Splint - any advise?

[Alex_kate]

a couple of months ago joey threw a splint, its on his front leg and it was huge, the vet said to give him a month off so i did and then brought him slowly back into light work then one morning the splint was big again so the vet came back out and now wants to do x rays then steroid injections? has anyone had any experience with this?

i'm so worried i just want him to get better!

 

[KatB]

Hmm, has he been lame on it? He is only young if I remember rightly....? Best way is to cold hose for 20mins x2 daily, and avoid and hard ground/ hard road work until it goes hard. Splints shouldnt need any treeatment unless they effect the tendons and ligaments in the leg.

 

[Alex_kate]

he was slightly to start with, i been putting cooling gel on it, just doesnt seem to be goin hard or reducing in size!

 

[nelliefinellie]

I would think the vet wants to check to see if the splint bone is fractured. Don't worry -sounds worse than it is - most settle down fine with steroids, worst case scenario is if there's a fragement of loose bone that needs to be taken out . I know a few horses that had this done and all were fine afterwards - I think its pretty straight forward procedure.

 

[Alex_kate]

thankyou, the vet did mention it maybe a fracture but probably not as he's not lame on it?

 

[hollibobs]

I would get it checked. Exactly same thing has just happened to me. I took him down to vets after their first visit suggested he had just knocked it. Anyway, they x rayed him and it is a fracture of the splint bone. There is no lameness at all with him, even when they lunged him on a circle he was still sound.

If anyone can give me any idea about prognosis or, if you have a horse that has suffered a similar thing I would be very grateful for any advice.

 

[KatB]

Prognosis is normally good with fractures of the splint bone, normally just requires a period of rest, and then avoidance of any hard ground activities until the bone has fused. Good luck with it!

 

[Alex_kate]

i know the 18 yr old that competed at badminton- over to you, fractured his splint bone and look at him now- gives me a bit of hope i spose

 

[Faithkat]

Have a look at this http://www.petalia.com.au/Templates/StoryTemplate_Process.cfm?specie=Equine&story_no=1828