If you have a laceration that is not superficial, your vet needs to come out and suture/address the laceration. Even if you provide great care, if the laceration needs to be sutured and isn’t, healing will be delayed and you have the potential for more complications.
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According to my trusted DVM, because they are on top of joints of the lower leg, the sutures wouldn’t hold. We will get there, this isn’t the first time I’ve done something like this with a great result. I just have to keep them super clean, treat aggressively, and hold steadfast as they heal 
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I think the barn is also at fault for having subpar fencing and not supervising while kids do barn work.
Is she on stall rest only? I wonder if she would do better with a clean stall with a clean dry paddock so she can move around if she chooses? They look superficial and might benefit from some movement to help with swelling?
I would be upset.
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What would bother me the most out of this whole thread is that the barn doesn’t do turnout. So is she just like in a stall the whole time unless this kid turns her out ? And then she’s in a field with iffy fencing? That sounds like a recipe for disaster
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This is a problematic situation because it was a fellow boarder (and a teenager) who was technically doing you a favor but who screwed up very badly in following your instructions.
Even though the two of you are responsible for the turnout, did any of the staff members there know about your instructions not to put your horse in the problematic field?
@tabula_rashah I totally agree–an understaffed show barn that doesn’t have actual staff doing the turnout?
If it was a staff member, and they disobeyed your instructions, the liability would be very clear, as well as the responsibility to inform you IMMEDIATELY even if there was a teeny scratch.
I hope your poor horse turns a corner soon. I can understand why you’re so upset!
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If she’s not on antibiotics she needs to be.
There is an injectable antibiotic that lasts for several days but I can’t remember the name. It bc works great…
Plus I would get some manuka honey and use it on those wounds. It’s some amazing stuff
**ETA the antibiotic is called Exceed.
Someone posted it down thread
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I’ve encountered barns like this, usually western barns when I was in Ohio. Horse owner is responsible for putting their horse out if they want them out and can’t leave the property while their horse is turned out. Can’t for the life of me understand why people board at them (yes yes, some people have no choice, whatever, there’s a billion other threads about this issue)
I agree, sounds pretty likely that’s what happened.
Wording it this way to a teenager kind of makes it a gray area. Using words like “want” and “asked” plus depending on the tone used, I can easily see a kid thinking “well that’s what she said she wants but I’m sure it’s not a big deal this one time.” Instructions need to be directions, not requests, and “want” should have been “can’t.” I completely understand being frustrated with this girl, but maybe also take it as an opportunity to improve your communications to the next person(s) that handle your horse.
I don’t agree with asking the girl to pay the vet bill. Accidents happen with giant creatures that make dumb choices. She could’ve easily tried to jump the full-sized fence when out at any other time.
I once had a BO that used one of my horses in their lesson program, and they took him to a show. I told them I like their legs to be booted or wrapped on the trailer. They made the choice to not wrap his legs (something about “not enough time to” or whatever - aka laziness), and he promptly sliced his leg backing off their trailer at the show grounds when the student backing him off didn’t keep him straight. Okay, cool, I obviously should have said he MUST be wrapped on the trailer. Or a trainer MUST back him off.
As far as the farm - Why is there a fence line so low that it isn’t “somewhat visible?” How low is it, exactly? I’m a little confused about her trying to jump it due to poor eyesight, aka not able to see it. Wouldn’t she have more likely ran into it or gone through it instead of trying to jump it, if she couldn’t see it?
Anyway, it’s accidents like this one that are why “show barns” don’t turn out, which is wildly ironic to me because I am 100% of the opinion that lack of turnout is what causes these types of accidents. Very very few horses will go tearing around a field like a loony-tune if they’re getting 12+ hours of turnout every single day.
I’m not at all surprised her legs are hot and swollen today after being stuck in a stall and not wrapped. Not saying your choice to not wrap is wrong, just saying, I would have definitely expected her legs to be hot and swollen today under those conditions with those fresh injuries. Hopefully she heals up quickly.
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Gentamicin.
Caustic stuff on legs often encourages proud flesh, IIRC.
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Hosing can also encourage proud flesh.
You’re probably thinking of the injectable Exceed. And I very much agree. Deep punctures or lacerations near a joint are nothing to fool around with. If the lacerations are not superficial close to the joint then an antibiotic is warranted. Often IV antibiotics infusions are used in these cases.
It’s the opposite. Caustic agents reduce proud tissue flesh.
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The OP explained that this barn does not do turn out, that the owners have to do turn out, so the kid was not doing barn work. The kid and the OP had an arrangement for turn out.
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Did the vet put her on antibiotics? I may have missed that point. The only one I would think would warrant some would be the one by the hock.
ETA: As usual, I’m late to the thread. I second @Jaegermonster and @Warmblood1 about the antibiotic.
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If they are superficial, no antibiotic is needed. But OP said some are not superficial near joint. I believe OP sent pics to vet and vet prescribed care based on pics assuming the cuts are superficial.
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Understand. I know I’m gun shy about wounds close to hocks. One of my mares had one. I had the vet out. It didn’t go into the hock joint, but it was very close. Too close for my vet’s taste. I had to do three weeks of twice a day antibiotic injections.
(Side note: It was during the summer when the horses were on night turnout. I had to stop at the barn to give the morning injection on my way to work. I was usually running with just enough time to get to work, and the horses always seemed to be far out in the pasture. It was faster for me to scoot out to her and give the injection than to try to drag her reluctant self all the way out the gate. I’m sure I looked pretty odd in my nice office clothes surrounded by a herd of horse noses looking for carrots, holding my mare’s lead rope in my teeth to keep both hands free for the injection). 
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Nope that’s not it
I agree with the antibiotics… especially if legs are hot and swollen. Superficial scratches aren’t usually hot or swollen in my experience, and I would be especially cautious given the proximity to joints. The photos don’t look terrible, but sometimes wounds that don’t initially look terrible can become terribly infected. True for horse, human, or any other animal.
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You need to tell the 16yr old this. Exactly this. In these words. No softening, no harshness, simply this.
I had a hole kicked in my horse by another boarder’s horse. Not the owner’s fault as horses will be horses. However I was very angry when the kicker’s owner came along and dismissed my horse’s injury as superficial and nothing of any concern (my horse was dead lame for over a week, had a good sized hole inside his leg above the knee which ended up scaring, and was evidently in a great deal of pain).
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I’d have to (very gently) disagree with teen being financially responsible for the injury. Unfortunately, in a “mutual favor” situation, especially with a minor fellow boarder, it’s not quite the same thing as the barn itself disobeying instructions.
Does the barn know the horse should only be turned out in a specific field?
This reminds me of a thread awhile back when an owner was away and had her barn owner and non-horsey mother hold her horse for a farrier appointment, during which the horse acted up and injured himself, resulting in the farrier bandaging the horse, turning the horse out, and the owner discovering the injury was much worse than originally though. But in that case, all of the participants were adults, and two were professionals responsible to some extent for the horse’s care.
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Thank you, I’ve (touch wood) not needed to get it right for some time now!
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