how sound would you expect.......

Cazza525

Cazza525

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a horse who fractured her splint bone 7 weeks ago to be????

Undiognosed for 10 days and turned out on vets advice for that time but went downhill badly! She's now looking well in herself and 5 days ago I started moving her to a box 4 doors down, twice daily whilst I skip out etc. I keep bandages on for support during this time.

Now, she is considerably better! But is still a bit hobbly and stiff on this leg when I walk her these few metres. Now I know the bulk of the healing should have been done by now, but I would like to know how much sounder I need her to be before I turn her out into a small paddock on her own to rest for the remainder of her recovery?

Would you think that by another months time I should be able to?? I am trying to bring her home and turn her out outside the kitchen window anyhow.....she is at the moment on a yard where they only offer group turnout which is not for her anymore really (well in that herd anyway!).

I appreciate any responses:o
 
Was it removed? My understanding is that many fractured splint bones will never rejoin and have to be removed to bring the horse sound.

If it hasn't been removed, I hope that you find it heals in time without an operation. I have no experience of how long that might take, sorry.
 
Probably best to speak to your vet.

In my experience, pony with fractured pedal bones & then old boy who vet suspected had hairline cannon bone fracture, both had four months box rest then another month in tiny paddock.

Good luck, i hope she is able to go out soon :-)
 
no it wasn't removed, as fracture so clean and healing well. I posted the pics of xrays in my last post I think!

She really is soooo much better, but still noticeably lame when walking, but then loosens after a few strides. I suppose I have to juggle stiffness as well as she is 20.....have got her on superflex to help!
 
I wouldn't expect her still to be noticeably lame myself, because the splint bone is completely non weight-bearing. Perhaps you need to ask your vet what's normal, though hopefully if we keep bumping this half a dozen people will come on and tell you that you are right on track :)
 
Shouldn't be still so lame at his stage. BUT it depends in which splint bone it is as to whether it is entirely non weight bearing. Lateral hindlimb fractures are usually the easiest to heal as they can be removed completely. Not so for the other splint bones. Infact, their removal ( or fracture) can destabilise the carpus.
 
I wouldn't expect much lameness 7 weeks on and if I was seeing noticeable discomfort in walk at that stage I'd be requesting further X-rays personally
 
in 7wks a bone should have healed if it's going to and it's been adequately immobilised to allow callus formation. bones heal much faster than ligaments. continued lameness would have me re-xraying asap at this stage. fractured splint bones can also affected the surrounding structures - suspensory ligament etc so there could be complicating factors here.
 
star said:
in 7wks a bone should have healed if it's going to and it's been adequately immobilised to allow callus formation. bones heal much faster than ligaments. continued lameness would have me re-xraying asap at this stage. fractured splint bones can also affected the surrounding structures - suspensory ligament etc so there could be complicating factors here.
Click to expand...

Yep, this is what I thought! Although I must admit, I have been none to happy with the instructions my vet gave me! First of all they didn't xray for 10 days as just thought nasty puncture wound, they even wanted her trotted up and down on concrete to check lameness at 9 days! Needless to say, my poor mare went downhill rapidly! Then, when diagnosed, my vet told me it was OK to let her wandre around her pen outside her stable (on concrete I may add!).

To cut a long story very short, in reality, my mare has only been totally boxrested for about 3 1/2 weeks in total! She is off all bute and I think doing well under the circumstances really, but I am just trying to think ahead a bit I spose!

She comes out of the box in the morning more stiff than lame really and loosens after a few strides, but once her gait quickens, you can see a noticeable 'nod' on the bad leg. The stable I walk her to is about 10 metres away, so not far at all. She is happy to move on it now but I won't do anymore for at least another week or so, or until she comes out 100% sound for a few days in a row.
 
Possibly no help at all - but my mare (awaiting splint bone fracture surgery this week) is pretty much sound with hers (no noticeable lameness to me although I am not good at seeing very subtle stuff) and she is not on any bute now. Her injury is 5 weeks and 1 day old.

She will have a scan before surgery to check the suspensory but other than the huge bandage on her leg and the lump in the splint area you wouldn't notice anything is wrong, especialy when she gets away from me and trots off (oops).

My mare is very stoic though I think and hers is also in a hind so perhaps that makes a difference, I guess they are all different but it may be worth asking vet what their expectations are? In a way I'm glad she is a candidate for surgery (despite my worries about the risks) as I think she will heal faster that way.

We were misdiagnosed as lymphangitis for 4 weeks, but I don't blame vet for that - she presented with the right symptoms for that and improved with antiB's and walking out as lymphangitis would - not a fracture. The lump in splint area only appeared quite recently after the generalised fat leg had gone.

Hope your girl improves soon
 
Def get it re-xrayed. You know your horse and she isn't right,so I'd insist further attention to this if I were you. As someone else said,other structures in that area could be affected. I would also not expect that level of discomfort after 7wks.
 
Thankyou very much for all your replies. I am going to go with my gut instinct and get a second opinion from another vet. If anyone knows of any vets in the south west that cover the ivybridge/south brent area that specialise in lameness I would appreciate it. :)
 
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