Any explanation for my horses healing

[Horse_inquirer]

I volunteer at a horse rescue, and one of our horses came in with infected bed sores with proudflesh on both front legs, right at the cannon bone/pastern joint (basically the wrist). These types of wounds almost never heal even with a series of expensive surgeries to repair the tissue because it’s such a heavily used joint. Plus, his injuries were both several inches long and wide, and about an inch deep. The vet advised that we keep them clean and wrapped and not worry when they never look any better (past the infection clearing up).

Another volunteer is a shamanic healer, although none of us knew this because she knows how skeptical we all are of such things. After the infection was cleared up and his other health problems were getting better she asked if she could try something. The vet agreed that it wouldn’t hurt, and the horse loves attention, so we all figured, why not?

For the past six months she has been putting this “potion” of essential oils on his wounds three times a week. The vet was out yesterday for another horse and we decided to show off how well our guy was healing. She was so impressed by the fact that one of the wounds has actually closed up and the other is nearly there too that she asked if she could have some of that potion for another client!

I’ve been in the horse world for nearly 25 years, I’ve seen these types of injuries before and I’ve NEVER seen one close up, even with the surgeries! The vet said it’s the first time she’s seen them close without massive amounts of scar tissue on the joint, and given that his were the worst any of us have ever seen.
I’m a man of science and I cannot believe that these wounds were healed by “magic potion” what is y’all’s explanation for this

[Scribbler]

My all’s explanation is someone is trying to sell you all on an essential oil multi level marketing scheme.

Question: what tradition does your shamanic healer work within? What are the ingredients in the essential oil? Which joint surfaces were affected? Why do you call it “your horse” in the title when it’s a rescue horse? How do you know your shaman wasn’t just using antibiotics?

[Horse_inquirer]

The tradition and ingredients weren’t disclosed to me, and I called it my because I am the one who’s looking after it at the facility

[Scribbler]

Well, if you don’t know what the tradition is and what’s in the topical, it’s pretty hard to ask about cause and effect.

[SuzieQNutter]

Never heal? If that was true every horse would have these wounds.

Bed sores do not usually have proud flesh. Swamp cancer does and can come up overnight the size of an egg. It can be treated to save the horses life. It can cause death if not treated.

[TheJenners]

Inquirer seems apt, as in national.

OP, horses can and do heal when they are fed and housed appropriately. A person doesnt have to be a shamanic healer to apply ointment that will help this process along, and as you said in your other identical thread, you have no before and after pics.

[Horse_inquirer]

Even if the sores are deeply infected?

[GraceLikeRain]

@Horse_inquirer

Even if the sores are deeply infected?

In post one you said the person started working with this horse after the infection had cleared.

My guess is that the essential oil blend was pretty caustic and over time eroded the proud tissue and the wounds fully closed up. Neat but not magical. I imagine some wonder dust and time may have produced the same results.

It seems like you want people to say “no I’ve never heard of that. That’s amazing. You had an other worldly experience” and the fact that COTH is an overwhelmingly science and facts driven group is leaving you disappointed.

I’m glad the horse has healed. Perhaps there was something once in a lifetime that you got to see, perhaps it was just time. As long as a rescue is open to using vets/medicine first then I don’t think there Is harm in blending in alternative practices.

[TheJenners]

@Horse_inquirer

I volunteer at a horse rescue, and one of our horses came in with infected bed sores with proudflesh on both front legs, right at the cannon bone/pastern joint (basically the wrist). These types of wounds almost never heal even with a series of expensive surgeries to repair the tissue because it’s such a heavily used joint. Plus, his injuries were both several inches long and wide, and about an inch deep. The vet advised that we keep them clean and wrapped and not worry when they never look any better (past the infection clearing up).

Another volunteer is a shamanic healer, although none of us knew this because she knows how skeptical we all are of such things. After the infection was cleared up and his other health problems were getting better she asked if she could try something. The vet agreed that it wouldn’t hurt, and the horse loves attention, so we all figured, why not?

For the past six months she has been putting this “potion” of essential oils on his wounds three times a week. The vet was out yesterday for another horse and we decided to show off how well our guy was healing. She was so impressed by the fact that one of the wounds has actually closed up and the other is nearly there too that she asked if she could have some of that potion for another client!

I’ve been in the horse world for nearly 25 years, I’ve seen these types of injuries before and I’ve NEVER seen one close up, even with the surgeries! The vet said it’s the first time she’s seen them close without massive amounts of scar tissue on the joint, and given that his were the worst any of us have ever seen.
I’m a man of science and I cannot believe that these wounds were healed by “magic potion” what is y’all’s explanation for this

Just because.

[anon81364900]

or maybe the OP wants us to say “gosh, where can I buy this magic potion?”

[Horse_inquirer]

No I’m just trying to figure out the science of this with others options to ease my mind, no need to assume the worst of my intentions

[JB]

Never heal? Any lower leg proud flesh out of control I’ve seen has been resolve with standing sedation and debridement of the excess flesh, and starting over with a fresh wound. Not expensive, and nearly always, not necessary to repeat.

An inch deep? That’s well into bone if that’s the case.

Things like this do heal all the time, and in much less than 6 months. All? Not in the slightest. The longer it’s been a festering wound, with proud flesh, the more likely it is to heal as un-haired fragile skin, prone to injury at even light insults.

Every lower leg wound is prone to proud flesh, just as a function of how tight the skin is and, when around a joint, how much movement there is. Some treatments foster proud flesh, others don’t.

Essential oils do have healing properties, depending on which one, their potency, etc. But without knowing what oils were in this mix, nobody can say how/why it helped, or even if things would have healed with modern medicine anyway. In this case, infection was cleared up and his health was getting better - all things that then lead to faster and better wound healing

[SuzieQNutter]

I like Debrisol. It sloughs proud flesh and promotes normal flesh. No bandaging needed.

[PeteyPie]

These wounds do heal with the right treatment. There are two things to consider though, and the shaman’s treatment of the wound itself might not be why it healed.

1. The wound itself: my mare presented one day with two very deep and wide bedsore cuts on both front fetlocks. The ground in her dry lot is pretty hard, and I suspect she somehow fell. These cuts were bad enough that I immediately called the vet. He cleaned them and dressed them and assigned me the task of changing the bandages daily for several weeks, tapering to every other day and then down to about every four days. These wounds healed completely, although the worst one retained a scar.

2. The bedding and/or housing conditions: if you are not protecting the fetlock joint in some way then the wound will continue to be aggravated and repeated which might make you think that your treatment is not working. Every time the horse gets up or down, they need some padding for that joint, especially as they get older and are less agile. Padding can be in the form of deep soft bedding, soft yielding ground, grass pasture, rubber mats, bedsore boots, etc.

I suspect that the treatment with the shaman worked because she was treating the sores with a topical which was no better or worse than similar ones, AND your rescue horse is in a better situation where he is able to get up and down without re-injuring himself.

[Gesaffelstein]

Just because? Why? Why does it bother you that someone posted asking a question?

[Jackie_Cochran]

I had a colt whose elbow got a green-stick fracture from another horse kicking him.

He laid down a lot and got bed sores–no proud flesh though.

I had to change stables to get him safe turn-out after a month. His bed sore WOULD NOT HEAL in spite of me following the vet’s instructions.

The owner of the stable I moved him to got tired of seeing flesh instead of healthy skin, and after a few days he put an ointment of the fly repellent salve with powdered sulfur mixed in.

The next day the bed sore was dry, scabbed over, and his skin healed without any scar or white hairs.

The barn owner was just applying an old-fashioned remedy, one that worked in this case.

[sascha]

Ask if the carrier for the magic potion of essential oils was honey. If it was, there’s your answer.

[jvanrens]

@Gesaffelstein

Just because? Why? Why does it bother you that someone posted asking a question?

Because sometimes these posts get deleted when the OP doesn’t get the response they were hoping for. Otherwise known as Quoting For Prosperity (QFP).

[Scribbler]

Yes to all above. Once the infection had been cleared up by the vet the wounds could heal.

OP, if you think of yourself as a “man of science,” clearly the first step is to find out what was in the potion. And in what concentration. Ask your shaman!

“Essential oils” is a meaningless category.

There are probably hundreds of plant products that can be either extracted as oils, or can be brewed from putting plants in oil. Some of them are just musky hippie fragrances, some of them flavor foods, some of them have caustic or antiseptic properties. Once you find out what the ingredients were, you can have a better how they might have influenced the healing.

At the moment your question is meaningless. It’s on a par with saying “my doctor gave me some white pills and I got better. How did that happen?”

The first step in science is getting data. As a man of science you should know this.

[No1]

I can think of several reasons the wounds would heal and none at all why the horse would have them for the rest of it’s life. It is even possible to heal pythiosis.

Some include: simply keeping the wounds covered kept them from being further abraded, ingredients in the salve were either caustic, healing, or some combination of the two.

None of this is shocking. There have been medical papers written on the healing properties of honey. Sugardine is an old school wound tx. Tea tree oil has astringent properties. Papaya or pineapple enzymes break down proud flesh. Etcetera, etcetera