Showing my ignorance here, but there are many types of poultices… And I haven’t had a need to use them very often.
Let’s say that I am looking at an ottb that will require some rehab for a soft tissue injury on its front leg, just for fun…(trying to be vague)
in addition to hand walking, stall rest, and icing the injury- would you also wrap the leg in a poultice? If so which one is your favorite? Tia
Hands down…Uptite poultice to draw heat n soft tissue swelling…
Whether I used a poultice or not would be determined by the rehab plan I came up with my vet and his recommendations.
I second Uptite. Nothing is worse than awful stuff that doesn’t dry properly overnight and is a miserable, gunky, sticky, mess to remove the next morning.
Yes, 
I will be working with my vet and trainer. I just thought I would ask the experienced folk here what their favorites were and why. I had to wrap and poultice my mare before, but that must have been almost 10 years ago! Something about wet paper bags and Saran Wrap? Lol! Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get some great advice! Thanks!
I usually do the wet paper bags but not the Saran Wrap-- that will keep the poultice moist but also trap heat.
Also, there are a lot of things more effective than poultice for a soft tissue injury-- shockwave, IRAP/ PRAP, stem cell therapy etc. When we’ve had horses with serious injuries they’ve sometimes had to be wrapped for support but not usually poulticed.
Yes Highflyer…but some of those are not 100% effective proven and expensive and some like shock wave are short cuts …poultice hosing anti inflamitories hand walking surpass and just plain rub n wrap all time consuming hands on and Time! time is best healer…
[QUOTE=Highflyer;7341549]
I usually do the wet paper bags but not the Saran Wrap-- that will keep the poultice moist but also trap heat. [/QUOTE]
Quick suggestion: Blue paper shop towels are so much easier to use than wet paper bags. They tear off in just the right size for most front legs, can be doubled and overlapped for larger legs, are sturdy enough to soak just like paper but softer and bend easier to the leg than feed bags and some of the other stuff people use, and thanks to the texture of the paper, a lot of the dry poultice sticks to them when you remove, reducing the amount of work you have to do to remove it yourself.
I like Sore No More poultice, and a second for blue shop towels!
Sore No More, hands down best poultice made. Makes excellent hoof packing too.
I like my horse out on turnout as much as possible, so I frequently glob it on ‘open’ with no wraps over top. Slop on, turn out, rinse when they come back in.
[QUOTE=pegasusmom;7342278]
I like Sore No More poultice, and a second for blue shop towels![/QUOTE]
Blue shop towels are awesome! They come in a 3-pack from TSC, love them for poultice wraps.
Kwick Relief. It isn’t cheap but it is the best. They start licking their lips as you are putting it on them. It is good stuff. It is the only thing used in the Asmussen barn (a BNT race trainer).
Our routine is wrap with blue shops towels. Saran, and no bows in the morning, then come back about feed time and take the no bows off, but leave the plastics. Then later that night, night check time, take off the plastics and let it dry. It isn’t easy to wash off, but that’s fine, more water therapy will not hurt them.
If poultice washes off too easy, it’s probably cheap crap.
Stayons Poultice wraps are the best. Make them hot or cold, leave them on for an hour or 18. Fantastic product.
hamiltonbiovet.com
I’m very interested to check out the Stayons mentioned above, and whether poultice makes a difference or not is up for debate, but I’ve been happy with using it, and unless you wrap incorrectly, you won’t hurt anything with it.
I make my own poultice at home. It is pretty similar to the kwik relief mentioned above. Clay, epsom salts, vinegar and a couple of other additives (I would have to check my list). The big bag of clay from Ocala Breeders is about $11 – in fact, it costs more to ship than it does to buy! But, a bag lasts forever.
I have been happy with the results in using it under wraps. I’ve also used it open – it can be the very devil to get off, but as mentioned above, it may just take more cold hosing, which is usually part of the therapy anyway.
One of the things I don’t do, is aimless cold hosing. I once read a story that indicated that hose water run over a leg didn’t cool anything other than the surface, and that to actually cool/shrink swollen tissues, ice was needed. That made sense to me, and it seems as if many vets prescribe cold hosing because it can’t really hurt, and many owners won’t/can’t pack in ice.
My ADHD won’t let me stand there holding the hose for 20 mins anyway, so unless I’m hosing off poultice, I ice an injury instead. I’ve also always had horses with bad feet, so a lot of time standing in water is not good for their feet, so I skip that where I can.
I like the ingredients that are in the Kwik Relief above (and also in my own) much better than Uptite.
Also, I don’t use paper bags either, but found the blue shop towels not as satisfactory (though they will do in a pinch). I prefer parchment paper – tears off in the right sizes and does a good job of molding to the clay under the wraps.
Hope the hypothetical injury heals quickly! 
Libby (who has spent WAYYYY too much time doing injury rehab!)
[QUOTE=Bensmom;7350035]
I’m very interested to check out the Stayons mentioned above, and whether poultice makes a difference or not is up for debate, but I’ve been happy with using it, and unless you wrap incorrectly, you won’t hurt anything with it.
I make my own poultice at home. It is pretty similar to the kwik relief mentioned above. Clay, epsom salts, vinegar and a couple of other additives (I would have to check my list). The big bag of clay from Ocala Breeders is about $11 – in fact, it costs more to ship than it does to buy! But, a bag lasts forever.
I have been happy with the results in using it under wraps. I’ve also used it open – it can be the very devil to get off, but as mentioned above, it may just take more cold hosing, which is usually part of the therapy anyway.
One of the things I don’t do, is aimless cold hosing. I once read a story that indicated that hose water run over a leg didn’t cool anything other than the surface, and that to actually cool/shrink swollen tissues, ice was needed. That made sense to me, and it seems as if many vets prescribe cold hosing because it can’t really hurt, and many owners won’t/can’t pack in ice.
My ADHD won’t let me stand there holding the hose for 20 mins anyway, so unless I’m hosing off poultice, I ice an injury instead. I’ve also always had horses with bad feet, so a lot of time standing in water is not good for their feet, so I skip that where I can.
I like the ingredients that are in the Kwik Relief above (and also in my own) much better than Uptite.
Also, I don’t use paper bags either, but found the blue shop towels not as satisfactory (though they will do in a pinch). I prefer parchment paper – tears off in the right sizes and does a good job of molding to the clay under the wraps.
Hope the hypothetical injury heals quickly!
Libby (who has spent WAYYYY too much time doing injury rehab!)[/QUOTE]
So…since we already know your handmade recipes are magic-will you be bottling this homemade poultice anytime soon…? cough cough wink wink
or maybe share your recipe? I would LOVE to know how to make it!
I don’t know! I have considered packaging it, but it is a) a mess to make, and b) heavy as all get out, so shipping wouldn’t be cheap. I wish they would make a flat rate box that was a large cube. :sigh:
I’ll chat with Mr. Bensmom and see what he says
The problem with the recipe on it is that I add and tinker and fix it until it is “right” if that makes sense? So, I’m not sure I could share it, even if I was ready to do it!
Libby, my vet is the one who said deep tissue injuries require ice, lacerations (surface) type injuries require the hose. The Stayons are fabulous bc the poultice is enwrapped in stuff that feels like dryer sheets. Go look at the website for pix. The poultice stays inside the quilting so there isn’t any scrubbing the next day. I hate poultice and all that goes with it but I love these things enough to actually use them. Rather like a certain saddle soap I have recently discovered. ALSO, my pony won the EN Christmas wrapping contest so I should have plenty of Stayons. With any luck I won’t have to use them.
For the stayons- are they reusable? The price seems great, but if I’m only going to get one use ou of them then that’s pretty pricey indeed.
I’m about done with the inherited tub of nameless poultice- so old no label left! So I’ll be looking for something new. Bensmom, what ingredients do you not like, and why?
I’ll be putting it on an older (16) tb running training. If that makes any difference.
Jumpsnake. The company says no, not reusable. I tried it and it worked, just not as perfectly as the first application. I wouldn’t count on the reusable factor. They are fantastic first time around and OMG so easy to use and no morning-after scrubbing.
I bought some of the Stayons but think they are too pricey to use frequently. But to put on the trailer to use in an emergency. For feet…I use animalintex. I just buy the normal packages and cut into thirds so get three feet out of one package.
But otherwise, I’m not a huge fan of using poultice and will more likely ice and wrap with sore no more. But I was always taught to use poultice when trying to pull heat out of legs.
This stuff always looked interesting to me but haven’t tried it yet http://www.doversaddlery.com/epsom-salt-poultice/p/X1-22452/?ids=twvcak55pact3u45jo1rrc55
BFNE – that is what I use on feet. I have been very, very happy with it. My silly horses not only won’t stand in a soaking pan/bucket, but also are afraid of the soaking boot. Which is really annoying, but does show how tough the soaking boot is when one rips the lead rope out of your hand and goes tearing around the pasture with it on his foot. Much more sturdy than I would have expected.
But, since that experience was not what I would consider fun, exactly, I usually use the epsom salts paste and pack the foot with it, cover with a diaper and then duct tape and vetrap wrap that sucker up.
But, I don’t know that I’d use it on legs – it is sticky and a little hard to wash off of people hands. I would think it would be tough to get out of hair.
YMMV of course!
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