Wound-Care GUIDE
Your horse comes in from the pasture with a gash on his knee. No problem. Your first-aid kit is filled with wound-care options, including plain old iodine and a product that promises to prevent proud flesh. But which one should you use?
Stop right there!
Even something as simple as plain old iodine can cause tissue damage that might compromise your horse’s healing. Your wound treatment could cause more harm than good.
Here I’ll go over the four stages of wound healing. I’ll first tell you what’s happening inside your horse’s body to help him heal. Then I’ll explain what you should (and shouldn’t) do when caring for a wound.
(For a wound-care kit, turn to page 45.)
STAGE 1 Hemostasis (Control of Bleeding)
When it occurs: Immediately after injury.
What’s happening inside:
Blood vessels constrict to reduce blood flow. Within seconds, cells called platelets adhere to vessel walls. Within minutes, strands of fibrin (a stringy protein) adhere to damaged vessels where they begin to form a matrix or “mesh” to support clot development. Platelets release substances that stimulate clotting.
