I've just realised that...

[Danyele]

I'm a useless hoss owner :( I took prince out for a ride earlier and he stumbled.I thought nothing of it as he's just getting back into work properly and he's going barefoot.

when i got back there was blood running down his feathers:eek:

I suddenly realised "I don't know how dto deal with this". I quickly treated it as a human wound, giving it a clean, to find it's only about 2- 3cms long and not too deep. it was still bleeding so I held a clean hankie against it and it stopped fairly quickly. I sprayed some iodine on it and i've put him back in the field with a small bandage covering it to stp it getting dirty.

I keep thinking "what if it was something worse?" or "What if I hadn't done any first aid training?"

If it had been something worse I don't know what I would have done. we have horsey firstaid stuff in the tack room, but i don't know what to do with a lot of it.

did I deal with this correctly? does anyone have and reccomendations for horsey firstaid books that i could keep in the tack room?

I feel totally useless, and keep going over what might have hapened in my head :(:(:(

[nat0134]

you done the right thing, pos the only thing i would have done differently was not used iodine, try purple spray, and don't be too hard on yourself it's people like you that will learn stuff and keep any experiance at the front of your mind, for future reference.

try the manual of horsemanship, or even better if you look in robinsons (www.robinsons-uk.com) they sell a massive book on vetinary horse care (i think it's about £30, but it'll be cheaper than unnessersary vet bill's eg, little cut's etc)

Hope he's ok :D

I've been around horses for the past 18 years and worked at a local riding stable for 3 years where i was given the roll as main first aider for the horses. and even after all that i still feel as though im still learning

[jenren!!]

No no no!! NOTHING to worry about! I was exactly the same when i got my first pony, he cut all his legs and i didnt have a CLUE what i was doing! You gain this experience as you go along. Having supporting friends with you also helps.

Read a few books, get a few basic hints and relax :). It sounded like you did the right thing! Common sense is a useful tool ;).

[Herbie's mummy]

*hug*
It's ok.
I started to cry the 1st time one of mine got a scratch.....when i mean scratch it was tiny LOL
so no worries
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

[mogadoga]

Dont worry. You did fine. As above some people prefer pruple spray, but im an iodine fan lol.

Ive never done training. To be honest ive done nothing major. Only scratches/abcess and what not.

Few month ago a horse came in (someone got it as was hurt) and it was raining, there was a flap of skin on the front leg hanging and alot of blood. A girl went straight to the hose, and i thought 'no, not water, it will bleed more' so took the horse in the barn, called the owner and vet. And for the next two weeks helped clean stitching, bandage and eventually pick scabs i was told to pick. As the owner was scared of blood.

Baisically im saying... yes you can train, and yes its good to read, but doing is the best teacher (although its not always something we would wish upon our animals).

Sorry...im doing quite a few of rambling posts today lol.

[Danyele]

Thanks all! it just really freaked me out, as I realised that if it had been worse, I would have had no idea what to do!

[Sparkie]

If one of the horses at our yard gets a cut, I'm usually the one who deals with it! We have just about every sort of antiseptic and cut stuff, iodine, purple spray, herbal cream, you name it, we have it! I used to be just the same as you though, I remeber finding a tiny cut on Misty just after we got him, and I ran to ask the nearest person what to do!

[Thunderhost]

You did good ...
I Always use plenty of cool clean water and betadine. I also use a topical antibiotic, doesn't matter what brand, after cleaning the wound and I repeat this everyday till it is healed.

No need to bandage, it is best to keep it uncovered so that it can get air.

Horses are big but they are still our little babies.