(9/2019) It seems that horses are always injuring themselves. Go into almost any barn and you will see a collection of various wound ointments and bandaging supplies that the owners have acquired due to their accident-prone animals. If I look in my personal, human, medicine cabinet, I don't even keep Neosporin ointment for myself. However in my barn I have a shelf of multiple different wound ointments with different purposes. Some of the ointments are antibacterial, some have fly repellent, and some just stick really well so I don't have to reapply them constantly.

The majority of the time when horses cut themselves, it's a superficial wound that just needs to be washed and a little ointment applied. The horse will be fine. However, sometimes the owner and horse are unlucky and a visit with the veterinarian is required. Basically if a wound involves the eye, is close to a tendon, is near a joint, is a puncture that could be deep, or has foreign material such as pieces of a fence board, embedded in it, it is best to have the vet out.

Wounds in those locations can look inconsequential but have catastrophic or even fatal outcomes. Wounds on the head or body can sometimes be harder to examine and determine if vet care is needed. Obviously large flaps of skin hanging off need to be seen by a vet but what about the smaller cuts that are only an inch or so long and not very deep? If it's something where you can pull the edges together with your fingers then likely it will heal faster with stitches. If in doubt, take some pictures with your phone, and call the vet. Also, think about the date of your horse’s last tetanus vaccine. If he is not up to date, even a superficial cut may require a vet visit and vaccine booster.

One of my clients grew up with horses but took a break from them while she was in school. Now that she had graduated and had a job, she could afford to have horses again and get back into showing.

She bought a young horse, Nugget, a year ago and the two of them were training together. Nugget had progressed nicely in his training and was ready to go to his first show. A few other people from the boarding barn were going with her so Nugget would have friends on the trailer with him.

When the group got to the show, as Nugget was backing out of the trailer he threw his head up and into the top of the trailer door. It left an upside down "v" shaped cut on the front of his face. Typically at

shows, the site of blood panics everybody and people start frantically screaming to call the vet. In this case everyone was calm and told Nugget's owner that she did not need the vet and that if she put a little ointment on the wound, the judge probably wouldn't notice and she could still compete. Nugget's owner wasn't convinced and decided to scratch him from the competition but took her fellow boarders advice that the vet was not needed.

After the show was over and everyone arrived back at the barn, Nugget's owner was still worried that the cut should be seen by a vet. Because she didn't want to be ridiculed by her friends, she waited until everyone had left the barn to call me and tell me what was going on. She explained on the phone that the other boarders had more horse experience than she did so they were probably correct that it didn't

need stitches but that she would feel better if I came out because she wasn't sure.

When I got to the barn, at a quick glance I could see why the barn boarders thought it didn't need stitches. The edges were pretty close together and not that deep. When I started to examine the wound more closely and start cleaning it, I noticed that the upside down "v" actually folded back off the skull to reveal a bigger wound that went down to the bone. I showed that to the owner and told her that she definitely did the right thing by having me out. While Nugget's wound would have healed without stitches, it would have been at a greater risk for getting infected or having a permanent scar.

I sedated Nugget and put local block anesthetic injections around the wound. I finished cleaning out the wound and then sewed it back together. The edges came together beautifully and I told the owner to expect minimal scarring as long as Nugget was good and didn't rub out any of the sutures. I dispensed antibiotic and anti-inflammatory medicines for her to give to Nugget. Of course she already had numerous wound ointments so I told her which one to use until the stitches would ready to come out.

One of steps that helps owners decide if you should call the vet includes looking closely at the wound and trying to wash it out. Sometime you discover that what looks superficial, is actually much deeper. If the owner and her friends had looked closely at the wound, they would have realized that it was deep. Wounds that have a triangle/ upside down "v" appearance are usually flaps that lift up to reveal a much larger wound than originally expected. Other wounds can look small and unimpressive from a distance, but are much larger when you get a good look at them. Conversely, wounds that bleed can look huge until they are cleaned, and the bleeding stops. If you aren’t sure if you need the vet, it is better to just call, and then text the photos of the wound to the vet.