Taking Care of Horses : Picking Scabs

This is just a really quick video talking about a scab on Luke’s leg that is an injury caused by a kick from another horse a few weeks back. The important point to consider when dealing with abrasions, cuts and open wounds in general is that when they heal they are going to scab over. Picking off that scab, as some are keen to do sometimes, isn’t beneficial at all and in fact can make the healing process longer. It’s best to leave it there and let it fall off one day on their own.

The other item to mention, although not in the video, is that sometimes horses will pick their own scabs. In such a case, you’d want to bandage the wound so they can’t get to it. Reopening a wound, as is what happens when a scab is picked off, only invites the opportunity for pathogens, dirt, debris and infection to set in easier. The scab is there for protection and if there isn’t any proud flesh going on then it’s best just left on it’s own.

Graeme