Wounds and wound healing


The aim of this fact-sheet is to provide some information on what to do and what to expect when you first see your horse has a wound.

Wounds can be partial skin thickness (grazes), full skin thickness cuts (lacerations), or puncture wounds through the skin leaving a very small surface wound, (but with the possibility of damage to deeper structures).

 First aid
The first thing to do once your horse becomes injured is move the horse to a safe place to prevent further injury.

Calm the horse down, and get assistance to hold the horse whilst you examine the wound.  Do not try and do too much without help; even the most placid horses will behave unpredictably if in pain, and you may injure yourself.

 Try and evaluate the wound, and call the vet for advice if you feel there is:

  • Excessive bleeding (haemorrhage).

  • Penetration or puncture through the entire skin thickness.

  • A wound on, or close to a joint or tendon.

  • An infected or contaminated wound.

  • Your horse is not covered for tetanus.


 Until a vet arrives the practical things you can do include:

  • Clean the wound using clean water, and a very dilute solution of Hibiscrub, or Pevidine (suggested dilution approximately 1:20).

  • Cover the wound with a sterile wound dressing such as a Melolin pad.

  • Apply a bandage with firm but even pressure, ensuring it’s not too tight to cut off circulation.


 Wound healing

Skin is trying to heal as soon as 5 minutes after it is wounded.  White blood cells move quickly to the site to kill bacteria and destroy dying body cells and debris. Fibrinogen is secreted by the nearby blood vessels, forming a scab over the wound. Healing will only occur on a healthy infection free tissue bed.  

If this is the case, epidermal cells from around the outside of the wound migrate across the wound under the scab.  This can take weeks in an open wound, but is much quicker in a bandaged wound.  Meanwhile under these advancing cells granulation tissue is being laid down.  This provides a fibrous network for the fragile new skin cells to grow over.


 The veterinary assessment

The vet will then perform a thorough examination of the wound.  If the horse is very stressed, it may be necessary to sedate him to allow a really good look at the injury.  We are trying to look beyond the skin injury to decide if deeper structures are involved – penetration of anything into a horse’s joint or tendon sheath can produce a life threatening infection – so it’s most important for us to rule such things out first.


 We will then decide how to manage the wound.  There are three main choices:

  • Primary Wound Closure – This is when a vet cleans and then sutures a wound straight away.  To heal successfully, a wound must be sutured in the first 3 to 6 hours; after this time the level of bacterial contamination is too great to allow the wound to heal this way and the sutures will not hold.  We call this “wound breakdown”.

  • Delayed Primary Closure – If there is some wound contamination, but the wound is still quite recent, the vet may thoroughly clean and  bandage the wound for a few days.  After this time, the infection in the wound may be controlled, and the swelling reduced.  It may then be possible to suture the wound with less risk of the wound subsequently breaking down.

  • Second Intention Healing – If there is no chance of being able to suture the wound, it must be left to heal on its own, with or without dressings.  This may be because the wound is too old, too contaminated, or if there is not enough skin to pull over the deficit.


Your vet will also discuss antibiotic and anti-tetanus cover for your horse.

Where ever possible we like to dress wounds.  Bandaging wounds tends to allow them to heal much more quickly than when left open.  The wound is kept moist; this allows the epithelial cells to be bathed in a healthy gel full of oxygen and nutrients, where as they are far more likely to dry out and die in an uncovered wound.

Peculiar to the horse is the problem of proud flesh.  This occurs when the granulation tissue in the centre of the wound grows quickly and is not covered and kept in check by the epidermal cells as they advance from the edge of the wound.  The granulation tissue will then continue to grow as a large hard pinky lump out of the wound.

 First aid kit

Be prepared.  Below are suggestions for what you may need in a first aid kit to keep close at hand until required:

  • Your vet’s telephone number.

  • Cotton wool.

  • Sterile non – adherent wound dressings (eg. Melolin pads).

  • Antiseptic solution, either Hibiscrub or Pevidine.

  • Bandages – usually two types: a conforming crepe-type for placing the pad onto the wound, and an elastic Vetwrap type for the top layer.

  • Clean bucket.

  • Scissors.


That’s it!  We suggest you put nothing onto your horse’s wound unless it’s cleared by a vet.  There are thousands of old wives' tales about things reputed to be great on wounds. Most of these are useless, and many do more harm than good!

Please remember that we are always happy to give telephone advice in order to determine whether or not your horse needs veterinary attention.


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