When your horse returns to the stable with fresh cuts and abrasions, it's important to deal with the issue straight away to prevent infection and avert any more persistent problems from occurring.

Waterman's give you our top 5 tips for treating one of the most troublesome conditions your horse will face known as proud flesh.

What Is Proud Flesh?

Proud flesh (or over granulation) typically develops in the lower areas of the legs where dirt, debris and other matter builds up in a wound - severely complicating the healing process as a result.

Proud flesh can be identified by the emergence of granulation tissue forming from the corners of a wound, taking on a raised, yellow and red appearance.

5 Tips For Prevention

#1. Identity the wound as clean the areas as soon as possible, taking care to extract anything foreign that you can see such as hair, mud, grass, grit and stones from the road - all of which can cause infection, inflammation and promote the arrival of far more problematic proud flesh.

The safest way to rinse out a wound is using saline solution or cool water from the garden hose.

#2. After flushing away the debris, apply wound cleaner with a low concentrate antiseptic wash to lower the chance of a harmful infection. Then use NAF NaturalintX MSM Ointment or a similar product during the first stages of the healing process as a protective barrier to support the skin as the wound improves.

#3. Apart from low risk scratches and grazes, bandage the cleaned and treated wound to keep it protected as it heals. Your first step is to cover the area with a non-adhesive gauze or Veterinary Gamgee Tissue. The most complicated wounds tend to occur on the bending joints and will need tended to more closely as the tissue can often be disrupted by regularly movement. Make sure you change the bandage once a day during the healing process and more frequently if the wound is particularly bad or producing exudates.

#4. Your horse should be restricted from moving to stop the healing tissue from reopening, therefore extending the recovery time. For more severe wounds a veterinary professional is likely to recommend splinting while the horse remains in the stable.

#5. If you've followed these four steps and your horse has still developed symptoms akin to proud flesh, call a vet. Furthermore, keep an eye on the wound, looking for signs of different kinds of infection or sarcoids - typically found on the back legs or underbelly.


Post By Ed Mason

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