Wound healing
As a horse owner, this will certainly sound familiar to you: Faster than you can react, your horse has got a scratch when turning in the box, getting into a scuffle in the pasture or unloading from the trailer. Flight animals often react unpredictably and sometimes impetuously. Cuts or grazes, bites from conspecifics and other minor skin injuries can happen quickly.
To prevent a minor injury from becoming a major one, it is very important to treat it promptly and professionally. However, it may also be necessary to support the healing of a wound after an accident or an operation.
You can find out more about wound healing and what you can do for your horse here.
Treatment
Treating wounds: What can I do?
How major or minor wounds are treated depends on the type and severity of the injury. For smaller and superficial wounds that are not close to a joint or tendon, you can take care of the wound yourself.
It is important that:
- the wound is only superficial and small (less than approx. 2 cm).
- the wound has only minor bleeding or is not bleeding at all.
- you cannot see any swelling, redness or noticeable warmth.
- there is no pus or other discharge from the wound.
- there are no other symptoms such as lameness or fever.
- no foreign bodies (e.g. small stones or splinters of wood) are visible in the wound.
Source (GERMAN): https://www.pferde.de/magazin/kleine-wunden-beim-pferd-richtig-versorgen-so-gehts/
The following generally helps in the acute treatment of minor skin injuries
If your horse has an open wound, it is best to put on disposable gloves or at least wash your hands thoroughly so that no bacteria or other pathogens can get into the wound area.
You can clean superficial and smaller wounds first by removing coarse dirt and rinsing the wound. Sterile saline solution or lukewarm tap water is suitable for this. Always pay attention to how your horse reacts.
It is beneficial for wound healing if you allow the wound to dry briefly after cleaning and then apply a suitable wound ointment. However, you should never seal the wound area airtight, for example with blue or zinc sprays. Sealing a wound makes it a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and it can therefore delay wound healing. A wound ointment ensures that the wound is kept moist in the initial phase, which supports wound healing.
Wounds in horses should be presented to a vet at the latest when the animal is visibly unwell. As a general rule, if you feel unsure, it is better to make too many rather than too few calls!
Tips for the stable medicine cabinet
Keep sterile, isotonic saline solution on hand. Unlike water, it is germ-free and is therefore ideal for rinsing wounds.
Further information
How can I additionally support wound healing with natural veterinary medicines?
Whether injury, accident or surgery: Many different control points and receptors in the body are involved in the healing of a wound and thus in inflammation. The natural veterinary medicines from Heel Vet have therefore been developed as combination preparations. Consisting of several individual substances (multicomponent), they act simultaneously on numerous parts of the body (multitarget) in order to support the body holistically.
And you can also do something for the regeneration of the horse's skin during wound healing: The care products from Ichtho Vet are suitable here, containing light sulphonated shale oil, which supports the regeneration of stressed and irritated skin.
Your horse's wound healing process can be optimally supported with natural veterinary medicines and medical skin care. Talk to your vet about the possibilities offered by Heel Vet veterinary medicines.
Wound healing - what actually happens?
A wound damages your horse's skin and, depending on how deep the wound is, the tissue under the skin (known as the subcutis and muscles) may also be affected. If the affected area is also swollen or reddened and feels warm to the touch, these symptoms indicate that the injury has become inflamed. This is a natural reaction of the body to initiate healing and restore normal tissue function. This can sometimes lead to an excessive inflammatory reaction, which delays healing. In this case, your horse needs additional support, for example with natural veterinary medicines from Heel Vet, so that the inflammation is steered back onto the right track.
Wound healing is essentially divided into 3 phases. Only after all phases have been completed is the wound closed and a scar has formed.
The Latin "exsudare" means to drain. Everything that the skin cannot use is removed during this phase - bacteria, germs, dirt particles, dead tissue, blood. In this way, the body ensures that the injury is "flushed out" and thus cleansed. In principle, the body can do this on its own - but it can be useful to support the drainage of secretions by rinsing with sterile saline solution or water, especially if wounds are heavily contaminated.
This begins approximately 24 hours after the wound is created. During this phase, the body starts the healing process. It forms new tissue and the wound gradually begins to close. Perhaps you have already noticed a white border around the red wound tissue? This is often mistaken for pus, but it is fresh connective tissue and is very important for wound healing.
This follows the granulation phase and can sometimes last several weeks. The aim is to close the wound completely. You can recognize this phase by the fact that the wound now changes from a moist state to a dry phase. Here, a robust and firm cover layer is formed, which we can see externally as encrustation. However, the newly formed scar tissue underneath is still very different from intact healthy skin. It is very thin and vulnerable and can be sensitive to pain. It now takes some time for several new cell layers to form and for the skin to become stable and resistant again.
Primary or secondary wound healing?
Acute, non-infected wounds such as minor cuts or lacerations usually heal quickly and without complications. The edges of the wound quickly grow back together and a small scar forms. This happens either on its own or with veterinary assistance using sutures, staples or adhesive bandages. The initially light red, soft scar becomes lighter over time and the skin becomes firmer. This is known as primary wound healing. This also occurs following surgery, as a wound is also formed here in principle. Surgical wounds should therefore be considered in the same way as an injury wound in terms of the healing process.
Secondary wound healing occurs when the edges of the wound do not meet (e.g. surgical sutures) or the wound becomes inflamed, ulcerated or extensive and therefore primary wound healing is not possible. Healing is slower because the body has to fill the wound area with granulation tissue from the sides of the wound.
To avoid a chronic course with poor wound healing, such wounds should always be treated by your vet. Your vet will also be happy to advise you on which natural veterinary medicines should be in your horse's first-aid kit.
Source (GERMAN): https://www.medilutions.de/wundversorgung-pferd/
