Old splints causing lameness?

[Jade2007]

Boomer has now been lame for about 7 or 8 weeks on and off (he has twice come sound for a few days). He sometimes has a bit of heat in it and it has once swollen up for about 24 hrs. We had the farrier up to have a look and he spent an hour checking all of his ligaments, joints, foot etc and could find nothing.

Boomer has a splint on each leg, they're all pretty much symetrical tbh. I think they came from when he was younger and was owned by some cruel people (he is very jumpy and head shy, and has harness scars across his back so I wouldn't be surprised if he was made to do fast work on hard ground & on the roads). We have noticed that the splint on the leg that he is lame on has got larger, we will be phoning the vets on Monday to get some scans etc.

He first went lame in April when he tripped on a flinty path in the woods, he was lame for about a month and then came sound for about 2 months. I wondered what you're opinions are on this. Any help greatly appreciated, it's so fustrating as he's become so dull since he's not been doing anything but standing ina field and stable, and he's just started to be jumping really nicely for me

Thanks x

 

[13798]

Hi You do not say how old your horse is it may be relevent.
Splints can take a long time to form and settle down. If for some reason the splint becomes active again the horse may be lame but once formed the horse will usually be sound again. Light walking work can be good for them, others may need more rest.

 

[Jade2007]

Oh yes, he 16 so I would iamgine that they would have settled unless they are recent (maybe one could have formed when he tripped in the wood and went lame the first time? as the ground was quite hard in there)