[meadow]

Long story short bought a green trained horse ( not my first one) and when the horse was delivered I find out that the lump on the horses hip is a large abcess. When previous owners were asked , they did not remember a lump there. Two vet visits later and a round of penicillin and antibiotics the abcess was lanced and is still draining 8 days later. During the vet visits the horse is sedated or she gets kicked. Now my delema is how can I and my help keep this wound clean so it can heal without ourselves being kicked. I found out later that this horse has never had a bath and is scared of the water being poured on him. I am being very patient with him and trying to go slow with the water thing and gain his trust that I do not want to hurt him. We have only had him for 2 weeks now but I worry that we can't keep this hole as clean as it can be. He will let me clean up his leg and up to the hole but will not allow me to dribble, pour, or even quickley squirt any water or anticeptic wash in the area, without a dance and kick. He has been reaching around and licking the wound, so any salves I do manage to get near the hole he licks off.
He is on antibotics for another 6 days . The hole is the size of a hockey puck and almost as deep. It looks a bit better today but I am still concerned.

[pompano]

Maybe you could put bedadine solution in a spray bottle and spray the wound from a distance.We used this solution to disinfect areas before and after an animal had surgery.It does not burn when it is applied,and dries rather quickly.The main thing you have to do is keep flies off the wound.Good luck.:)

[jcharris]

I have horses they are a very curious animal. I always carry a towel around my neck and rub their noses wiith it. I let them chew on it sometimes I put a cube of sugar in it and you would be surprised how they remember that cube and come looking for more. When you get their curosity, you begin getting their trust. As for the water I had one afraid of water. So I dumped out his drinking water and left it empty for awhile. When I got back out there, he was ready for a drink. So me him and the water hose got to know one another, course I was as wet as the horse. But it worked for him. Hope this helps Oh and as far as the wound have someone help by feeding horse some carrots or apples whils you attend to the wound. Put some peroxide in a syringe without the needle and squirt it on as you are moving.

[honkymcgoo]

First, have someone experienced with horses holding him by the head. Depending on his tolerance level to the water, use a different method of restraint. If he idly kicks out or sidesteps, use a chain lead rope over his nose, threaded through the metal holes of the halter. If he is uncontrollable, a lip-chain or a nose twitch will work to sedate him naturally. It does not hurt your horse in the hands of an experienced handler, so don't worry about that. Then proceed to disinfect the wound, keeping in mind to stay perpendicular to him and aware of his feet. If he starts to kick, the handler can turn his head towards you. This will throw him off balance enough so that his kick aims away from you. Don't dribble water or dump water on the wound, and don't use peroxide, which kills living flesh. Use a chlorohexidine scrub, prepodyne(iodine) scrub, prepared in a syringe without the hypodermic attached, and flush out the wound. Feeding the horse carrots and apples won't help if he's stressed, he'll likely ignore them, or it will distract his attention from what you are doing and you'll get kicked when he realizes you've just dumped something in his wound. It's much easier to handle an alert, aware horse.

Once you've flushed the wound, apply a furacin (furasolidone, furazone) salve, or you could apply SWAT but I'm not sure of the indications for that when used in a large area.

[Treeny]

My daughter trains and breaks horses I have seen her deal with the same thing, first the horse has to get used to water, beings that for a wound you always should hose off the area with cold water and leave the water running on the wound for at least 15 min a day.This not only cleans but works as a ice pack for swelling.
The only way to do this is to do it.
Stand out of kicking reach and if you have to dance around with the horse then dance.
After iceing the wound with hose, there are many solvents that you can buy for wound at your tack shop, fersene is a good one spelling may be wrong.
If you can't afford any or if he won't hold still and your afraid of getting kicked she has used lime dust that you can just throw on the area, it will keep the flys off and help infection and healing. Do not wrap let it air a day and then wrap the next day with no lime.alternate this procedure.

[Tuscany]

Both Treeny and honkey have outstanding advice. I would add the if you don't see an improvement to the wound within a couple days you might need to talk to a vet. Sometimes abcesses need antibiotics to clear up properly.

[meadow]

Thank you all for your input. Persistence and patience and we can bath him now and the wound healing is almost complete. We are now back on track and proceeding with training. I feel a high degree of trust and companionship has developed though all this and he has been gaining weight now and is not the same horse that came home. He has a lot more energy and his personality is shining through.

[Tuscany]

I am so glad that things are going well for you and your horse. A good connection between horse and rider is so important. Keep nurturing that relationship! :)

[meadow]

Hey everyone, been kind of busy working and of course horse training. Just wanted to post a question to other horse owners out there about bedding. What do others use and some costs to what they use. I'm asking because in our area the horse people are having a hard time to get bulk bedding. The local mill can only produce so much now as they reuse some of their product for their own heat source. Have any of you ever used the Woody Pet Bedding?