NEWS
Handling friction burns
Posted: Tuesday, December 19, 2000
Also known as rope burns, the injury can be more serious than it appears and requires immediate attention
Friction burns, commonly known as rope burns, can happen in many unexpected ways. A horse becomes tangled in a longe line or rubs repeatedly against a surface that can be soft cotton, nylon, or leather.
This type of burn can also occur if a horse falls down while running and slides along the ground, or comes to a sliding stop and skids its hind legs on the ground, or goes down and thrashes-rubbing and scraping against the ground or the floor and sides of its stall.
The back of the pastern, front of the hock, back of the knee, and any other flexed joint can be prime candidates for friction burns. Scrapes and abrasions from friction burns heal slowly because of the heat produced by the friction; the heat does more damage to the skin than does a simple cut or abrasion.
Because of the cell damage that they cause, friction burns can be more serious than they look. They often leave thick scars, which in a joint area can be a hindrance to normal movement.
Another problem with a rope burn is the irritation from tiny embedded particles of rope. Rope fibers tend to fray with use, and those tiny fibers rub into the horse's skin in a rope-burn accident, like a multitude of tiny needles breaking off and embedding in the damaged flesh. The swollen tissues hold in these tiny particles, which may act as irritants for a long time, preventing proper healing.
Horse's skin
The horse's skin is usually quite resilient, healing swiftly after trauma. Beneath the outer layer of the protective epidermis is a much thicker layer of dermis that acts as a cushion for the skin. The dermis is laced with a tough supportive network of fibrous protein called collagen, which depends on the surrounding cells and blood vessels to provide it with nourishment.
When skin is cut, the collagen and other skin tissues divide neatly and make a bleeding gap. In a friction burn, the rope or other abrasive surface scrapes away the skin, damaging and exposing more dermis. The heat of the friction destroys many skin cells, disrupting the life-support system of the collagen. Without its supportive fluids, collagen dries and becomes stiff. After several weeks of inflammation and infection, the horse's body may rid itself of the dried-up collagen, sloughing it away.
Even a seemingly minor abrasion may leave a heavy ridge or lump of scar tissue, called a keloid. The amount of scar tissue also will depend on the amount of inflammation produced by the heat and the embedded foreign particles. If the damaged skin can be treated early and the inflammation reduced or halted, the wound will heal faster, with less scarring.
Treatment
Assessing the depth of injured tissue or the amount of grit or rope fiber buried within the skin can be difficult, so the best approach is to treat any friction burn as though it were serious.
A friction burn will have an obvious scrape, with possibly some oozing or bleeding from the damaged skin. But many rope burns do not ooze. They just have a rubbed off patch of hair and a shiny look to the skin where the outer surface has been damaged by the friction heat. Sometimes only the outer edges will ooze or be moist; the dry center of the burned area will be sealed together with melted collagen. The horse will be extremely sensitive in the burned area.
A high-speed rope burn may not even break completely through the skin, but the heat of the friction may have burned all the way into the tissues beneath the skin, even damaging a tendon or a ligament.
Early treatment is crucial. Any hair remaining around the burn should be clipped away, and the burn well scrubbed to try to get out all embedded foreign material and dead collagen, and to reduce the inflammation. Due to the pain, the horse may have to be restrained or tranquilized to immobilize him for cleaning the burn.
Some horses will stand for the scrubbing if you use a gentle stream of cold water from a hose to cool and ease the burn. Start by putting the water on a less-sensitive area near the burn and gradually move the stream onto the damaged area.
If the horse will tolerate water being squirted onto the burn, start scrubbing gently with a sterile gauze pad, scrubbing more vigorously as the horse becomes accustomed to the rubbing.
Clean out debris
A mild soap and vigorous scrubbing usually will clean out the embedded debris. Scrub until there is clean, healthy pink tissue. If all the gray spots of damaged collagen cannot be scrubbed out, use repeated scrubbings for a few days, or have your veterinarian shave them out with a sharp scalpel. Use a soothing medicated ointment each time after cleaning the burn.
If possible, bandage the burned area to help prevent contamination and infection, and change the bandage daily. Otherwise, serious infection or proud flesh may get started. If the area begins to swell, or if the horse goes off its feed and becomes feverish, veterinary attention and systemic antibiotics will be necessary. If the horse seems at all dull when you are treating the burn, take its temperature. This can be a clue to its general health; fever will be an indication of serious infection.
Friction burns sometimes become infected with Pseudomona bacteria, which turn the wound greenish or brown and produce an odor like rotten grapes. This nasty bacteria strain resists most antibiotics but can be controlled with tamed iodine. If Pseudomona gets started in the burn, scrub the wound once or twice daily with tamed-iodine soap and then apply tamed iodine until the infection is eliminated.
Diligently treating a rope burn can reduce it to a simple easy-to-heal wound within a week. Once healing begins, you will not need to change the bandage every day; every other day is adequate. When changing the bandage, pick off the scabs that have formed so the medication can get to all surface tissues. If a scab covers the burn, it can trap dead collagen beneath it and eventually form a thick crust that keeps the underlying tissues irritated, prolonging the inflammation period and delaying proper healing.
An old scar from a rope burn or friction burn can sometimes be kept more pliable and soft (and thus less painful to the horse) by working in a zinc oxide ointment or a lanolin-based cream now and then.
In some cases, however, you may want your veterinarian to surgically remove the old scar tissue. Then the area can be treated for a few days like a simple cut or wound. With good care it will heal without excessive scar tissue.
Heather Smith Thomas is a free-lance writer based in
Salmon, Idaho, specializing in veterinary and breeding topics.
