Debridement (aka the most gnarly leg pictures to date)

Reader beware: graphic images forthcoming

When we last left our heroine, she was oozing pus and her leg was looking pretty nasty (although healing). Today the vet came out for a re-check and decided the time had come to remove some dead tissue to promote the healing process. 

And guys. It was not pretty. But it was also impossible to look away. 

First the wound was scrubbed thoroughly and the tissue manipulated so that the vet could decide what needed to go. This caused the hole (hidden most of the time by dead and dying tissue) to be fully revealed. 

All that yellow tissue needed to go - it was beyond repair. 

Bleeding, in the case of healthy vs dead tissue, is good. The tissue removed did not cause bleeding. Once it had been removed, though, everything left behind was much pinker in color and much more bloody. 

Once the bad tissue was all removed, we took my sleepy mare to the wash rack to thoroughly flush the wound out and then apply ointment and wrap safely back up. The whole process took about an hour, and it was not the most pleasant thing that I've ever seen. 

Spring was pretty unimpressed with the whole ordeal and very ready to have her grain by the time the sedation wore off. I posted her story in Ottb Connect on Facebook more for giggles than anything else, but through my post was connected with a local PEMF provider who has had some success with accelerating wound healing times. For a single limb her rates are very low, so she's going to come by tomorrow for a first session and follow up with 2-3 more. Two visits cost less than a jar of sterile honey and I read quite a few research studies that have shown some benefits of PEMF for diabetic ulcer healing in rats...so I figured it's worth a try. 

Thank you to everyone for all of your kind words and support thus far - I'm terrible at replying to comments on here but I'm trying to get better! 

Hopefully things keep moving in the right direction!