Hi all, just wondering if it’s OK to leave a poultice on unwrapped if my horse is out in a field. Dealing with a splint and stabling is not an option and my options are to either leave the poultice on for a few hours and hose off or leave it on for 24hrs and hose off the next day. Any advice is much appreciated! Thanks!!
Of course you can always poultice the leg and hope for the best. What I’d do for an over-covering is to simply soak you paper after applying the poultice then secure it with the tiniest piece of masking tape. Or any tape that’s similarly fragile. It will help for the length of time it stays in place.
My understanding of poultice is it’s not the pressure that does the good, it’s the drawing action of the poultice itself. So layer it on thick… at least 1/2"… to the entire length of the inner leg. Heck, go all the way around. So long as the horse isn’t going to eat the poultice, I think you should be fine.
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I think that leaving poultice on for ‘a few hours’ isn’t going to do any good – too short a time. The only down side to leaving it on (unwrapped) for 24 hours is that once it dries out completely it’s kinda hard to get off – takes lots of hosing and gentle sponge scrubbing = extra work but at least the poultice will do its job. But then, on the other hand, poultice that dries out too quickly (usually because it’s put on too thinly) won’t do its job either. Gotta find that happy medium.
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Thousands of Thoroughbreds have poultice put in their legs and then turned out. Its SOP on most farms.
I do this anytime one of my oldsters needs poultice. Just smear it on and leave them out. It actually comes off fairly well with one of those groomers with tiny rubber fingers once it’s fully dry. Reapply as necessary.
As long as you don’t mind cleaning poultice off tails (and everywhere tails reach) and noses (and everywhere noses reach) there’s no harm 
I too would put some wet paper over it, even a few layers more than you’d do if you were going to wrap on top of that, and just go. You won’t get as much benefit as it will dry faster and be rubbed off, but it’s more benefit than nothing.
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I can’t speak to the effectiveness, but I’ve used poultice clay as a physical barrier to reduce fly activity on legs in turnout. It works great for that, so it’s certainly safe to do so. Eventually it starts to crack and flake off, but it’ll stay on for a few hours, at least.
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Just be aware that some horses think it’s super fun to pull off and shred the paper, which means that someone will probably have to clean it up.
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Thanks for all the input! I am going to poultice and put a few layers of wet paper over it. This is the first time I’ve ever had to poultice my horse in 21 years so I’m pretty green lol!
An old-time racehorse trainer I groomed for many, many years ago, told me…
… You have to get the horse’s leg really wet – ringing wet – before you put on poultice. Then you have to really rub the poultice in – down to the skin – then you slather on a pretty thick top layer – then re-wet and smooth the whole surface.
“Poultice won’t work, nor will it ‘stick’ to a dry leg where the poultice is just smoothed over the hair,” he said – even if you use wet paper/sheetcotton/plastic wrap/bandage.
He was a stickler for proper application of his bowie clay/glycerin/epsom salts mix.
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Thanks for all the input! I am going to poultice and put a few layers of wet paper over it. This is the first time I’ve ever had to poultice my horse in 21 years so I’m pretty green lol!
This and get the grooming gloves to get it off. Makes it so much easier! I poultice my pony after a hard workout. I don’t cover with anything as he and his pasture mates would have a blast with it. I just soak his leg and layer it thick. Turnout till the next morning. The next morning I curry it off.
I have many many times just wet/cold hosed the leg, put poultice on/massaged it in then schmeared on a final coat and covered with wet paper bag, found half the time the paper falls off right away taking some poultice with it so most times I don’t even bother and come back 24 hours later to wash the poultice off and well it has not hurt anything YET ha ha except it gets in the tail a bit. The cold hosing and rubbing as you apply the poultice help a lot more than you might think.
We cover with baby diaper and wrap with vetwrap.
I did this when I rehabbed an injury with my first horse. I currently do this with my event horse after a hard school or an event. It seems I’ve been doing xc on Sunday, so I after icing and all at the show, I come home, wet his legs, poultice and turn his happy butt out. Then the next day, I come out and blast all the poultice off with the hose. My vet is a believer in the cold hosing that comes after you poultice vs the actually act of poulticing. It’s worked for me so far.
Then again, I’m also the person that never wraps a foot when I pack it. Smash some shavings in there and away we go and it’s always stayed.
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We use breast pads stuffed on top of the poultice, works well and stays in too!
Do you remember the proportions of clay and glycerin? Did he add epsom salts to that?
Thanks!
@Ponpon … If your horse has very heavily feathered legs [like a draft] you might consider clipping some of the hair before poulticing.
If the horse will stand in a Tubtrug full of ice water deep enough to cover the splint, that can be a therapeutic way to soak of the dry poultice.No, I don’t remember the exact proportions 
– and yes epsom salts were added.
All I remember is what a PITA it was to mix it all up! The bowie clay was in powder form (not pre-mixed with water) came in a very heavy bag and each groom had to mix up their own poultice, store it in a plastic bucket with a lid. We used a lot of poultice – often on every horse every day. Usually covered it with brown paper bag paper – left on overnight. The worst part was getting it off the next morning!
But if I had to venture a guess… 10 parts clay (mixed with water into paste) + 1/2 part glycerine + 1/2 part epsom salts.
Thanks! A feed store near us started carrying Bowie Clay, and I remember using it to poultice long ago but needed a recipe refresher.
It is easier to store, and much less $ than ready made poultice.
www.bowieclay.com for those who aren’t familiar.
