# Blistering



## buzzles (20 August 2007)

Following on from the pin firing post, I was wondering what peoples view were on blistering? 

I worked in a competition yard owned by well respected eventers and one of the horses was blistered. They had a horse who they had blistered previously and swore it cured him after a long spell of undiagonosed lameness. The theory behind it, according to the vet who was reluctantly doing it, is that it increases blood flow to the leg and therefore heals the injury. Anyway I was there when he blistered the horse who had a tendon injury and then had to look after it for the next few weeks and honestly it was nearly a welfare case the horse was in so much pain. The vet heavily sedated the horse and then applied a paste which was highly acidic to the leg and bandaged it. The paste actually burned the hair and skin off the leg, nearly to the bone, and blistered the area. The vet left with instuctions to leave the bandage and paste on for a few hours and also left very strong painkillers to give the horse when the sedation wore off.  The horse also wore a cradle to stop it biting at it's leg.

Anyway when the sedation wore off the horse went absolutely mad with the pain, despite strong painkillers. When the bandages were taken off all the hair and skin had been burned off and their was a large, weeping wound covered in blisters. We weren't supposed to put anything on it and just leave it open to heal by itself. The horse was in so much pain for the next few days, he would pace the stable non stop and strike out at teh walls with his leg in frustration when he couldn't lick the wound, due to the cradle. He had to be kept on box rest and was already quite a nervy horse but became a total nervous wreck after a while.  He was very wary of people and would freak out if you even touched any part of his leg. He also stopped eating and lost a lot of condition. He was on heavy painkillers and kept on mild sedation.  I left after a few weeks and so never found out if it worked to cure the horse of the tendon injury but I would imagine the horse was so damaged mentally that it would never have the temperment to become the top eventer it was supposed to be and had lost all trust in people. 
I really didn't see the need to cause the horse so much pain with a method where scientifically theres not much proof or evidence of it working and surely there are more humane ways of healing tendon injuries? I think this horse was blistered because they didn't want to give the 6-8 months off  for the tendon injury to heal and wanted a quick cure. I don't know if this practice is allowed in UK, but over here I think it still is, this was only a few years ago. The vet who carried it out did so reluctantly and advised against it but they said if he didn't do it, they would get someone else to.

Anyway just wondered if anyone has ever had a horse blistered and what were the reasons?


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## TequilaMist (20 August 2007)

Believe blistering is  no longer practiced in uk,someone did tell me it was actually illegal to do it but don't know if theres any truth to that.Have never seen it done.
An irish guy did tell me to put hot tar (road tar)on ponys leg when she did a tendon in which he said would hurt a bit but would sort it out.Apparently works similiar way!!
Oh I didn't by the way


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## PapaFrita (21 August 2007)

My experience with blistering (and I'm not going into much detail) is that it is nowhere NEAR as brutal as you describe. 
The blister was applied on 2 consecutive days and after that legs were hosed twice a day for a couple of weeks. Horse was not ridden for 4 wks but allowed turnout.
There certainly was significant swelling and legs were sensitive to the touch. However swelling went down when horse was turned out and there was absolutely no need for painkillers. Nor was horse off colour in any way and no lamer than when treatment started. 
Skin did slough off after several days, but there was no bleeding, raw flesh etc.
Horse came sound and has been sound since.


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## vicijp (21 August 2007)

Im not sure what you are describing, but it is not a modern day blister.
Blister, you rub in very, very well, not paint on. You dont cover it.
Yes the legs puff up for all of a day, but they feel relatively no pain. My great uncle puts blister on his back ( 
	
	
		
		
	


	




), so im sure it cant be that painful!
Blister is good for sore shins and things like splints. Horses need at least 3 months off after blistering. It is also good to use after firing, as it gets rid of the scars.
Its widely used on tendons, but all it does it make them look pretty.


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## dozzie (21 August 2007)

I had a horse blistered a long time ago for a tendon injury. He had to wear a cradle and fell in his box, cutting himself to pieces and was very distressed by it all. After the blistering he had a year off (thats what you did then!) I think the year off would have probably cured the problem anyway and he was left with swelling that looked like windgalls (thats all he had in the first instance). This as i say was a long time ago so not modern blistering and I regretted allowing the vet to do it. I would have to be seriously convinced by the vet to allow my horse to be blistered again.


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## nona1 (21 August 2007)

I always think that if it worked so well, why don't they ever do anything similar to human athletes?


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