Gia - cut and swollen leg :(
Gia came in yesterday with a small cut and a swollen leg. It's only a tiny cut, but apparently she is very sensitive about it, and it was a bit swollen. So, rather than ride, I iced and sweat wrapped it.
Whenever a leg is swollen, one thing that is almost always recommended is to apply some sort of cold treatment. Most of the time that means cold-hosing the leg. When cold-hosing a leg, you have to basically stand with the horse for 20 minutes, letting a cold stream of water run down the swollen area of the leg. Definitely not a great way to spend precious time! Other options are to train the horse to stand in a bucket of ice cold water (not as difficult as it sounds), or to use ice wraps. I have a set of ice wraps that I regularly use after Butch has jumped really hard. So, I applied an ice wrap to Gia's left hind leg, and let her stand for about 20 minutes. She was a little fidgety when I first put it on, but then stood perfectly still the rest of the time. I've had other horses take much longer to learn to stand still with ice wraps on, so this was great! She'll have to wear them on all four legs, eventually, when she starts jumping harder.
Once the leg had been iced (you don't want to do it for more than 20 minutes because it can start to get too cold), then I applied a sweat wrap. Just like with human swellings, you want to alternate a cold treatment with a hot treatment to help reduce the swelling. So, a sweat wrap usually does the trick.
First, you apply a good amount of nitrofurazone or furacin ointment (a bright yellow antibiotic ointment) to the swollen area of the horse's leg. Always use gloves, as furacin does contain carcinogens. Then, to help keep the heat more intense, you apply a single layer of saran wrap. You just want to lay it on the leg, you don't want to wrap it tight. Saran wrap doesn't have enough stretch to it, so if it's too tight, it will constrict the horse's tendons and ligaments leading to a much more severe injury.
Finally, you want to apply a standing wrap and quilt. This wrap helps provide compression without restriction. You do want to make sure to apply the standing wrap nice and snug so it doesn't slip down and cause bigger problems.
I will probably have to do this for Gia for a few days, but the cut itself is very minor, so she will hopefully be back to work soon!
Life with horses ...
Whenever a leg is swollen, one thing that is almost always recommended is to apply some sort of cold treatment. Most of the time that means cold-hosing the leg. When cold-hosing a leg, you have to basically stand with the horse for 20 minutes, letting a cold stream of water run down the swollen area of the leg. Definitely not a great way to spend precious time! Other options are to train the horse to stand in a bucket of ice cold water (not as difficult as it sounds), or to use ice wraps. I have a set of ice wraps that I regularly use after Butch has jumped really hard. So, I applied an ice wrap to Gia's left hind leg, and let her stand for about 20 minutes. She was a little fidgety when I first put it on, but then stood perfectly still the rest of the time. I've had other horses take much longer to learn to stand still with ice wraps on, so this was great! She'll have to wear them on all four legs, eventually, when she starts jumping harder.
Once the leg had been iced (you don't want to do it for more than 20 minutes because it can start to get too cold), then I applied a sweat wrap. Just like with human swellings, you want to alternate a cold treatment with a hot treatment to help reduce the swelling. So, a sweat wrap usually does the trick.
First, you apply a good amount of nitrofurazone or furacin ointment (a bright yellow antibiotic ointment) to the swollen area of the horse's leg. Always use gloves, as furacin does contain carcinogens. Then, to help keep the heat more intense, you apply a single layer of saran wrap. You just want to lay it on the leg, you don't want to wrap it tight. Saran wrap doesn't have enough stretch to it, so if it's too tight, it will constrict the horse's tendons and ligaments leading to a much more severe injury.
Finally, you want to apply a standing wrap and quilt. This wrap helps provide compression without restriction. You do want to make sure to apply the standing wrap nice and snug so it doesn't slip down and cause bigger problems.
I will probably have to do this for Gia for a few days, but the cut itself is very minor, so she will hopefully be back to work soon!
Life with horses ...
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