Hard bony lump under knee on inside of foreleg.... What is it?

AstonishedTrowel

AstonishedTrowel

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Hi all! :)

I've noticed recently that my mare (Welsh Sec D) has a small bony lump right under her knee, on the inside of her foreleg. She is sound, it is not inflamed (hot or swollen) and she is letting me prod it and poke it.
She is only 7 years old and has pretty low mileage even for a 7 yo. I had a TB with splints a few years ago, and whilst this looks/feels very similar to a settled splint, she hasn't been lame or tender at all in the past year or so when it would be forming... I don't do much road work, mostly schooling/jumping with some hacking.

Any ideas?

Is this anything to be concerned about?

TIA :o
 
It sounds like a splint, they don't always cause lameness when forming and can come up overnight, if you are concerned let you vet take a look next time he is on the yard.
 
Almost certainly a splint. They can appear from nowhere, I had a two year old throw one overnight and it was, and remains the size of an egg. It has never bothered him but is unsightly, just as well he is a carthorse and fully feathered, with no chance of troubling a show judge in his lifetime.

Some people will recommend splintex or similar but if you want to go down the line of trying to reduce it I would speak to your vet before trying any lotions and potions by yourself.
 
Again almost certainly a splint. i bought my horse with 2 one on each fore leg in what sounds like the same place as yours. They have since been reabsorbed which apparently makes the bone stronger??? he developed a new one last year in a different place never been lame, sore and no heat at all. Unless you want to show id just keep an eye on it usually dont bother them.
 
I;d vote for splint, my mare threw a whopper of a splint about 5 years ago and the only way I could tell was I found it whilst washing her legs!

Then (because I was looking for it) she was ever so slightly, and I mean barely noticably I had to stare for a good minute to make my mind up, uncomfortable on a circle on that leg on the lunge, gave her time off til it was stone cold (About 2-3 days) and she was as right as rain, walking out to the field and even having a buck and a fart you wouldn't have known!
 
I went to see a horse, back-a-long, with a bony enlargement nearly the size of a golf-ball on the inside of its knee. There was also a splint on the same leg lower down on the cannon bone.

I had the horse vetted as liked it, and he said it was a bursa which had burst some years before, and then calcified and hardened over.

The horse concerned failed the vetting as it trotted up lame.

Don't know how far away from the knee the bony lump that OP mentions is??

I'd be asking the vet to look at it if at all worried, and certainly if it is ON the knee you need to know what's going on.
 
Had a similar experience with a horse failing a vetting due to the position of a splint, as it was too near the knee. Most splints don't cause any problems once they are formed and cold. It is bone throwing out a bit of "support." Sometimes they do appear and you think "why hadn't I noticed that before." Also they can get absorbed and disappear.
 
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