows (can't remember name right now), always wanted to get some to have on hand, show terrible hock/wire cuts/proud flesh b4/after in flyer... I think my gf bought some at breeders conferance, I'll email her and see if she has it - name & product ordering info...

Hope this helps. Horses don't like moose much - might be what put them thru (seen that more then once!) you'll never know for sure likely, but doesn't matter so much as getting them healed up so you can use/enjoy! Hoping all heal eautifully & quickly for you - hugs!

Sounds like the mare would be better off with new owners regardless. Good luck Smoky.

uno wrote:If you are able, smear honey on the wounds. Other horses will lick this off so the horse MUST be confined, there is a good chance the horse will lick it off if she can. BUt honey will stop infection. although not stop stitches from ripping..

If I'm not mistaken - this should be natural ie 'unpasturized' for best healing results - correct?!?

Oh and b4 I forget... One horse lover to another...Miss prego lady - treat your own horses & as hard as it is to leave the sil horse untouched - you, your kids & your unborn baby come first. Period.

If she cannot afford to get her car fixed she should not be owning a horse. If she has not been paying the essential bills to care for this horse I would say guardian ship is yours. Family or not I would not be paying the bills for someone else's horse unless a lease agreement was in place for usage. I think you could claim the horse has been abandoned and deal with it as you see fit. If she was a concerned horse owner she would figure out a way to help out. You need to guard that belly and protect your children. Plus this stress on you will not help your blood pressure!

For treating all wounds on my horses I wash with very cold water, (If infection looks like it is starting I will wash with water and peroxide mix) Then after nicely cleaned I will pack it with black pepper which does not allow proud flesh to grow. I have found this really works. I have salve from the vet, but find that this usually does not work to well.
These are just plain farm horses, all are registered except SILs horse, but not used for showing just for my children and for packing trips in the mountains. Thanks for all the kind words everyone!!

Dooversue, I have used all types of honey and have not noticed one working better than others. Just my experience as I use what I have on hand at the time.

Smoky, I am interested about how you use the black pepper, would you mind expanding on that a bit?

All you do is wash the wound with cold water and then pack the black pepper on, or throw it on if the horse is wanting to kick. All you need to do is make sure that it covers the whole area. If there is proud flesh already, you pack the black pepper on then wrap with a soft pad and then vet wrap until the proud flesh is gone and then leave it open and just throw the pepper on again. It works awesome!! I do wash them out twice a day and repack each time. It does not seem to burn or anything as the horses do not react. If you have a deep wound (puncture) you pack the puncture full of the pepper. At each washing use a syringe without a needle to rinse it out. Be sure it is rinsed clean. The pepper also keeps flies away in the summer time. I treated one of my horses last summer when the gas company went through and left the second wire loose and he got caught in it and ripped a pretty good chunk on his leg.

The black pepper thing is an old native trick that we learned when my sister was to the point of having to put down a gelding she had been treating all summer with the vet ointments, and he had proud flesh built up that he could no longer flex or bend his leg. The wound was right to the bone. 2 weeks of treatment on him and the proud flesh was gone, another week and he was pretty much healed after starting the black pepper.

I feel like an animal abuser! My horses did not get the proper cleaning tonight due to my ultrasound appointment running just over an hour behind schedule. They still got a quick cleaning and doctoring but not what they would normally have gotten.

On the up side SIL showed up with fiance while i was gone and treated her horse and left s message that if she cannot get here tomorrow she will be here the next day. She is also trying to find a way to get her horse closer to where she is living as she has over an hour and a half drive. She has found a place where she can board the horse which is next door to her and has gotten a good deal for board. Hopefully she can find someone to come and pick her horse up for her. I would haul it for her but hubby has the truck which we use to pull our horse trailer.

smokyriver wrote:All you do is wash the wound with cold water and then pack the black pepper on, or throw it on if the horse is wanting to kick.
he had proud flesh built up that he could no longer flex or bend his leg. The wound was right to the bone. 2 weeks of treatment on him and the proud flesh was gone, another week and he was pretty much healed after starting the black pepper.

This is what the mare that belonged to the outfitter was like - no bend left in knee and in no time at all the solution worked like a charm! Mare was sound as a drum and scar was closing in nice along edges last I saw it - worst thing was she still had same owner! : (
Havent heard of using pepper... just regular pre-ground black pepper you can buy at grocery store for on the dinner table? I'll have to get some and have it on hand! Cool!

Just regular pepper! The last horse I treated I used coarse ground because that is what I had on hand. Coarse or fine grind both work well. It is a great and cheap healer!! I healed up a little filly who had her inner leg ripped open from just under her udder to her knee by a cougar and absolutely no sign of a scar or anything once we got her healed. She was a little tricky as she was not halter broke at all, but luckily she was a mini so was easy to man handle. It is a lifesaver for us that is for sure!! Gotta love those little tricks you can pick up from others. If the wound is not proud fleshed DO NOT wrap it as it will take alot longer to heal if you do!

It is too bad that the poor mare you were talking about had to stay with the same people. Hopefully he learned something from it and will use the treatment if another one of his horses ends up getting hurt!

So glad SIL is doing the right thing!

Hope things continue to go well.

Relieved SIL is doing the right thing too. Sometimes being financially responsible can make you a little more responsible all around, being there's more investment in the animal.