One afternoon in December, my gelding George lurched into the barn with a hole where his knee used to be. The emergency veterinarian, Dr. Zimmerman, soon confirmed our worst fears: George’s extensor tendon was severed, his tendon sheath damaged, and his joint capsule punctured. Our best guess, since his left side was covered in mud, was that he’d fallen while running and slid into a fence post.

Dr. Zimmerman cleaned and stitched George’s wounds, saying the sutures would fall out as dead tissue sloughed off and new tissue filled in. He prescribed Banamine and antibiotics (Tucoprim) and told us to cold-hose the leg every few hours to minimize swelling.

Our regular veterinarian, Dr. Carstensen, was upbeat. “If you’re going to sever a tendon, the extensor tendon is the one. Because of the way a horse stands, he’s constantly pushing the two ends of that tendon together. It’s not like a flexor tendon on the back of the leg, which is always being stretched. But this is still long-term recovery. The only thing that will make a difference is diligent nursing.”

As expected, the sutures fell out and his knee again became a gaping hole. Bandages stuck to the wound, so I changed them before they adhered–every four hours around the clock. Securely wrapping a knee is not easy, but six sessions a day improved my skills