Wound to the Right Hock Area

Clinician: Elizabeth Kilgallon, DVM, DACVS
Client Information: “T” 9  year old, WB Mare

CASE HISTORY AND CLINICAL SIGNS

Healthy mare prior to injury, used as a jumper in Europe, recently imported to the USA. Immediately after injury she was partially weight-bearing on the right hind. Radiographs revealed a small traumatic bony fragment or “flake” originating from the calcaneus. No tendon sheath or joint involvement was found. Radiographs taken 14 days post injury indicated that the bony fragment had been resorbed, leaving a small smooth defect in the plantarolateral calcaneus.

TREATMENT

The wound was flushed with saline and wrapped with manuka honey dressing. A full limb bandage was applied. Treatment with NSAIDs and antibiotics was instituted. The mare was treated with CO2 as directed for 14 consecutive days and then every other day for 14 more  days. Punch grafts were harvested from the lateral cervical area after the 28 days and placed in the wound bed. The mare was then treated for one additional week post grafting procedure with CO2.

SUMMARY

The granulation bed left after treatment was very healthy with no signs of infection, and the leading skin edge was smooth with a healthy leading edge (see 6 week photo below), and the punch grafts healed exceptionally well. There was no loss of the grafts, which is a better result than seen in many of these procedures.

It was felt that it was likely that the wound would have contracted well on its own even if we didn’t do the punch grafts, based on the health of the bed. However, doing the grafting procedure allowed more control over the bandaging and exercise regimen than we would otherwise have had.

The mare is in full jumping work and is showing.