I think this is the answer I was looking for! I am going to use the furazone and alternate honey I believe for a little while to fill in- bc she def has a lot of area to fill in as this is to the bone… and I’ll make a change when I see some proud flesh growth but at this point my vet thinks the same thing I do- any tissue growing in is better than nothing to shield that bone as quickly as possible. This gave me a great answer to the question about Furazone, thank you! I will make a change pretty quickly when I see the proud flesh needs inhibiting. She did mention today the PF wonder salve when that time comes… so I am happy to know she still wants me to continue with furazone… after reading posts here I got a little worried maybe we were missing something, but she basically said same thing, that it grows tissue RAPIDLY and most folks don’t know how or when to quit and she wasn’t worried about that with us. I appreciate your time to answer!
The winter sticks! I am going to do furazone like she suggested and swap every other day with honey I believe, I’ve had some good success with it on wounds in the past I’ve just not had one to the bone in a long time! Thanks for the tips of how to get it spread in the cold 
Keep in mind that lower limb wounds in the horse behave somewhat differently than those on the body or face, mainly because of movement and lack of “extra” skin.
I’d stay away from nitrofurazone–it tends to promote proud flesh.
I’ve had good luck with DermaGel as a dressing.
Also, when the drainage subsides slightly, changing the bandage every other day. Sounds disgusting, but I initially tried this on the advice of an older colleague, and it is beneficial.
Less messing about with that single layer of epithelial cells trying to migrate across the open wound bed.
You may also, down the road a bit, want to consider some skin grafts.
Yes that’s the issue is the lack of tissue but vet seems to think it will fill itself in fairly quickly, no skin graft needed bc she said the success rate of messing with those is not great they do not take well in this area and will be a waste of money. She wanted to try just treating it as is for now so I’ll do that… thank you for the tips about changing every other day, I was thinking myself as a nurse it seems counterproductive at some point to keep disturbing the wound bed. It’s a bit too much drainage now but maybe we’ll get there soon, still pretty fresh as we are 5 days out. I appreciate your time and advice!
@Twhgirl, just a fyi, Ghazzu is a vet.
You so should listen to your vet that has hands on with the horse, before listening to any of us on the internet. But just wanted you to know that the advice is coming from someone who is not just another horse person.
I’m not inexperienced or dumb…I didn’t plan on just willy nilly taking the advice of the “internet”, I just wanted some more opinions from people who have actually seen and healed these types of wounds. My vet is involved but this is an exact example of everyone has a different opinion even in the vet world (and I appreciate them ALL) as my vet said furazone, this vet said no. I love to hear the why’s of things and experiences. Thanks for letting me know this person is a vet, but I def will listen their advice and the reason for not using furazone as I had concerns myself. No need to assume everyone on here is dumb enough to blindly follow internet advice without context…I have 20+ horses, a full repro farm and extensive experience. I just wanted opinions… which are just that, opinions.
Would you suggest doing honey instead of furazone? I’m unfamiliar with a place off hand I can get the Dermagel around here as I’m quite rural. Just looking for answers to help her heal as quickly as we can. Thank you
Several years ago my horse scraped his hind legs on fence wire jumping over the fence and shredded the skin off below the hocks. My vet had me put Biozide gel on the wounds. I like Biozide because it’s a gel formulation of betadine, which will kill both bacteria and fungi, and it will keep the wound moist. When one wound started growing proud flesh we switched to some pink concoction that the vet had. It didn’t have a label, but I think it may have had silver in it.
@Twhgirl, your horse’s injury sounds worse than mine and I don’t envy all the bandage changes in your future. My horse’s wounds took a good two months to heal, so don’t get discouraged if this seems to take a long time. Also, can you give your horse some turnout? My horse was turned out during the day and stalled at night. I thought it would be better for him both mentally and physically if he could move around and stick to his normal routine as much as possible. If the bandage is secure a day spent grazing shouldn’t cause any problems.
Sorry if you took my post to mean you were any of those things.
That was not my point. Not even close to my point.
Thank you for the encouragement! Yes unfortunately I know I’ve got a ton of bandage changes ahead of me and I don’t look forward to it either lol but alas this is horse life! Right now she has the run (more like walk) of an 18 stall barn hallway and her stall…I was advised not to give her much more than that until we get some tissue over this bone as I don’t have a way to turn her out separately from the other mares at this time and can’t risk anyone hurting her and the current mud situation. But yes, she will get turnout as much as I’m able when she’s a bit better (we’re only 5 days post injury) … there’s no grazing at current as my place is covered in ice and mud unfortunately and they are all on hay. But she’s got a 4mo filly at her side who’s not really nursing anymore, just company and she seems to be plenty content roaming the barn for now. She’s always been a one who likes her stall at night anyway so I don’t think she’s bothered by being up and rather seems to enjoy standing at the end of the hall looking out watching the birds and eating hay- I’m watching her closely on camera. But I promise I’ll turn her out as soon as I’m able as I’m not crazy about cleaning the hallway plus all the stalls 2x daily 
Thanks again for the good thoughts! Wish us best of luck!
I had a pasture pet gelding with an 8-inch laceration to his right hind, from the middle of the cannon bone, across the outside of the fetlock. The bone was exposed and the lateral extensor tendon was severed, however the joint capsule was intact. The ends of the severed tendon were clearly exposed. When I first saw the wound, I expected to have to put him down, as did the vet when I sent him the pictures. However, when the vet got there and determined that the joint capsule was intact, he thought that we could heal it, at least to the point of pasture soundness. We were unable to stitch it as it was so swollen and went across the joint. So, my daily routine was take down the old dressing, cold hose it, clean it with betadine (I used betadine scrub sponges/brushes like we use in the OR), hose it again, apply gentamycin spray, and redress. For the dressing, I used an ABD pad, followed by a half sheet of BB Satin Star 12’s and vet wrap. We did this daily until the wound began to granulate in (about a month) and then dropped to every other day or every third day. This went on for 8 months. Later in the healing, we tried to leave it open but he would bite at it and reopen the wound. It did eventually heal, but with a scar and some lameness/instability on that leg (in addition to his other arthritis and old injuries).
When he developed proud flesh, my vet had me apply meat tenderizer to the wound every other day for 3 days (rinsing it off on the day in between). It turned the tissue black but it sloughed off the proud flesh and granulated in nicely.
I still have the horse, he 19 years old and is still a pasture ornament, but gets around well. On days when he is feeling silly, he runs around like a fool and reminds me of why I bought him in the first place 
Oh, he did develop a little skin breakdown down the back of his leg, where the vet wrap rubbed. I used Horseman’s Dream cream to protect that area and it did fine as well.
This is comforting advice! Hers is thankfully not all that swollen and for that I am extremely blessed… she is walking herself quite a bit more than I expected and no lameness as of now. Dressing sounds almost exactly what I’m doing, but using a standing wrap and quilt instead of vetwrap. I had not been using betadine as I was afraid it would burn, but I have been spraying with Vetricyn after the hosing, I may use some betadine now that it’s not so fresh. I’m happy to know your boy is recovered and still doing well. My girl felt really bad up until yesterday I could tell but she seems to have perked up last night and is more herself. This is a long road we are traveling I’m aware but I’m praying for good end results!
I used vet wrap for 2 reasons
- I hate washing the quilts and bandages
- the vet wrap was stiffer and provided greater stability to the fetlock.
My vet was impressed with my wound management skills, i.e. the betadine sponges and the ABD dressings. It’s a nurse thing, 44 years for me this year. He had used liquid betadine solution and regular 4x4s when he dressed it, but my hands are not big enough to hold everything in place, hence the 8-inch ABD pads. They are much easier to hold while you are manipulating the bandage. I also started using a strip of paper tape around the ABD to hold it in place while I applied the satin wraps and vet wrap. That helped keep everything in place as I went through applying the layers of bandaging materials.
SSD for sure. I had a similar injury (will PM you photos) in 2023. Eventually I switched to animax at the very end because a few of the spots weren’t healing (both hind legs were involved in multiple places) but the SSD did a great job for the most part. Also would agree with switching to every other day bandage changes. Also if you have access to a laser, that will help a ton.
This is my suggestion as well. We have used this numerous times on anything from a sliced leg to a degloving injury and it is simply a game changer.
I’d only consider skin grafting after you had established a good granulation bed and it was slow to epithelialize, and then some pinch or punch grafts might be worthwhile (relatively “easy” procedure.)
Certainly sensible to take the advice of the professional who has examined and treated the injury.
And honey is a good choice for the dressing.
Silver nitrate for proud flesh in horses is what our veterinarians had us use, being careful to apply it only to proud flesh, not touch any other tissues.
