If your horse throws a splint, but isn't lame.....

what do you do?

i posted last night about a lump and several people said it sounds like a splint however my horse is not lame, there is no heat in the leg and she and hasn't appeared to notice. Does it need any treatment?
 
They don't have to be lame, nor does there have to be any evidence of heat and dependng on where they are situated determines how painful they can be and problems they can cause.

I would certainly recomend a couple of months rest and keep an eye on the amout of work you do after the rest period specially if your horse is young, to prevent any more developing or the same one getting worse.
 
When my mare was a youngster she developed a splint but showed no lameness. I spoke to the vet about it and she suggested giving her a couple of weeks rest, which is what I did. I'm glad to say the splint has now almost totally disappeared.
 
Mine has just been diagnosed he is having 3 weeks off then only walk for 2 weeks in school.His was healing on xrays had probably been developing for a few weeks so I would treat it the same and give at least a month and then build up slowly.
 
My three year old threw a splint last year, just playing around in the field with his chums. His has now totally disappeared but then he wasn't in work. I did massage it every evening for quite a while though. He was never lame with it.
 
Few of mine have thrown little splits out in the fielding playing - never had a splint cause any problem; never very big, no heat and no lameness. I just carry on as normal, never seen the need to rest. There annoying, of course clean legs are better spesh for showing, but there pretty common and really don't have to be an issue.
 
Splints are very common and 80% of them don't cause any problems but you just need to make sure that your horse's foot shape is the best it can be and also be cautious over hard ground, trottting on roads etc. A horse can throw splints from a kick, concussion or what is also known as a grass splint, this can be caused by all the horse's weight being pushed onto the front legs whilst they graze all day long! One word of warning in case we have some old remedy timers out there!! they used to say place half of a sliced lemon over the splint and wrap cling-film around it - don't do it, its usually does absolutely nothing for the splint but wrecks the skin around it!!
 
This happened to me (well not directly me - I didn't throw a splint haha) last year. I got to yard and Ronnie had quite a large splint on near fore, must have done it hoolying in the field. No heat, swelling or lameness. I was due for a lesson that night so instructor had a look at it before we did anything and said she couldn't see any harm in continuing. I rang the vet next day, and he said carry on as normal, within reason, and keep an eye on it. I decided to be over-cautious and gave him a week's box rest with cold hosing, then a week's field rest, then brought him back into work. He's never been bothered by it but it hasn't gotten any smaller either
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My horse got one a couple of years ago which was fine for several weeks, then the leg went puffy. No lameness and we were never 100% sure if the puffiness was even related to the splint (never did find out what it was). He's been fine ever since though.
 
My pony developed a har lump on his leg many years back, he was not at the age splints usually developed and he was not lame and it was not causing him any pain. I came to the conclusion he'd knocked himself somehow. It was there for a fairly long time but then i forgot about it and when i did recheck it had disappeared and he's no lump there now!

If there is no heat/swelling around the site (other than the lump itself) then i wouldn't be overly concerned to be honest, just try not to do too much hard work on the hard ground but in my mind exercise does help these sorts of things to go down anyway. Cold hosing may be benficial as it will help stimulate the blood supply in that area.
 
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