Today I wanna talk to you about something disgusting

Summer Sores.

Do you know what those are?

I had heard of them a few years ago, working at the farm. There was a pony who developed one inside his sheath and also in the corner of his eye.

What's a summer sore, you ask?

Many people are still in the dark about these nasty, sometimes dangerous, very hard to heal sores. They aren't common everywhere, and here's why:

Summer sores develop thanks to the nasty larvae stage of Habronema or Draschia. A summer sore starts out as an innocuous injury. I'm not going to try to put into words what is so brilliantly said by Kenneth Marcella, DVM, so here it is:


"The specific skin condition known as "summer sores" occurs when stomach worm larvae are deposited on injured or irritated skin tissue or mucous membranes . Moist areas of the body—such as the eyes (e.g., conjunctiva, medial canthus, nasolacrimal duct), commissure of the lips, ears, ventral abdomen, prepuce, penis and urethral process—are at risk. Areas on the limbs, especially from the fetlock to the coronary band, are frequently prone to mild cuts, scrapes and trauma and thus can also be susceptible to summer sores. Parasites (e.g., ticks, flies) also can irritate the horse, and the animal's subsequent rubbing and scratching can damage skin, allowing entry to Habronema or Draschia species larvae.This is an abnormal step in the usual life cycle for these worms and where problems begin. These "out of place" larvae cannot grow into adult worms in these locations but can induce a severe local inflammatory reaction characterized by intense swelling, ulceration, redness and itching. These lesions tend to grow rapidly and usually cause horse owners to seek veterinary advice within a few days."

It has been my understanding, from my own vet, that these worms feed on the flesh, necrotizing it. You'll see what I mean when you get to the photos.

Anyhow, I first observed a small cut on Maxwell's coronet band on 08/04/2015. I didn't think a whole lot of it. No heat, no swelling, not sensitive. I treated it as such, putting Nu-Stock on the wound and *trying* to keep the flies out of it (this never works).

Taken on 08/04/15. See, not too bad. I was a little nervous about it, but not too bad. Treated as a wound for a little while longer. At one point I thought I had an abscess blow. Nope, not quite. The odd thing about that theory was he was 100% sound throughout the entire thing.

 8 days later, I started getting very nervous. It seemed every day I saw it, it was NOT healing. This was a classic sign of a summer sore, folks. When you have a wound that seems to not heal, or seems to be getting worse and not better, it's always a good idea to get the vet involved. This is what it looked like the night before I called the vet:

Yeah. That's not pretty. I was really starting to panic at this point. Other common summer sore symptoms include bleeding that doesn't stop. What many of these articles forget to tell you, is that these larvae have a unique ability to prohibit the blood from clotting. So you're stuck with rotting flesh and no clotting. A big, stinky, scary, bloody mess. And this, everyone, is how summer sores can get dangerously out of hand, very quickly. The time between the first photo and the second photo was 8 days. EIGHT DAYS. 

I called the vet, and told them over the phone I was fairly certain I was dealing with a summer sore. Three other horses had them on the property, so I knew the worms were present. I'm still mad at whichever owner had a horse that wasn't dewormed. Some of the horses aren't on the same schedule, and we had had two new arrivals to the farm around the time that this started to happen to horses on the property. **GET FECALS** and deworm your horse as your vet reccomends. It's also notable to add that a fecal doesn't always show what is brewing in your horse's stomach, so my vet also recommends making sure you deworm with something broad spectrum like Equimaxx or Quest Plus. 

So Brandon Equine came out the next afternoon on short notice *thank goodness* lanced it open, removed all the damaged tissue, cleaned it out really well, and gave me a "summer sore mixture". I'll give you the secret ingredients. Nitrofurazone, DMSO, Dexamethasone, & Ivermectin all mixed within the jar of Nitrofurazone. Slop it all in and around the wound, put gauze on top, and elasticon around it to keep the gauze in place, and the wound protected.

16 hours after the vet, this is what it looked like. A totally different wound. This one was pink and healthy, not gushing blood and looking disgusting. I was absolutely amazed at the difference 16 hours after being cleaned and medicated did for this wound.

The last month and a half have been taxing. Rain, mud, dirt....none of those are friends to a big gaping wound on a coronet band. Add to that the very real risk of reinfection from the larvae, and I was a hot mess. Wrapping this thing isn't easy. See my last post. Wrapping for a month and a half caused a nasty case of thrush to develop. If that's the price I have to pay...well...that's what has to be done. 

9 days later, this is what I had. A gorgeous, clean, scary but healing wound. The damage these things can do is really amazing. I mean, look at how small that cut was when this all started. Jesus. It still blows my mind to look back and see how far it can go. And to see some very troubling stories online about what happens when you keep thinking you can handle it... YIKES. They're no joke! (taken 08/23/2015)

I am so very blessed that my horse stayed sound and happy throughout this entire ordeal. We still rode and lessoned. My biggest obstable was keeping the damn thing clean and fly free. Swat doesn't do squat. If you can figure out a way to wrap the summer sore, please wrap it. There's no other way. I couldn't leave this thing unwrapped until THIS WEEK. That's right, over a month since it all began and I can JUST now leave it unwrapped. I still cover it with Wound-Kote spray and slather Swat over top of it. You can never be too cautious about flies. Especially once you've had to deal with a summer sore!



Finally I can see a light at the end of the tunnel...the summer sore story is almost over. I am so very lucky that there was minimal damage to Maxwell's hoof. We have a few weird spots right below it, but overall, the hoof is there and it's fine. The coronet band is slowly reforming. Animal bodies are truly amazing if you give them the right kind of care to heal!

Taken 09/17/2015