My Experience with Proud Flesh

Before I start I would like to point out that I am not a qualified veterinarian, nor do I guarantee that this will work with another horse, I am purely posting it to document my experiences and if they can help anyone in any way will be very happy. All the pictures and content of this article are the sole property of myself Lori Schmidt, and may not be copied or reproduced in any way for any reason without my written consent.

Always consult with your vet first.

A blogging buddy of mine, Rising Rainbow, has had a colt who has injured his coronary band (where the hoof and flesh meet and the hair starts. Unfortunately with leg injuries, what is called proud flesh is inevitable. I had the occasion a few Decembers ago to have to deal with this myself and through misunderstanding did not dress it the way it should have been and the proud flesh flourished. Once I had the correct instructions from my vet it was a much quicker healing process but the padding and tension of the bandages are all important. You can't over tighten the dressing but if you undertighten it the proud flesh will grow. It looks dreadful, I have posted pictues of the progression to try to show you what it looked like.

The day before Xmas we had about 8 inches of snow on the ground and I had gone into town to get a heating tape for one of the faucets that had frozen. When I came back I still had Dosie my stud in the roundpen and Blue in the area outside the rounden, I never dreamt he would get his legs over the top of this 5ft 6in railing. They used to face box but I wasnt worried.
I unpacked the tape and went outside to install it only to see Blue laying on his back against the panels of the roundpen. At first I thought he had got himself "cast" (cast is when they lay down to roll in their stable or some place and get themselves into such a position where they cant get the movement and leverage to get themselves back up so they are stuck cramped in a corner on their backs which is not good.

As I got closer I realised his right front hoof was wedged between the panels of the roudpen and he was hanging from his front leg. Thank heavens he was quiet and not panicking, he has always been very laid back and easy to deal with. I ran inside to tell Larry to get some help and went back out to him to keep him calm which he was doing quite well, I was hysterical (go figure). Because it was frozen I could not get the pins out of the panels on either side to release them so that we could drop the panels he was stuck between to release the leg. Fortunately Larry's nephew was nearby ploughing roads from the snow and he came straight over and two of the neighbors behind us arrived at about the same time to come and work on the house they were building. They all managed to get the other 3 pins out and we were able to drop the panels (they weigh about 120lbs each) and his leg just slipped out and he lay there for a bit and then got up. I had totally forgotten about Dosie who was still wandering around but stayed out of the way thank heavens. The pin holding the panels together had done horrible damage to the joint and I got him into a stable as quickly as possible and covered. I think the fact that there was so much snow and it was cold (it was -6F that night and -8F on Xmas night) which stopped excessive bleeding and he hadnt struggled which would have surely snapped his leg like a twig.

So the long healing struggle started.

(this was taken 5 days after the accident and is the first picture I have of the wound)
(Click on pictures to enlarge)

The 2 pictures below show the proud flesh and was taken after 5 weeks of incorrect treatment.

His cut went from the middle of the fetlock joint right round to the middle of the back of the pastern angling down at a 45 degree angle which started on the fetlock . On the other side of his leg he had a few cuts which pretty much made the whole foot a mess.

My vet wanted to put him down but I couldnt do it he was only 18 months old, and it was my now four year old stallion Blue who I love dearly, a lot of our bond was formed during this time when he had to ensure the soakings of his foot every day and bandage changing and he was a star, never even tried to chew the bandage until right near the end of the 4 month battle to heal it.
This is the other side of the hoof
I used a method that worked for me but needs to be taken care with so you dont over tighten the dressing and bow a tendon or cut off circulation where the bandage comes to the end of the padding. I had to do this daily despite the cold temps and he was a star. First I soaked his leg in a bucket with warm water and epsom salts, then I rinsed it in another bucket of clean water. I had a pad to put his foot down on to keep the shavings and dirt out of it. I patted it dry and then started dressing it. I started out by tying him up by his feeder and doing this while he was eating breakfast or dinner which kept him occupied and he eventually got so used to it he just stood like a star.

I used a black salve called Ichthammol 20% (drawing salve). First I made a long piece of gauze bandage folded the length of the cut and in five or six layers. Then I smeared the salve onto this length of dressing from one end to the other quite liberally. I then wrapped it around his leg on the wound and the salve held it in place. Then as padding you can use sheets of cotton wool but I used those leg wrap quilts (cheaper option again for long term dressings), they are about 12 inches wide and 24 inches long and I had one cut in half which I doubled over to go around the thinner part of the pastern for padding. I then took a whole one and wrapped that around and around the entire leg so it extended from the hoof nearly on the ground and extending upwards on the leg. I purchased Ace bandages (elastic reuseable bandages) because to use vetwrap was just going to be too expensive. They were 6 inches wide and can't remember how long.

Have a few pieces of duct tape available so that as you put each layer on you can secure it while you get the next layer sorted with a little piece of tape. I then started with the ace bandage pretty much halfway up and wrapped the quilting with at least the top 2 inches of the quilting sticking out and the bottom 2 inches as well but I wrapped it as tightly as I could. Here you have to be a bit careful because you dont want to damage a tendon. This pressure stops the proud flesh forming and having the padding sticking out top and bottom stops the tight bandage from cutting off circulation. Then as a precaution I put a piece of duct tape loosely around the top and bottom padding that was sticking up, to avoid him being tempted to chew at the flappy bits LOL and helps to stop it from slipping down on the leg. I also put a leg pad (the ones that wrap around and secure with velcro) over the top of all of this to keep the bandage protected from teeth and dirt and also wrapped a few pieces of duct tape loosely around that to hold it in place.
The shot below was taken 10 days after correcting the dressing procedure.
One warning when you come to re-dress this and take all of that stuff off, the proud flesh produces a lot of pussy muck and it has a smell all of its own!!!! The proud flesh bleeds pretty easily so you have to be careful to not rub it or bump it gainst something when washing it or it bleeds profusely.
The two shots below were taken 6 months after the accident.

The photo below of the dressing is similar to the one I used on Blue except this was a back leg and the wound was higher on the leg here, and the tightness issue was even more crucial, too much pressure and you will bow a tendon or cut off circulation and the leg will start to swell, not enough and you will get proud flesh.

So that was the daily routine the pictures show the progression of the wound over the 4 months, it started slow and got bad because I didn't dress it with the pressure it needed for the first 5 weeks or so but after I got that right it just got better and better.

As it was a long time for stall rest, over 4 months, I made all sorts of toys for him to play with and I am sure that helped keep him from chewing the bandage and becoming a cribber as a result.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask away, I will try to help in any way I can, but always remember, consult your vet first.

Lori

The View From My Kitchen Window - 12 May 2008

Well it has been a while and not much has changed in the field, the left side has more green than the right side but it is still a muddy mess and I think the only way I am gonna get it favorable for good grazing is, get rid of 15 horses and rotate the 4 left in the two fields after tilling and resowing grass and alfakfa seed and giving it a year's break! The bushes have also got leaves and flowers on them and the front lawn needs mowing. I always feel so guilty because they are on the other side of the fence and here on our side is this lovely lush grass.

Lori

Taxes - Wound Progress & April 15th birthday boys

My little angel turned one yesterday along with my stud who turned 5. I posted on the birthday boys on my main blog http://prophotobylori.blogspot.com/ but here is another shot of Blue and what he thought of it all.

The wound is nearly gone, it is amazing that it has healed as well as this you can hardly see anything. When he sheds his winter coat it may be more visible but there is just a small lump which was where the triangular tip of the skin was when it was ripped.

This will hopefully be the last of his wound progress.

Lori

Anyone know what type of Hawk this is?

I have had a small hawk hanging around for a few weeks now, I got a really bad shot of one the other day and thought it may be a red tailed hawk, but yesterday this little guy was in the bush outside my kitchen window and I have had to crop the shot heavily to make him a decent size because it was a bit far away. He only gave me the opportunity to take this one shot. When he flew away I didnt see any sign of redness in his tail, but he was gone in a flash.

(Click on pic to enlarge)

This is the one I saw the other day but the quality of the shot is much worse as it was raining and overcast and even further away. I dont think it is the same bird but maybe I will get lucky soon and get a closer and better shot of one of them.
Lori

The View From My Kitchen Window - 29 March 2008

I keep hoping that the scene will start greening up quickly but with all this wet and mud we arfe still waiting, at least the horses are enjoying their roundbale of hay and finding somewhere to lay down without it being in the mud. I took this a few days ago, hopefully we will start seeing changes soon as the weather is warming up, it is overcast but in the 50s this morning when we woke.

I was hoping that this make for an interesting series but thus far nothing much has changed since I started LOL.

Lori

The View From My Kitchen Window - 19 March 2008

(Click on pic to enlarge)

First view 12 March

Well one week later and here is the view we have this afternoon. We have been having rain all day and night and as a result I have my regular pond in my pasture and mud everywhere. Horses are tired of being inside and I wish I could put them out but I want to give the grass at least a fighting chance at getting started out there without the hooves tearing everything up. The bottom end of the field from the left to the right behind the hill to where the telephone pole is, is a big lake.


Hope it stops raining soon it has made up for the drought we had last summer and more already and our rainy season hasnt even started!!!


Lori

Taxes - Wound Progress - Part 2

I didnt get to clean the wound today so a lot of the dirt around the wound you are seeing is from the mud when he has been running, but the wound is making fabulous progress. I am not surde yet if he will have a bald patch or not but I dont think it will be as big as I first thought it would be.


Lori
xx

The View From My Kitchen Window - 12 March 2008

I can always see the railway crossing and most of the field from the kitchen window and quite often I will just stand there and gaze out and watch what is happening, the horses, the birds or the weather, I just find it relaxing, so I decided today to do a series taken from this same spot every once in a while to see how different it looks at different times of the year.

So here is today's version, we started just below freezing and you can still see a bit of the snow on the ground, but we got up to the 50s and it was a glorious day. You can see how happy the horses were on my other blog http://prophotobylori.blogspot.com. This was taken earlier in the morning before I went out to feed them.

Hope you all had a great day. (((Hugs)))

Lori

Update on Taxes and his Accident

I took a few shots of Taxes this evening. He has been so good about flushing the wound but is not mad about having me removing the dead tissue and seems to have been taking pretty good care of keeping it clean himself. The skin is a nice healthy pink and I continue to spray it with the antibiotic spray and think it is doing really well. I managed to remove some of the black today and will just keep plugging away at it.

There is ice everywhere here and I dont want to risk him slipping on the ice and snow outside so I am having to put his leg into a bucket in order to flush the area and not get everything wet and he has been very good about that. The handling daily is also helping with his manners although he is still a brat and desperately wants to play with everyone and everything.

Will keep you posted.

Lori

Thinking of Spring

We are having yet more snow, although again we managed to dodge the worst of it, we have been lucky this year, there have been three big storms predicted to hit us and none of them have. Further north they have not been so lucky.

The photos today are hopefully going to brighten up your day if it needs brightening. I took these last summer out in the pasture. Strangely enough the one above looks like the milkweed plant flower that the Monarch buttterfly caterpillars feed off but it had totally different leaves and general structure. I even found one with a monarch caterpillar on it. Will have to do a bit of research as I thought that the milkweed was the only plant these caterpillars ate.
The one above was a tiny little weed, I had to lay on the ground to shoot it as it is only about an inch long, if anyone knows what it is please fill me in LOL.

Taxes is doing great, the wound looks aweful but he is full of his usual naughtiness again and lets me flush the wound with no problem with warm water and spray it with an antibacterial spray the vet gave me to use.

I put the horses in last night because of the storm warning so they will probably stay there til tomorrow. Our helper has made headway a bit in the barn and hopefully we will get it in ship shape by the end of the week again. Blue is already starting to shed his winter coat by the handfulls. I find that the white hair always sheds first, so all the horses with lots of white are shedding profusely.

Well thats my bit for the day, still hoping and praying that we will sell some horses soon to good homes, keep fingers and toes crossed for us LOL (((((Hugs)))))

Lori
xx

Taxes Treatment Day 1

I am very pleased with how he has responded to the flushing, I filled a gallon tub with warm water and flushed the wound out three times and he was soooooooo good. Then I sprayed it with an antiseptic spray and he didnt have a problem with that either. Good boy.


I will take pics every few days and then once a week to keep up with progress. Pics today are ones I posted before on my other blog when he was 3 months old and was playing with his Jolly Ball. He ran into the fence the next day and cut his back leg up.


Lori

Taxes Has Done It Again

(Click on pics to see larger images)

Well Mike your little buddy has been up to his tricks again. I was out feeding yesterday morning and had just put all the horses out and partitioned off the section where Taxes gets to have a bit more space and play over the partitions with the two other colts (MiKael calls it face boxing which I love). I was cleaning up and the next minute I looked up and this is what greeted me!!!!! I have hunted high and low to try to find out how he did this but cant find anything, no hair on something, no evidence at all.

That triangular flap at the bottom is just a flap of skin. At the top the muscle got torn a bit too but fortunately not too badly. We had two options, anaesthetise him (it is very very cold you can see the breath vapor in the top pic) and stitch him up and hope that he doesnt pull the stitches out, or leave it as it is and flush it with sterile water and use a clear antibiotic spray on it four or five times a day.

As most of you know, Taxes is a little tyrant and has a very strong personality so we decided on the leaving it and trying to keep it clean while it heals. It looks absolutely dreadful. He likes to bite everything so I know he will just have it all open again in an instant which is what happened when he cut his hind leg on the wire a few months back. The added bonus is that because it is still so cold we have no flies, which can be a terrible problem in the summer with open wounds.

So I will keep you posted on his progress here, but it is going to be a few months to get this fixed at least.

Lori

Unidentified Hawk

(click on pic to enlarge)

This is not a great picture because the bird was a long way away and I got as close to it as I could before the railway track started hiding it from view (that is what you can see in the foreground) It is also cropped drastically. Any idea which hawk this one is? For some reason I am having problems loading the pic. I have seen it around more, probably attracted by the sparrows that I feed.

Ball Python Feeding - Quite graphic Photos - Part 2

This shot was after he had worked his prey down into his gullet. As I said in my last post they usually get fed once a week and this was a medium sized mouse.

Lori

Ball Python Feeding - Quite graphic Photos

A friend of mine and her sister have a python which I have pictured in this series and two Boas. This snake is about 2 or 3 feet long so is still quite small and he gets fed every Tuesday. I am a staunch animal lover so this wasnt easy for me to document but I did, and it was in a small tank which made space to work a problem.

(Click on all pics to see larger versions)

After striking at the mouse and having its mouth around its middle the python curled itself around the throat area to suffocate the prey.
He then proceeded to unlock his jaws so that he could consume the mouse from the head first.
He had to stretch and ripple his neck and body to work the mouse down into his tummy.

I will post another picture in a second post of him after completely consuming the mouse.

Iam hoping to do something similar with the Boas, the one is about 6 foot long and the other about two feet long. I will post what I have of them in a seperate post.

Lori