Has anyone ever had a problem with scratches causing a horse to go sore in the back leg.. it swells a little but doesn't cause her to go lame?

Just wondering if anyone has had this problem..

I think one time we had a horse that got some sort of internal infection from it. And we had to use antibiotics to treat it before it actually cleared up all the way. It just came back from topical treatments.

It seems that it does cause a bunch of water of swelling, I am unsure what is actually does to cause that..

where's the barn vet? we need a solid answer for this one.

My friend's horse needed an antibiotic. That was the first time I saw scratches ever to that degree. I've seen it usually in winter time when it just looked ugly but the horse was sound.

If its still in its topical stage. Try Shapelys MTG it is a liquid, very high sulphur base so be careful of human/animal allergies. Within 24 hours it will look slightly worse=no hair. Within 48 hrs all heat,swelling,redness will be gone. Within 7 days beginning of new hair growth,the stuff is amazing.

Hi there,

I have had some experience with scratches and have learned a few things. Yes, they can be very painful and make them lame.

First- my vet makes a mixture of furacin and DMSO ointment that works like a charm. Scratches are gone fast. If they're really bad, use a fura ointment and saran wrap sweat with standing wraps overnight. If you don't know how to do this, talk to your vet.

Second- to prevent scratches try not to wet their legs- or if you have to wash their legs, dry them completely. I use a hair dryer.

Third- keep their legs clipped. The hair increases the likelihood of the scratches and legs don't dry quickly.

Talk to your vet. My vet has prescribed antibiotics when they were really bad. Now that I use the fura/DMSO ointment it never gets that bad to begin with.

Best of luck,

C

I can't count the number of times I have dealt with scratches on clients horses.
I have seen it get bad enough to cause the horse to be lame. One case the even worse than that.

This is how we treated the horses I dealt with.

Clip the hair as short as possible and clean the area with a betadine scrub. Dry completely. Just make sure to not nick or give the horse clipper burn when clipping the leg/pastern area as you don't want to cause a secondary infection.

Then we would have them apply a ointment that our clinic made (consisting of Desitin, furazon, deximethasone). We would have them apply once daily until healed and DO NOT WRAP LEGS. It is important that you leave the legs uncovered. Just wipe them off and apply new each day.

Some horse do get bad enough that they will need to either be put on an oral and/or topical antibiotic for 7-10 days.

The horse needs to be in a dry pen during treatment.

If it reoccurs you may need to check his enviroment, tall grass/weeds in the pasture, mud holes, dirty stalls can all be contributors to the horse getting scratches again. If it continues to occur after the above has been done talk to your vet about photosensitization.

Talk with your vet

Hope this helps