He's Bleeding! What to do when your horse has a wound (Wound Care Part 1/3).
- centerlineequineve
- Dec 19, 2025
- 5 min read
We all know that horses are prone to injuries. From a mere scratch to the terrifying images passed around on social media any time your horse has an injury, it’s a source of worry. But how do you know when you should just clean it up and take a deep breath versus an emergency worth calling your vet for?
This series will be a brief guide to handling equine wounds. This first piece will focus on how to assess the severity of a wound, the second will focus on how to best to prepare for your veterinarian to come out and look at a wound, and the third will address what to expect for common aftercare and wound management.
Disclaimer: This is intended to be a basic overview of wound care and to help you help your veterinarian when determining how quickly a wound needs to be seen, NOT a replacement for veterinary advice. It is often difficult to assess the severity of a wound without a hands-on exam, and if you have ANY concerns about an injury, or your horse's health, please reach out to your equine veterinarian!
So your horse has a wound:
The first thing you need to do is get it cleaned up- this will help you assess the wound and decrease risk of infection. In order for you or your veterinarian to assess a wound, it has to be visible!
Step 1.) Clean up the wound:
Rinse the wound thoroughly to identify the location and severity. Getting as much dirt, mud, and blood off as possible will also help to reduce bacteria contamination. Use plain hose water and mild antibacterial soap if you have it. Safe soaps for wounds include betadine (povidone iodine) and chlorhexidine (nolvasan, hibiclens). If you don't have one of these products, plain water is best! Dish soaps, shampoos, and other products can be harsh and painful on recent wounds, and can delay healing.
The solution to pollution is dilution!
Do NOT use hydrogen peroxide, rubbing alcohol, or medicated shampoos on deep wounds.
This can slow healing and damage deeper tissues if there is tendon, joint, or bone exposure.
Step 2.) Assess the wound:
Determine where the wound is located, if there are multiple wounds, and what degree of pain your horse is in- are they able to walk around fine and stand on the wound? Or are they unwilling to even put the leg on the ground? While it might seem obvious that a very painful horse or a huge, bleeding wound needs to be seen by a vet, sometimes even the smallest puncture wound that doesn't seem to bother the horse can cause severe complications if it affects a joint.
Step 3.) Consult with your veterinarian by phone or by sending photos to help decide if the wound needs to be seen as an emergency.
Taking good photographs is important: your veterinarian will typically want one close up picture of the wound, and one further away, to show them where the wound is located on the body.
Wound Photography Tips:
1.) The wound should be clean of mud, blood, or debris
2.) The picture should be well-lit: use the flashlight on your phone, or get a helper if possible to hold a light.
3.) Try to hold the horse still! Blurry photos are hard to interpret
4.) Make sure you have a way to send the photograph to your vet! Some clinics use texting, email, whatsapp, or other methods to communicate, so check with your vet what method is best!
This is an example of a good pair of wound images- the first image is up close and well-lit, allowing us to see the depth of the wound, and the second photograph is further away, allowing us to identify which leg is affected, and where the wound is on the leg, as well as showing us the swelling surrounding the wound.
What your veterinarian will want to know:
Before coming out, your veterinarian or clinic will likely ask you to provide some information so they can better prepare for the visit. Below are some suggestions for ways to prepare for that phone call:
You should be able to tell them…
1.) Where the wound is: which leg, how high/low on the leg, is it near a joint/tendon, or is it somewhere else on the body.
2.) How big is the wound: is it a tiny puncture? A giant gash across the shoulder? Or is it a long, jagged flap across the front of the cannon bone?
3.) How much pain is the horse in?: Are they totally sound? Slightly lame? Or are they completely unable to stand on the leg? Your vet will likely recommend x-rays (radiographs) if they are in severe pain, as fractures can often happen along with whatever they did to cause the wound.
4.) If your horse is on any medications: If your horse already takes something like bute, or equiiox, your vet will need to know as it may affect what medications they administer to avoid overdoses of anti-inflammatory medications.
5.) If you know when or how the wound happened: You might not know anything more than “it wasn’t there when I turned her out an hour ago,” and that’s okay- as long as it helps us narrow down how old the wound might be.
The rest of this article will describe some common wound locations that should be assessed by a veterinarian as soon as possible.
Locations to be concerned about:
1.) Anything near a joint or a tendon, no matter how small, should be assessed by a veterinarian. This is very important, because even a tiny puncture wound next to a joint could result in a joint infection if any bacteria get into the joint pouch. Horses are particularly susceptible to joint infections, and a “septic joint” can result in chronic lameness, severe arthritis, or even death.
2.) Similarly, anything involving an eyelid should get a call to your vet. Eyelids are delicate, and your vet may not be able to repair these if too much time has passed. If too much of the eyelid is lost, the horse may be more prone to eye infections or 'weepy' eyes in the future as the eye will be less protected and dry out more easily.
3.) Heel bulb lacerations, "nail in the foot" or injuries to the coronary band. These can range from a small wound that only requires a bandage to extremely severe wounds extending down into the joint capsules within the foot. If your horse has a nail in their foot, DO NOT pull it out, and contact your vet immediately!
4.) If there is spurting blood or bleeding that won’t stop. Horses can bleed a LOT before it’s a problem, and it often looks far more dramatic than it is- so don’t panic, but give your vet a call.
5.) A wide or deep wound, or anything with a “skin flap” should be seen by your veterinarian as soon as possible to suture the wound. Suturing usually provides the best outcome within the first 2-4 hours, and we usually recommend trying to suture within at least 12 hours at the latest- but this is not a firm rule. I’ll talk about exceptions in the second part of this series!
Stay tuned for the next in the series- Part 2 will talk about what to expect when your veterinarian arrives and some of the ways we treat wounds on the farm.
Very helpful instructions