THE HEALING POWER OF HONEY on Severe Wounds

I’m always looking for natural alternatives when it comes to treating horses and I believe they can work well in conjunction with modern medicine.

A while ago now, I had a yearling filly (Ruby) badly injured from wire cuts. She had severed the flexor (front) tendons on her off fore and near hind, and had stripped an 8″ section of flesh to the bone on the front of her off hind.

Both back legs had severed tendons and even after 10 days the bone showed through and proud flesh was rapidly developing following conventional treatment.

After initially stitching the worst cut, I had the tendons operated on so they would have some hope of repairing.

A week after the operation I had her home as a full time patient requiring her bandages changed every couple of days, confinement and a diet to help her heal.

Initially, I followed the vet’s advice and used the antiseptic lotion and ‘green grease’ provided for under the bandages.

It only took about 5 days for the flesh to cover the exposed bone and at that point I started my alternative treatments.

I cleaned the wounds with Calendula tea and then applied pure Tasmanian bush honey.

I can’t recall where I’d heard of using honey, but I was amazed at what I discovered.

Usually, leg wounds develop a lot of proud flesh which can become a real problem if not controlled.

Traditional methods include using things like ‘Yellow Lotion”, copper sulphate solution and very firm bandaging.

Or simply allowing it to grow then having it surgically removed.

What I found was that the honey seemed to naturally control the growth of the flesh so that it didn’t develop more than necessary.