I’ve been battling a summer sore since the end of July. It’s on the outside of his left front ankle. A small abrasion from banging the stall door turned into nasty summer sore. I’ve never dealt with one before and am at my wits end trying to get it healed. It’s down to the size of a nickel and no proud flesh but just will not close the rest of the way. I’ve tried EVERYTHING! Tricare triple antibiotic ointment and keeping wrapped with gauze and vet wrap has done the most to get it to this point. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Worm the horse w/ Ivermectrin and also put the Ivermectrin directly on the wound daily til it’s gone. these are a bear to get rid of but you must kill the larva living in the wound. And be careful if you don’t totally eradicate it before winter as it can
show up again next spring.
I’ve head great results using Fetlock Shields for protection in addition to whatever treatment. They are much easier than having to keep it wrapped.
https://www.ridingwarehouse.com/Click_Horse_Fetlock_Shield_Protectors_Pair/descpage-CHFS0.html
I’ve been using the ivermectin. The boots would be great but unfortunately my boy eats anything on his front legs, bell boots standing bandages, etc. So far he leaves the vet wrap alone.
I’ve been battling summer sores this year too. Since early August, I’ve done:
orally administered ivermectin along with topical ivermectin ointment compounded by my vet;
silver spray;
Rx antibiotic ointment sprayed with medicated Gold Bond powder;
nitrafurazone.
The last seemed to work the best but I suspect it’s just that the gnats, which have kept it irritated are finally starting to die off. My poor horse had them in his groin and sheath area, so I couldn’t bandage or wrap.
No advice here - just sympathy!
A good fly spray such as Absorbine Ultrashield used daily ( I know they say “lasts 14 days”, it doesn’t) will keep the bugs at bay. In addition to your vet’s ointment I would use a chlorhexadine cream… Sometimes there’s a fungal component to these sore.
Been there, done that. My horse had summer sores on two of his fetlocks one summer that wouldn’t heal. At some point you gotta stop wrapping and bandaging them so they can dry and scab and heal. I tried a million different things but what eventually got them healed for good was Underwood, which my vet recommended. You layer it on multiple times a day with baby powder. Don’t clean it, don’t touch it, just keep layering and within a few days the sores were both healed. I was originally doing the vet wrap and antibiotic ointment route for months. It would get to a certain point and look mostly healed, then I would try to leave it unwrapped and he would re-open it laying down. It sounds like exactly what I was dealing with where it would get down to the size of a nickle but just not heal. Seriously try the Underwood! https://www.amazon.com/Underwood-Horse-Medicine-Topical-Wound/dp/B07NJFML65
Update:
Ive been using the underwood stuff on his leg for a about a week and it seems to be helping. Unfortunately I noticed the other day that he appears to have a sore on his penis around the pee hole…uugghh! What would be best strategy for treating this area? I’ve been using underwood medicine on it for a few days but it’s still looks pretty nasty. I have also been giving him ivermectin very frequently. Not sure what else to do.
