Bandaging arm and diy muzzle bib

[SilverwoodGelfling]

Hi everyone,
I had a mare who crashed and rolled onto our gator utility vehicle causing a massive laceration. We are now about 3.5 weeks out and while it is healing the vet and I are trying to bandage it to limit bleeding when we have to debride the proud flesh/dead tissue and keep her from continuing to mess with it with her muzzle. We have tried normal bandages, but they just slip down.

Has anyone successfully used a spider bandage on the upper arm of a horse?

Can anyone share photos of a diy blanket/bandage bib, the kind that looks like a bowl under the lower jaw?

Thanks!
Silverwood Gelfling

[Highflyer]

The only way I’ve ever successfully wrapped that area for any length of time was to stack bandages-- regular standing wrap, then a figure eight wrap over the knee, then basically another standing quilt over the forearm and vetwrap all the way down (it will take several rolls).

[Highflyer]

Also I don’t know if may be you could rig up a homemade bib with an old horse boot and some baling twine? Something like this: https://www.jacksmfg.com/Neoprene-Rubber-Bib,246.html I would try painting the bandage with cayenne pepper and vaseline, or maybe look for a cribbing muzzle if you can’t find a bib locally.

[Bluey]

Very long ago, we had a yearling filly get some scratches that some needed stitching, probably running thru the brush.

Our vet used some bandaging material over her back to keep the forearm bandages up there, to keep the area clean.

After a few days, it had healed enough to not need bandaging any more.

Stacking bandages from the bottom also helps, but you need to restrict movement as much as you can to keep all that in place.

There are also “cradles”, if the injury is lower on the forearm, those can keep a horse from biting at it:

https://www.amazon.com/Intrepid-International-Wooden-Horse-Cradle/dp/B00BB0WGFU

Hope all heals well, it generally does in those areas.

[theresak]

I have had to wrap a whole front leg up to the elbow multiple times to treat cellulitis. I do a stack wrap with 2 very tall standing wraps and flannel bandages, leaving a few inches gap between the wraps for the knee to bend.

If you need a little extra security to keep the top wrap from slipping down, I’ve used a few passes of vetwrap at the top and then elastikon around the very top that’s 1/2 on the vetwrap and 1/2 sticking directly on the hair. I’ve also stuck a bell boot on the hoof to help support the bottom of the wraps and keep them from slipping down - I can’t remember if I used the bell boot upside down or regular, but it helped a little.

And spraying a tiny bit of Rap Last around the edges of the wraps kept my horse from chewing them like a hamster after he nibbled the edge of the top wrap the first night.

[Bluey]

If someone needs a bib in a hurry, we have cut down the wall on the side of plastic gallon bottles of clorox, that had stiffer plastic than other such bottles, but any will do, and tied it to the halter with string.
Those lasted long time before they fell apart.

[SilverwoodGelfling]

Follow-up for anyone interested:
I ended up using a No-bow style wrap topped by a spider bandage over a cob sized bandage at the knee under the vets wrap on the wound itself. The wound healed amazingly well, and 3.5 months is down to just a small scrape that needs to grow hair. Only complication we had was a sterile abscess and some stocking up in the first two months following debridement. She is as sound as she was prior to the injury and will be coming back to ridden work when it warms up a bit.