Horse Racing

Equine Injuries: A Honey-Do List


Horses are notoriously accident prone, injuring themselves on seemingly inconspicuous items and requiring a vet visit to close the ensuing wound. While suturing an injury can lead to more-rapid healing, the breakdown of the suture line is not uncommon. Lower limbs repairs are especially prone to this breakdown as intense pressure is put on the staples or stitches in a high-movement area.

A new report from the Koret School of Veterinary Medicine at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem suggests that applying medical-grade honey to the wound before it is closed may help reduce wound breakdown and control infection.

The study used 11 veterinarians who treated 127 lacerations. Of those 127, 30 percent were on the lower limbs; 28 percent were on the upper limb and head wounds made up 24 percent of the study lacerations.

All wounds were repaired using a standard protocol; 69 of the 127 wounds were chosen at random to have medical grade honey applied to them. Medical grade honey has been sterilized to ensure no bacteria is present.

Drs. Mandel, Sutton, Abu and Kelmer reported that the horses treated with the medical grade honey were more likely to heal completely with no signs of infection. They concluded that the application of medical grade honey before closing a laceration may prevent both infection and wound breakdown. The authors suggest that larger studies take place comparing wounds on specific locations on a horse’s body.

Read more at Equine Science Update.





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