I’m sorry you’re feeling down. The best you can manage is the best you can do!
My senior mare sliced open a large skin flap, hock to fetlock, about 6 weeks ago - not as nasty as yours, but definitely the worst thing I’ve personally managed. The body’s ability to heal is absolutely amazing.
Wow! These always look worse before they look better. I think you are doing a fantastic job, OP. Keep updating with pics!
You are far from a “horrible horse owner”. You are educating yourself about her injury and are putting in the work to treat it. I say “well done you” !
Hang in there. We’ll all be hoping for a good outcome.
Very expected with a wound like that
Bad news: looks like the extensor tendon is severed. The ends have retracted too much to sew them together at this point. I am to continue what I’ve been doing and we’ll check again in 2 weeks.
We couldn’t even find the end of the upper portion of the tendon on mine
The best option is for her to be hospitalized with fancy therapy and a cast. That option is also so far out of my budget as to be laughable. Thus the current recommendations. In a few weeks the skin around the wound should be as retracted as it’s going to get, so more aggressive debridement should happen as well as figuring out what to do about the tendon.
Honestly? After going through mine, and talking to probably a dozen other people with the same situation, I think too many vets over-complicate this particular injury. NO horse I know who severed this tendon has been in a cast, and ALL returned to soundness and their previous level of athletic work. Keep that leg snugly wrapped down over the top of the foot, keep fetlock flexion limited, and in a couple weeks, allow light controlled movement, starting with something as big as 2 stalls and working from there. That’s what I did and what I’d do again if I had to 
Oddly she is walking normally even without the bandage. I guess she shouldn’t be able to extend the fetlock joint at all? The vet is hesitant to declare it totally severed.
It’s not that hard to know if it’s totally severed or not. But don’t forget there is a smaller, lateral ET which can take on some of the work of the long ET. So that can help flip the foot up during quiet walking but it’s not strong or effective enough to keep it flipping up for anything more energetic, hence the risk of catching the toe and hyper-flexing the fetlock.
. He was pretty impressed that she is bearing full weight on it, so that is positive.
It’s not a weight-bearing tendon, so once the pain of the acuteness of the injury is over, full weight bearing is pretty normal
@JB Good to know! As far as bandaging I am very glad all my years in pony club have a use! If I didn’t know how to do a full shipping wrap this would be more difficult.
This vet is new to me (the new barn is outside my previous vet’s travel radius) and I get the feeling that he errs on the too negative side with prognostication. I think he also leans towards less concrete statements. Even in my photos it looks like the ends of the tendon are there, with the bottom one being pushed out by a load of granulation tissue. In a few weeks we may move her to the stall next door, which has a small run attached (12’x20’ maybe?). At some point she’ll be there. Then after that she can have full access to the small yard, but I think that it months off.
I am really glad I posted here because it has greatly improved my own outlook as well as giving me helpful tips from others who’ve been here. I know the road will be long. But maybe it’s not so lonely. And maybe I’ll have good tips for the next person!
I feel your pain, really! When mine happened, my vet had never experienced it, and consulted with NCSU. They actually recommended against trying to stitch the ends together, assume she could even retrieve the upper end, as it usually fails. Usually fails, unless in a cast, and they even said they wouldn’t bother, there are often complications (ie pressure sores), and the extra expense far, far outweighs any small increase in chances of recovery.
After I’d posted, someone messaged me that the same thing happened to her horse Only, she had no barn, no way to confine him, so she just turned him back out and hoped for the best. 9 months later she was back Fox Hunting him.
Another had an AA Jumper who did this in a front leg, and he returned to competing - same basic protocol as mine.
The list is growing I’ll be adding yours to my list of “you wouldn’t believe how well they recover” 
It may end up with the horse needing to give the foot a little bit of a flip when she walks, hard to describe, but an extensor tendon is a lot less of a big deal than a flexor.
Hang in there OP. I think it’s looking really good for only 2 weeks. You are NOT a horrible horse owner! You are doing what you can for your horse.
I know I posted pics of my Red for you, but I didn’t mention my Beau (who I don’t have pictures for). But he pretty much tried to cut off his front foot in the barbed wire fence (my parents raise cattle, so barbed wire is necessary). We never did any fancy diagnostics or anything. Heck, we just took him to the all-animal cattle vet to get stitched up that night. I don’t even remember wrapping it. We just did lots of cold hosing and epsom salt soaks. It looked hideous when it was all healed up and took over a year, but he healed SOUND. I couldn’t believe it. Eventually went on to be a 1D/2D barrel horse and it never bothered him at all. Instead, it was arthritis in his stifle/hip that eventually retired him to a pasture pet – not his front foot.
But hang in there. Keep us posted!
That looks awesome And yeah, these things can ooze a lot. For a long time :no: It sounds like you’ve got a good system now
Looks like you are doing a GREAT job taking care of her, she’s super lucky to have you!
A friend of mine had a gelding deglove his hock several years ago. It was a pretty horrible injury. He degloved the front of his hock and severed an artery. The bleeding was very serious initially, we thought he was a gonner. He ended up losing the skin all the way around his cannon bone just under the original injury. When people say things often look worse before they look better, they are not kidding around. There were several times we thought for sure we were going to lose him. Between the seeping and the proud flesh, and the skin dying off it was a royal mess. Healing seemed to take forever.
I am super happy to report that this gelding made a full recovery. I rode him a few weeks ago, there is no lameness and he is just as spunky as ever, just has a nasty scar.
You are on the right track for sure, keep it up!
Proud flesh bleeds a LOT when disturbed :eek: :eek: It’s a nerve-less mass of delicate capillaries.
However, that lump/mass is not normal. Whatever it is, it is, or will be impeding healing and skin closure and hair growth.
Has the vet x rayed recently to see if there is a bone sequestrum under the bump? Sometimes, a piece of loose bone needs to be lifted out or it will prevent healing.
No, not normal. It contains the lower end of the extensor tendon. Pretty sure granulation started under it and has sort of lifted it up. The vet isn’t entirely sure what to do with it yet but mentioned consulting with someone to see what sort of trimming might be recommended. Maybe cut it off, maybe shave the leg side down and try to keep that bit of tendon. He just doesn’t know yet.
I am so sorry you’re going through this. I am going through issues with my gelding scraping the shit out of every leg. This legs look horrible and I am having a meltdown. I could not imagine what you have to deal with. I hope for complete healing for your mare.
Years ago, we coated the wound with DMSO before suturing, and continued to use it on wound. The leg healed with minimal scarring. this was on a hind leg that did not get found til morning. The darling had done it the night before. It was a dry looking huge flap :eek:.
addendum:Just sat down to look at my latest Equus, and what did my eye espy? "7 Things You Didn’t Know About DMSO!!
Wow, you have done a terrific job with this wound. nice work, eqsiu!
Agree with Fordtraktor - looking good! Always darkest before dawn :yes: Here’s jingling for continued positive updates and that soon this is all behind you and Angel.
That’s looking much better!
that looks great. Happy for you!
That is such fantastic progress since November! It looked so gnarly then :eek:
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