Hose Health Care - Treating Leg Cuts

The trail rider or Cowboy who rides in remote country needs to be prepared and able to treat common injuries like leg cuts.

The horse's legs are pretty vascular and can bleed well if cut or sliced such as on sharp rocks, cactus or bob wire. Since horses are moving forward, often these cuts will be linear or horizontal, but in any case need to be treating especially if there is much bleeding. Too much blood loss will result in the horse getting dehydrated and cause other problems, most notably colic.

I suggest carrying bandage kit with you such as 3x3 inch gauze pads, a tampon and vet wrap to be able to stop the bleeding and bandage the cut, until you can get out here you can properly treat it. I always carry a bandage kit, shrink wrapped/ vacuum packed together.

The reason I pack a tampon in my bandage kit is that this item is very dense and designed to absorb alot of blood,..plus it fits the usual leg cuts I am accustomed to seeing. I'll apply the tampon and guaze and hold firmly to the cut in order to stop the bleeding by allowing the blood to clot in the wound. Then using Vet Wrap, I will wrap the bandage (tampon and gauze) to hold it in place until I can get back and treat it better with a antiseptic cleaner, antibiotic powder or paste, then another bandage, unless it needs sutures then I call a Vet.

I also carry Wound Dust and will sometimes apply wound dust, normally in smaller cuts, to provide for antiseptic treatment at the time of the injury. If you wash the wound out, application of Wound Dust can help dry out the wound site as well.

Hope this helps,...don't leave home and head out on the trail without a bandage kit.