Limb and body wounds have physiological differences that help explain healing differences, Theoret said: Limb lacerations have a longer inflammatory phase, comparatively poor contraction and epithelialization, and tend to develop more proud flesh than body defects. | Photo: Erica Larson/The Horse

Ah, the age-old question: When managing horse wounds, especially superficial ones, should you wrap them or let them “air out”?

While, in the past, the course of action you took might have come down to personal preference (maybe you’ve had good luck leaving it be or keeping it wrapped), wound location (not all are easy to bandage), or other extenuating circumstances (raise your hand if you’ve ever run out of Vetrap), researchers are working to determine whether one option is better for managing horse wounds.

“There’s still a long way to go before we can make recommendations about what’s better, but at this stage we’ve been able to complete a descriptive study, showing what’s going on in these wounds during healing,” said Marcio Costa, DVM, PhD, an assistant professor in the University of Montreal Department of Veterinary Biomedical Sciences, in Canada