Rural Heritage December 2025/January 2026

After the hose we sprayed it well with weak iodine.

this was likely a hematoma, not an abscess yet. We treated his pain with Banamine for a few days, as well as cold hosed the injury for cryotherapy. We also watched his temp closely. It came down over a couple of days and stayed at or near normal (99 to 101 F) after that. One of the difficulties I found in treating this is the basic question of do you drain it, and how, and when? Initially the basic premise of the treatment is don’t touch it, especially if it's not an abscess yet, because if you open it with a needle or a blade, you introduce bacteria. The blood in a hematoma will usually reabsorb; monitor the horse's temp closely and any other changes. A horse's general demeanor and energy can also be good indicators if the situation is stable, getting worse, or better, and should be noted every chance we get. Of course, because of the location of this injury, this gelding was eventually going to rub it on something and get the wound open, and that is what he did. Once the wound opened, the strategy changed to

Silver Honey spray: I don’t know if it made a difference, but it didn’t hurt.

Rural Heritage

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