Podcast #043 – Wounds In Horses

This is a review of what kind of wounds occur in the horse, what needs to be done about them and how to make them heal with the best possible outcomes. In a nutshell, there are partial skin thickness wounds and full thickness wounds. Partial skin-thickness wounds can be bloody and will heal without much attention needed for their good outcomes.

Full-thickness wounds can be divided into fresh and chronic. All can be declared infected with possibly the surgical incision made in a controlled environment. How they heal can be divided into “primary intention” (suturing) and “secondary intention” (not sutured). The key to success is first to eliminate infections.

I discuss all these factors based on attending the virtual AAEP meeting of 2021, where a multi-part series of presentations discussed biofilms, debridement and grafting. All of this needs to be understood by the horse owner as a quick action in fresh wounds or appropriate action in wounds discovered a day or more later will determine how successful the outcome will be.

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