Keeping Horse From Scratching Wound

I know this is a bit out there for a fish forum, but I was wondering if you guys had any ideas. There has to be at least one other horse person on here, right?
My family has a 13 stall barn that we board horses at, up until this, we've only ever done what we call partial board. Basically we provide the stall and pasture, and you come take care of your horse(although we do take care of their horses if they go on vacation and such). We had been looking for a good first full time boarder and finally found one(we want to keep the barn quiet, we have mostly trail riders and we've had some previous people start trouble so we're pretty picky about who we let keep their horses here). The horse is a 28 year old warmblood, who's owner goes on trail rides every weekend. He's the sweetest thing, and has encouraged me to work more with Romeo. His owner suggested putting Romeo (our horse) and Ivor out in the back pasture together. Our's has been out with other horses before, so we figured why not. They were fine for two weeks after the initial scuffle of "no I'm the boss", until we put a mare in the pasture next to them. Big mistake. We were caring for her that night since there was a fire that stopped the owner from driving since it was right next to the main road leading to our neighborhood. I saw the two of them(both are gelded btw) kicking and rearing and was concerned, but they stopped. I finished the stall I was working on and headed up to the house and saw that Ivor's flysheet(he's allergic to flys) was soaked with blood. Great.
I ran back to the barn and started freaking out, and called his vet(which was awkward since our vet is different), and then called his owner. The vet was out on another emergency (colic) so it was an hour or two before she got here. She finally showed up at 8:15 (on a Saturday, which of course means we got charged double) and cleaned it(we had only put a non stick gauze pad on to stop bleeding) and stitched him up. She could see the muscle through it(which was disgusting). She left around 10:30. She told us to put SWAT(keeps fly's away), Neosporin, and alushield on it, and gave him some bute and antibiotics.
He was stuck on stall rest for two weeks, but after the first week he developed an infection that had to be drained by the vet. His owner told us to squeeze the pus out daily after that(once again, disgusting) and walk him around. It cleared up in 5-6 days. The vet came on Monday to take the stiches out, and we were told he was fine to go out in a small pasture. After some shuffling of horses we made room for him and put him out. Not even 30 seconds after his halter was off he was galloping around, bucking, and started rolling. We gave him a flake of hay to hopefully calm him down but he didn't stop so we took him out. Just hours after the stitches were taken out (and the wound was fully closed) he opened it again. After a call to the vet they said to keep it clean and do the same thing we were told to do before. His owner was upset at the vet for telling us to put him out though, which was nerve wracking. Since the stitches have come out and he opened it up, the little jerk has not stopped itching. He's being kept inside until it scabs over again, but we walk him/hand graze him everyday. Neosporin doesn't help, and now there is a pink and silver line running around his stall since he's rubbed it off. He finally tore the whole thing open today and we need ideas on how to stop it. It's too shallow for stitches now, and it has healed some. We've tried his fly sheet, but that didn't work. One of our boarders suggested sewing pool noodles onto his flysheet to form a barrier around it which we're going to try tomorrow. We're also picking him up some "toys"(one of those hanging apple licks) and a hay net to keep him occupied. At this point I'm ready to just duct tape a bandage to his butt and call it a day.
Basically, our horse reared and got him on the butt(he has front shoes) and now we can't keep it from being opened. I have pictures, but they're a little graphic so PM me if you want to see.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Here's the little jerk-

 

I would use vetwrap or a shoulder guard if it'll reach. You could also keep a scrI'm on him so he doesn't mess with it!

 

He has a flysheet on 98% of the time, it's right on his butt so he can still rub it on walls and buckets. The vet wrap won't reach it without being wrapped around his legs in a weird way, it's in a horrible spot.


Edit: I keep calling it his flank but it's really on his butt.

 

I think one of the biggest things that will help is to have as much supervised exercise as possible. As I'm sure you know, being stalled for long periods time makes them get super happy to be out. He needs to expend his energy on something and if he's stalled, all he can do is scratch.

Do you have a horse walker? That would be a good option. But several times a day you can walk him. If he can trot or canter without hurting the wound, put him on a long longe line and let him do circles till he's tired. Basically wear him out a couple times a day, if possible.

That's a really nasty place to have a wound, cuz it is impossible to keep them from messing with it!

Also may I suggest vetricyn. Spray it on the wound a couple times a day to speed healing. That stuff works wonders! You can put it in anything!

 

We have a "patience pole" I could put him on, I'll post a picture tomorrow. I'm not sure if he could trot with it, it's pretty much back to where it was before the stitches, just shallower. I'll start walking him around more so he gets tired out. It's in the worst spot! He had a small nick on his leg which has healed fine, we just vet wrapped it and put some Neosporin on and it healed without a problem. His owner is coming by tomorrow so we'll see what he says.

I think we have some vetrycin in the tack room! We used it on summer sores last year, I've been following what the vet said to do and didn't even think about that. Thank you!
We've been cleaning the wound by spraying it with hydrogen peroxide, pouring a mix of iodine and water on it, and then gently going around it with a wet washcloth to clean up the excess and picking out any shavings or other nasties in it. Then we put some SWAT on, some Neosporin, and spray it with alushield. We left the Neosporin off today in an attempt to dry it out.

Thank you both for your help! The worst wounds I've had to deal with so far are summer sores, and the fact that he isn't our horse makes this so much worse.

 

Here's what we came up with. We just put it on him, so hopefully it'll stay in one piece.







We did end up calling the vet to come out today. Basically the wound didn't "knit together" underneath the stitches. They can't stitch it up, so now we have to pack it with something called Biozide Gel until it's mostly healed.

 

it reminds me of a checkbox on paperwork! But hey if it works! Horses...

 

Also if you ever have one biting at a bandage you can always spray Bitter Yuck, or something similar on the bandaging and that typically deters them. Doesn't help with rubbing... the pool noodles look great Not sure he is pleased you are taking a pic of his butt though.

 

Piece of pipe like pvc slightly larger than the wound and then wrapped with bitters on the bandage. It's worked for us and is similar to human first aid for embedded objects. Then clean, clean, clean. Bad time of year for it too depending where you are...mud fest spring time in Ontario.

 

The problem with using the pipe, is that it's almost like a backwards L shape, so it would have to be huge. When it first happened it was around 7-8 inches in total, the vet was shocked when she first came, it's definitely opened more since the stitches have come out. We clean it out daily, and with the fly sheet he can't really get any shavings in there.
I'm down in Florida, we've been in a bit of a drought lately and we need rain. The main issue we've been having is flies, it's starting to get hot again and the flies have already gotten so much worse. I miss "winter". We have an overhead fly system in the barn, fly spray the horses daily, put SWAT around any wounds, have fly masks on the horses, and Ivor gets a fly sheet. We should probably put one on ours since he's allergic to gnats, it'll keep him from getting dirty too. He's a paint, so his white spots turn into yellow spots quickly.

 

Can you attach something to the corners in his stall to kind round them out?


Its a bit odd (and really nice) that your family is caring for this horse to this extent.

My ottb is kept at a full board facility here in pittsburgh.
They feed him 2x day
Water as needed
Turn out/bring in
Clean stalls daily (total muck and new dust weekly).
Thats. It.

All grooming, medical care, exercising, etc is the owners responsibility.

But, I digress...

I use a lot of betadine scrub (and regular betadine), as needed.
I also really like the vetricyn, and its in a small tube, but once hes closer to "healed up", ive actually had great luck with emt gel for superficial wounds, and the end stages of wound healing.

Also if you ever have one biting at a bandage you can always spray Bitter Yuck, or something similar on the bandaging and that typically deters them. Doesn't help with rubbing... the pool noodles look great Not sure he is pleased you are taking a pic of his butt though.

I you have no luck with conventional "no chew/lick" products, My horse will NOT touch anything that smells like the regular yellowish A&D Ointment for diaper rash!!!
(Not the white one with Zinc)

 

He's been stalled since it first happened(3 weeks ago), but he gets walked around while his stall is being cleaned. I'm afraid lunging him would open it more, it's in a horrible spot and with it being so big it moves when he walks. It definitely hurts him, he was on bute for the first 4 days and now he's on some antibiotics.
He's our first full boarder, and two weeks after he got here our horse ended up doing this to him.
We feed him 2x a day, scrub his buckets daily, give him water as needed, we would turn him out/bring him in, we do his stall everyday (it's twice a day now that he's in so much), we care for any wounds he has as well. His owner only comes by on the weekends to ride(not with this, but he still comes to see him). Normally he would handle the vet/farrier, but since we see it everyday we send him a picture and if he asks us to call the vet we will. I wouldn't mind exercising him, he's such a sweet horse, much better behaved than ours.

He won't be with any other horses even after its healed. We have enough pastures right now that each horse can have his or her own, and while this was a freak accident it's made us a little concerned about keeping the horses together.
How long would you walk him around for?

 

Such a bummer that this happened, but you guys sure are doing your best to try to keep him right.
Please post updates as you can?
I'm curious to see what solutions you come up with and how he heals up.

 

I'll definitely keep posting updates!

The noodles have worked well, it's looking a little infected but it hasn't opened up any more and it looks way better than it did yesterday. The vet is coming by tomorrow to test him for cushings, so we're going to have her look again.
He's going to have a nasty scar once he's all healed up, luckily his owner has been very nice about the whole situation.

 

That's good. Most horse owners know horses will be horses...

 

How's he healing?

 

I just found this now... For what it's worth, we had a similar problem with a very high-strung Dutch Harness a few years back. The rubbing he was doing was hindering the healing. We did feed him a calming supplement and tried to give him supervised exercise a few times a day, but every time he was turned loose in the box-stall, he was rubbing his flank on the walls. We ended up tying him to the manger and we took two thinner fence posts and screwed eyes in them, then hung those from eyes in the ceiling beams and hung it with chains. That kept him from rubbing as much, for he couldn't rub against anything solid. It seemed the healing sped up from there. I didn't like to think of him being so "confined," but at the time it seemed the best solution.

Good luck!

 

How's he healing?

He's doing great! A flap of skin has already started growing over it and he hasn't opened it up any more. I've been walking him daily, but we do have a patience pole I could put him on.


He did break his noodle barrier a bit, but a couple zip ties and it was fixed.


(You can see the rip in his flysheet from the incident)

I just found this now... For what it's worth, we had a similar problem with a very high-strung Dutch Harness a few years back. The rubbing he was doing was hindering the healing. We did feed him a calming supplement and tried to give him supervised exercise a few times a day, but every time he was turned loose in the box-stall, he was rubbing his flank on the walls. We ended up tying him to the manger and we took two thinner fence posts and screwed eyes in them, then hung those from eyes in the ceiling beams and hung it with chains. That kept him from rubbing as much, for he couldn't rub against anything solid. It seemed the healing sped up from there. I didn't like to think of him being so "confined," but at the time it seemed the best solution.

Good luck!

Thanks for the advice! It's definitely started healing faster now that he can't open it, but if we need to I might try that!

Some bonus pictures I took, they were all sticking their heads out of the windows while I was taking pictures of the patience pole.




The paint is our horse Romeo(and the one that kicked Ivor), the red roan is Nicki(middle), and Ivor is on the far right.

 

What beautiful animals!

 

Your horses are beautiful! We only have Romeo right now, but there are 5(technically 6, he's away at a trainer right now) at our barn. We will hopefully be getting a second sometime near the end of September though.
There's a horse photos thread in the stickies, I haven't posted on it in a while..

 

He's doing great! A flap of skin has already started growing over it and he hasn't opened it up any more. I've been walking him daily, but we do have a patience pole I could put him on.

He did break his noodle barrier a bit, but a couple zip ties and it was fixed.

(You can see the rip in his flysheet from the incident)


Thanks for the advice! It's definitely started healing faster now that he can't open it, but if we need to I might try that!

Some bonus pictures I took, they were all sticking their heads out of the windows while I was taking pictures of the patience pole.


The paint is our horse Romeo(and the one that kicked Ivor), the red roan is Nicki(middle), and Ivor is on the far right.

Glad to hear things are headed in the right direction. That's a nice looking set-up.

 

Thank you! It took a lot of work getting it to where it is now, and we're not done yet!

A little update on Ivor.
He did test positive for cushings, and it was apparently a very high positive. He has been put on meds that will hopefully help. His wound is healing well, it's starting to go from a reddish to pink color and is getting smaller. He has still been itching though, and we've been ziptying the noodles back for a couple days. We're going to redo it. He has ruined 3 clips and a bucket with all his itching, his feed bucket is so misshapen I don't know how he eats out of it haha. We're getting him a new one tomorrow.

 

Here's what we came up with. We just put it on him, so hopefully it'll stay in one piece.

We did end up calling the vet to come out today. Basically the wound didn't "knit together" underneath the stitches. They can't stitch it up, so now we have to pack it with something called Biozide Gel until it's mostly healed.

That is legendarily creative! I agree it's a pig of a spot and there is not a huge amount you can do. My only other thought was to see if the vet had anything they could provide that might numb it somehow if you were getting really desperate.

I have seen a horse with a "cradle" to stop him chewing a chest wound. Sort of a funky wooden necklace that acted a bit like a cone on a dog or cat, haha. But useless for your injury here.

Hope it's working out better!

 

Thank you, even the vet was impressed!

 

A little update-
Ivor is still on stall rest, but the wound is slowly getting better. It's going faster than before now that he's on meds for cushings. He's been slowly ripping the noodles off but it's still holding up, although he's destroyed 2 feed buckets and broken around 5 clips.

 

Glad to hear there is encouraging progress!

 

We went trail riding today! Obviously it wasn't too fast, but his owner and I went out and you could tell he enjoyed being out of his stall. We're putting him out tomorrow which should be interesting.
His owner's friend is a surgeon and suggested we try these honey patch things, and they really helped! We stopped them today and tried something that contains collagen and is supposed to act as a "skin" until it heals. It definitely held up for our ride!

 

You guys will never guess what happened. All was fine, he was going out regularly and the wound is healing super fast with the addition of EMT gel. A couple days ago we found splinters of wood in his flysheet, we figured it was a one time thing and he got too close to the fence. It happened the next day, and the next, and it's only on the side with his wound. So he's obviously scratching his butt, there's nothing more we can do about that. Saturday we found three splinters in him, not just in his flysheet. We were able to remove one, the other two were/are too far in to be removed without cutting them out. So the vet came out today and ended up cutting one out, she left the other in(which I'm kinda confused about?), so now he has stitches again.

 

Argh! Horses! I suppose as long he is not re-opening the initial wound, it's still progress? More pool noodles? Make him look like the marshmallow man, you know you want to, haha!

 

You guys will never guess what happened. All was fine, he was going out regularly and the wound is healing super fast with the addition of EMT gel. A couple days ago we found splinters of wood in his flysheet, we figured it was a one time thing and he got too close to the fence. It happened the next day, and the next, and it's only on the side with his wound. So he's obviously scratching his butt, there's nothing more we can do about that. Saturday we found three splinters in him, not just in his flysheet. We were able to remove one, the other two were/are too far in to be removed without cutting them out. So the vet came out today and ended up cutting one out, she left the other in(which I'm kinda confused about?), so now he has stitches again.

That's too bad... Have you ever wished (as I have) that you could explain things to a horse; reason with them? I hope things are going okay...

 

If only I could explain things to him. He's been pretty good with the current stitches, only a little bit of itching and his first wound is almost completely healed.