Wire Cuts

Anyone who owns a horse has probably dealt with some type of injury.  Horses often get cuts or lacerations from something in their environment.  Although there are many steps that can be taken to prevent the majority of these wounds they still occur.  It is recommended to have a safe type of fencing and a material other than barbed wire.  Electric fencing can also pose some problems.  Although the cuts of going through an electric fence are usually not as severe as barbed wire it can still have some disasterous consequences.  Life threatening consequences can occur when the wire gets wrapped around a limb.  The wire can act like a tourniquet around a limb and it can cut off the bloodflow to the lower part of the limb.  After the limb loses blood flow the damage is often not reversible and the horse is euthanized. 

The following are photos from a case that had a wire injury.  The wire was wrapped around the lower leg.  Under anesthesia the wire was removed and the wound was cleaned.  There is always a guarded prognosis until a few days after removal of the wire to determine blood flow to the lower limb.  The limb was wrapped with nitrofurazone ointment and cold hosed in between bandage changes.  The horse was placed on antibiotics and pain medication.  Tetanus vaccination was boostered.  Recheck examination revealed that the bloodflow to the lower limb was intact and that the wound was healing well.  Granulation tissue (scar tissue) was present and filling in the wound.  Bandage changes were then changed to deal with the proud flesh and to continue to help the wound to heal.