The nurse's role in the management of equine limb wounds

It is important to note that it is the horse's natural fight or flight instincts that can cause many of the wounds seen in veterinary practice, whether that be a barbed wire wound from a horse running through a fence or a wound on the distal limb caused by the horse kicking an object. Equine limb wounds often include an injury to the bone as this is relatively unprotected and therefore exposed to injury (Philips, 1995). Most traumatic wounds are either contaminated or dirty wounds (Southwood, 2008), which will increase the incidence of infection and this should be noted when dealing with such lesions. In addition, it is important to understand equine wound healing in order to nurse these patients successfully. It is also important to note the differences in wound healing between ponies and horses and how this may affect the final outcome of similar wounds in each species. Some tips are included on dressing the equine limb and these are based on the author's personal experience as an equine veterinary nurse. This article has concentrated on the ability of nurses to improve the outcome of the patient through thoughtful, critical and holistic dressing of the limb.