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Yeah. But he was in a bandage that went from fetlock to above the hock. I had to be careful even in the stall as too much movement rubbed sores on the top of the hock. Had he been able to move around more, I couldn't have kept the bandage on him.

We are talking about a serious bandage here too. I used cotton sheeting (Gamgee) first, then panty-hose material type wrap to hold that in place. Next layer was a white gauze wrap. Next, I vetwrapped the whole thing, then put the stretchy elastic wrap over that. I went from above and in front of the hock all the way down the leg around the fetlock. It was a very expensive bandage too. I spent a fortune on materials.

I was ready to turn him out long before I got the okay from my vet. Finally, last April, he said I could leave the wrap off and turn him out some in a small paddock. Then, the wrap went back on at night. By that time, I was wrapping with a smaller bandage with less layers. After a month of that, I just unilaterally decided that he didn't need the wrap anymore and stopped wrapping. I started water treatment where I would run warm water over the wound for about 15 minutes. Then, I would tea tree oil it, Wonderdust it, and then spray on the Alushield. That worked really well and he started healing up fast. The water and fresh air combined with moderate exercise did the trick IMHO.

Before I started with the Wonderdust, the vet would use a scalpel when needed to keep the granulation tissue below the level of the skin so that it would grow over the wound. It was neat to watch him just carve the wound as needed. Granulation tissue doesn't have any nerves in it so no painkillers were needed. And, Henkell was a great patient so didn't need sedating.

I am an expert at bandaging wounds on horses now.

That's a good skill to have...

~knocking on wood~ I've never had one that serious. One mare I had in high school got a wire cut that was like a bracelet cut around her fetlock. Same thing with the proud flesh - that grossed me out.

But we also had her immobilized for the first month or so with stalling and bandages. every time she moved, she opened it back up again.

I've seen others with wounds like yours, and like FIAB's, and they just take a really long time to close up.

...But he was in a bandage that went from fetlock to above the hock...

That's interesting because my vet had me take Bob's bandage off after the first night and told to leave it off. I was skeptical, but it's done fine. I'm like Becky, I wish they would all tell you the same thing!

This is Bob's wound when I found it...

This is it the next day after it was cleaned up...

It wasn't down to the bone like Henkell's was, but it's done fine being left open and he's had free run of the pasture with all the other horses. For the first week or so I kept him on Bute and Tucoprim, but after that, nothing. I spray with Granulex in the morning then irrigate and debride in the afternoon and spray with Granulex again. He was slightly gimpy at first, but not too bad. This past week he's been ripping around the pasture like nothing's wrong with him. I do notice that every now and then he'll gallop on 3 legs for a step or two, but it's definately getting better. I'm entertaining thoughts of taking him out on some short rides around the barn to see how he'll fare and if he does ok then maybe for longer ones. I figure the exercise will ge good for him.

I'm amazed at how much Henkell's scar has shrunk. The vet told me that Bob's scar would not be very noticeable and I didn't believe him, but now maybe I do. Thanks for sharing, it makes me feel better.