Treatment for Rope Burns on a Horse

Rope burns, or friction burns, are types of injuries in which small areas of the skin and hair of a horse's body are damaged by repeated contact with a rope or harness. These injuries frequently occur in the flexed joint parts of a horse's body, including the pastern, knee and flank. Not all rope burns are the same, and treating these injuries requires first assessing the amount of damage done to the skin.

  1. Cleaning the Wound

    • Keeping a rope burn wound clean is important for preventing infection. Cleaning the wound requires the handler to clip the hair around the area of the wound and then to gently rinse it with cold water. Rope burn wounds are often incredibly painful for horses and cleaning them can intensify the pain, so most horses are restrained or tranquilized during this treatment process. After the area is rinsed, the wound is scrubbed with a gauze pad and mild soap. The soap is then rinsed off again with cold water. To adequately treat a rope burn wound, this process is repeated daily.

    Removing Foreign Particles

    • Treating a rope burn wound on a horse requires extricating any foreign particles that have become stuck to the wound. Sometimes fibers from the rope that caused the burn can become stuck inside the wound. This process of treatment involves examining the burn with a magnifying glass and removing particles with a gauze pad or sterilized tweezers.

    Bandaging the Wound

    • Keeping the horse's rope burn wound clean and protected is essential for healing. Because rope burns frequently occur on movable joints, it can be difficult to properly bandage the wound. Several sterile gauze pads are generally applied to the site of the wound for padding, then taped on with medical or veterinary tape. These bandages are then changed every day after cleaning the wound to prevent infection. Restraining the horse and preventing unnecessary movement of the wound help keep the bandages secure and encourage healing.

    Treating Infection

    • Occasional infection can occur in a horse that has gotten rope burns. A horse with an infection will have a fever, be listless and lack an appetite. Additionally, the site of the wound will become brown or green and have an unpleasant odor. Certain infections are treated with antibiotics provided by a veterinarian. Other types of infections, especially if they are caught early enough, can be treated by applying iodine soap to the infected area twice daily.

    Treating Scars

    • Deep rope burn can cause scarring or tightness to the horses skin at the site of the injury. Once the rope burn has been adequately healed using cleaning and bandaging, scar treatment can begin. Treating scarring at the site of rope burns requires gently rubbing the site with zinc oxide or a lanolin cream, which make the skin more pliable. If scarring is severe, a veterinarian can surgically remove the scar tissue.