My yearling got cut and exposed her flexor tendon. Vet checked it out but couldn't stitch it because there wasn't much to stitch to. We have some ointment we're putting on it with a wrap. We also did sort of like a sweat type wrap last nights for swelling. Vet said this was just going to be long process getting her healed. He didn't seem concerned about the tendon it's self being cut but said in a few days when the swelling goes down we can ultrasound it.  She's on antibiotics and bute. Also on at least 3 weeks stall restt. Anyone have any suggestions on how to help this heal? 

My weanling ripped her leg open a month ago (just skinned though). My friends recommended all different things to help heal, but I decided to try the Kruuse foam dressings that one friend recommended. 

Pics are when it happened, and yesterday (one month period). The yellow stuff around the wound is part of the foam pad that stuck to her hair. 

I had a mare do this but her tendon was cut. I called Platinum Performance because I was feeding their supplement. They told me how much to feed her and my vet felt it made a huge difference in the amount the tendon healed and how quickly it healed. So much so he asked what I was feeding and looked into it, but he didn't become a distributor because he is mostly a cow vet and people are cheap here in my part of the world. 

I am dealing with this now and have dealt with several in past years. It is a lengthy process and commitment if you want minimal scarring. Keeping bandaged is the best way to go. I usually change the bandage every 4 to 5 days depending on how it looks (more often if necessary). Each bandage change I gently clean the wound with surgical scrub (dish soap works too) and then rinse.  I use a mixture of SSD ointment and Kenalog on the wound, cover with a telfa, and then wrap with a standing bandage. 

Was this the regular Platinum or did they recommend something in addition to the regular?

Which leg and what location?

If the tendon is just exposed and not actually damaged, yeah it's a big pain but I wouldn't worry at all. Keep it bandaged if you can. Yes, bandaging the whole leg, or at least doing some sort of standing wrap will help with swelling. The body naturally will cause swelling during the healing process. With practice, you'll also get real good at learning how to keep your bandages to stay up.

Leg injuries are notorious for proud flesh. By keeping it wrapped, it keeps it clean, and then the less you have to touch it. With proud flesh, less is more. You don't want to do anything more than you have to that will stimulate too much granulation tissue. In the beginning, cold hosing is alright, but when you start to get the tissue filling in, you need to stop.

ProudsOff is extremely effective at knocking back proud flesh. But you have to be careful to apply it only where you need it, and when you need it. OTC hydrocortisone cream is "softer" on the proud flesh but you don't have to be as careful with it.

Back On Track wraps can be very helpful in this situation to help deal with the lower leg swelling that will occur.

And then TIME!!!! Seems to take forever for wounds like this to heal.

Sadly ..... my horses have made me a great expert with leg injuries......

Back left. About mid ways between her hock and ankle joint on the backside. 

It was the regular. I was willing to use whatever they recommended and they said to use the regular. Mow this was several years ago, so I recommend calling them and asking so they can tell you how much to feed. They were SUPER nice!

Laser or Red Light Therapy.  I have a Aah Light.  Had a horse cut her head wide open.  It was deep and ugly.  I treated her every day with the Aah light.  Cleaned with Normal Saline and Vetrycin.  It healed and didn’t leave a scar. You couldn’t even tell it was ever done.  A friend had a colt cut his back leg like yours did.  Vet said it would leave a scar.  Would probably have proud flesh and colt would probably not be sound enough to ever ride.  She treated every other day with the AAH Light and kept leg wrapped.  Changed bandage every other day.  Cleaned wound with normal Saline.  Used the antibiotic  ointment her vet gave her and wrapped again.  Leg healed with very little scarring. No proud flesh and horse is sound and being shown.  

The DDF tendon? I've seen horses sever it completely and go back to competing at the same level they were at prior to the injury. I would give the horse plenty of time to recover, with hand walking once your vet okays it. We've had clients use lasers, shockwave, etc. but the best thing is time. If you're close to a facility that swims horses, I'd look into that for low impact rehabbing.

My 2 yo did a number. Her tendon was exposed. I did daily dressing changes with iodine and sugar. That worked wonders. It really helps take the swelling out and promote blood vessel development. I used diapers, cotton batting, brown gauze, ace wrap, and vet wrap in that order. It was really good for first 2 months, then I needed to change my dressing type and my topical. But sugar and iodine with the diaper cover did the trick to get the granulation tissue grown back over the tendon.

We feed the Platinum CJ to ours, but when Sonny tore his suspensory, I called about the Osteon.   I told them what we had going on, discussed what they thought, and did 2 buckets of that along with the CJ.  I had talked to my vet about it also beforehand.   I'd use it again in a second.  

Totally agree, GLP, they have always been amazing to work with--no matter what my questions or concerns.  

If I remember right, they had me feeding 6 scoops 2x a day. I expected to be buying several different products from them, but nope, I didn't have to. They could have made some money off if they had wanted to, so I agree, they are really a good, honest company and that more healed really well. We don't ride for some other issues, but she sure runs and bucks a lot! Mire than any of the others so I'm pretty sure that cut tendon healed nicely. 

It sounds like we had the same experience--I asked about xyz product(s), did we need to add that also, but they told me not at all because it was already in what I was using, etc!  They could have taken me for a lot of money but didn't.   They have even called me back on a "closed" day when they just happened to check voicemail.  

I had one last year, just kept it wrapped with furazone dressing and gave bute a few days, if it was going to rain, I would go over my vet wrap with duck tape to water proof it, but I never stall rested mine.  Healed great.  Just took a while... it was wrapped at least a month, until you couldn't see the tendon and I still wrapped for a couple weeks after I couldn't see it... and she was on Antibiotics for 10 days