Rehabiliting neglected Horse

Question
Dear Ms Lee,

I am currently deployed with the Marine Corps in Africa instructing military training for African Soliders.  Aboard the base that I work at is an abandond horse called Corporal Jack. Cpl Jack was once owned by the President during the internal civil war.  Since the end of the civil war and replacement of government, Cpl Jack has been abandond and wanders around the base eating the rice left in trash barrels & grass as well as standing behind the generators for some kind of compfort(noise, hot air, fumes).  
I am concerned because Cpl Jack seams to be a young horse 3-5 years old and has some cuts and wounds on his nose and a spliting hoff(small).  I have taken pics of Cpl Jack and his woundes, and I will send them to you for further analysis. I want to try and rehab this horse, or at least ease some of it's pain.  There are not Veterinarians in this country and I will be forced to order any remedy meds and equipment online for delivery(2wks).
If you were to start giving this horse medication and rehabilitation which would you recommend that I start with?
If you have further questions or comments, please feel free to contact me at dff112004@yahoo.com

Respectfully Submitted,

GySgt Ferguson
USMC  Training Advisor

Answer
First, sorry for the delay in answering.


If the horse has superficial wounds (scrapes, small cuts) you can start with using a simple anti-bacterial cream such as bacitracin - probably found pretty easily.  Also iodine can be used to clean scrapes and cuts, if it is full strength idoine I would dilute it with water.  Betadine can also be used.

As for the hoof - that is harder to give info without seeing pictures.  Many horses fare very well with a small split - others may get larger.  If the hrose is not being used for anything, unless the hooves are very overgrown I would probably leave it alone.  I do not know if you would have any access to a hoof rasp (large file) - but if there are any jagged edges you could try to carefully file away the ragged part using any type of large file.  I am NOT recommending this - as you can damage a hoof if you take too much off.  

Possibly someone else there has some knowledge of horses?