Mattie update, first bandage change

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Ziggy

Jane&Sid these days!
Apr 30, 2010
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I was supposed to change Mattie's bandage yesterday but I was scared. So I waited until today when I was having a Charlie lesson with my RI Sarah. I asked for a practical horse care lesson instead!

It was brilliant to have support. My friend Carol came and held Mattie and fed him from a bucket. Sarah helped me get off the old dressing - that was the hardest part. The bandage had set like a plaster cast because there had been lots of blood, and my scissors weren't really up to cutting it! But we got it off and Sarah was really pleased with how the wound was looking -

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clean and dry and starting to close up.

We rebandaged with @carthorse 's (and the vet's) programme: Melolin dressing, Softban padding more than an inch thick over the wound site, and Vetwrap over the top. We've done from hock down to fetlock./ His white fetlock was a bit swollen from the previous bandage being too tight so we have gone down only to the beginning of the white and were careful not to overwrap the Vetwrap.

He was such a good boy. Carol says that while we were doing the bandaging he didn't eat, and his ears were back listening to us, but he stood like a statue the whole time. My hands were shaking to begin with but I got confidence towards the end. I should have taken a picture of our bandage, it looks like a boa constrictor that has eaten something large, but I'm hopeful that it will work, and if it falls off I know how to do another one!

That's quite a milestone for someone who has kept horses for more than 10 years. I think I've been lucky :cool:
 
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Well done! Having to bandage a wound like that if you aren't used to it is no mean feat and it sounds like you and your team did a fantastic job :)

I wouldn't want to bandage far onto the white sock anyway, I would imagine the movement of the fetlock joint would start pulling your bandage down. It's a shame you didn't get a photo though, it sounds like a masterpiece :)
 
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Fingers crossed it still looks like that in the morning. If the other one was bottom heavy that was almost certainly part of the trouble, it sometimes surprises me how poor some vets are at bandaging or indeed applying hoof poultices - though in fairness a few months ago I was watching a vet bandage a very difficult wound and it was like a perfect demonstration of how to bandage, I was in total awe.

I forgot to say before but the actual injury looks like it's improved quickly so hopefully you won't get too much bandaging practice.
 
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carthorse said:
it sometimes surprises me how poor some vets are at bandaging or indeed applying hoof poultices
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Thats one thing I am a master at - hoof poultices, I've had far to much practise! I could probably teach the vets how to do it.
 
Jane&Ziggy said:
Well, it rained, so not ideal conditions. Also I saw him go down for a roll (which I think he's been dying to do for days) and I think that's hard on a hock area bandage too. But he hopped up quite happy and it's still in place!
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It sounds like you did a fab job there Jane, glad he's on the mend too, that was a nasty wound.
 
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