Splint bone fracture and removal

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erwina

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Hi hope someone can advise or reassure me?
My horse had a fractured hind splint bone removed just over 4 months ago. She was on box rest for 10 weeks after surgery, field rest in a small paddock for 4 weeks am now in the process of bringing her back into work gradually. Started off with walk, built her up to and hour of walk reducing it to include trot. Am now at 10 mins of trot 50 mins of walk. I'm just a bit worried about the trot, it's not quite right ,feels a bit wobbly on the rein that had the fractured splint, is this weakness to be expected while the leg builds back up?

Have spoken to vet who said to carry on, but can't help feeling worried.

Would love to here from anyone who has experience of this.
Thanks so for reading and hope I made sense. :-)
 
My pony had a broken splint bone but did not need surgery as it was stable so he just had a soft cast and 10 weeks box rest, followed by 4 weeks going on the walker twice a day and building up his turn out then 4 weeks ridden building up to trotting as well as continuing on the horse walker and then started cantering.

I did not have problems with him being stiff in trot though having some issues with canter (bucking on left rein) it was left hind that had the break. Vet has said bucking is nothing to do with splint bone as that is healed. (He was xrayed to check healing at 6 weeks box rest). So hoping that the bucking in canter is not the start of a different problem he is going on a two week bute trial to rule out pain.

However he did have some massage therapy and that picked up tightness in right stifle probably due him possible putting more weight on that leg when his left was injured and sore.

Does you horse trot up sound when you are not riding it?
 
Hi thank you for your reply, she trots up sound in a straight line, but on a thought circle there is a bit of head bobing. Vet seen this and said to keep going with strengthing and work build up.
 
my pony is sound in all paces including circles and never had any head bobbing etc but he has had quite a lot of time on the walker building up his strength and did not have an operation.
 
Maybe worth getting physio out, especially if hes had an op.
When we bought my mare back into work she was tight in her neck which made her feel lame. Physio fixed it and shes been fine since :)
 
Were these horses lame from day 1. Reason I ask is because my mare has a puncture wound and vet suspects a bone splinter from her hind cannon but she is not lame and never has been.
 
mine is recovering from fractured cannon bone and the first couple of trots were extremely dodgy and absolutely gutted me as he felt lame, however, a few short bursts of trot each time he was ridden have helped work him through it. now his trot is good and we were advised to keep going with him :)

my vet did advise against circles and tight bending etc as that puts more strain on the bone etc, so advised to stick to the perimeter of the menage for now in trot and trotting on the roads to harden him off.

this really does seem to be working so fingers crossed that the same will work for your horse too

try not to be disheartened. i think mine was lame partly because he was weak still and also partly psychological as he was expecting it to be sore.

keep going would be my advice
 
Hi guys, thanks for replies, she has been like this from the first burst of trot I've done but it has slightly improved, so like lyndsayberesford said it could be memory pain and just needs to be built up. Think Might ring vet again( for hundred time, I'd say he thinks I'm a stalker at this stage ) just to be on safe side.
 
yeh i would ask their advice to be sure

my vet is #1 on speed dial on my mobile so dont worry!

you and your vet know the individual situation,

does it improve during the session the more warmed up the horse gets?

i found basil was very lame on first lap ad by 2nd lap of the arena he was trotting more stably on the straights but still a bit dodgy on the corners

and now a couple of weeks down the line he trots well all round the arena
 
Have you just been hacking or have you been schooling? Were they happy that the suspensory was ok?

We are at the end of the return to work stage (op was end of June) but we did 8 weeks of only hacking in straight lines (4 weeks of 1hr walk, then 4 weeks adding in trot) and have only just started back in the school (done about 8 sessions now).

Molly was 100% sound when came back to work though, she had chiro out to check her over and had lots of alignment issues which I had corrected first which related to the pressure bandage (pelvis was out) and lying down with the anaesthetic (ribs weren't right on one side) but this wasn't making her lame - just wonky.

Mind you - she was only lame for 24hrs with the fracture, it was treated as lymphangitis for 5 weeks as she just had a huge fat leg but not lame.
 
Acw295 same as you, hacking only, we are on we 6-7 and 10-15 mins of trot. Vet was not concerned when he looked at her when we started trot, he just said keep going, needs building up. Anyway, more to add to my worry, was doing her trotting 10ins today and she bolted on me in to a wide open field, faster than she has ever gone, out of control, trotted her up in a straight line to see the damage when I got back to yard, she seemed ok. Tried to get vet earlier but he's abroad till Monday.
 
One of my mares had a fractured splint bone and had an operation to remove the piece of bone.

Obviously she was horribly lame when it happened (a kick in the field) but there was no lameness when she returned to work - I would speak to your vet as because the splint bone is not weight bearing, it should have no effect on her future soundness.
 
erwina said:
Acw295 same as you, hacking only, we are on we 6-7 and 10-15 mins of trot. Vet was not concerned when he looked at her when we started trot, he just said keep going, needs building up. Anyway, more to add to my worry, was doing her trotting 10ins today and she bolted on me in to a wide open field, faster than she has ever gone, out of control, trotted her up in a straight line to see the damage when I got back to yard, she seemed ok. Tried to get vet earlier but he's abroad till Monday.
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Wouldn't worry about the bolting - mine did that twice pre-op. Tried to load her to take her to the vets and she got into a 40 acre rape field (this was in the height of summer and it was over my head high) and galloped about blindly for 1hr while I tried to catch her with the pressure bandage on her leg!! Didn't hurt it. Phew! Very embarrassing when arrived at vets with a mud covered foaming thing. Vet said "thought she was on box rest" Ummm, yes - she was!

If I was you I'd go back to walking until you can see vet again, just in case. And then maybe get a chiro/physio to have a look. It might be just muscle loss rather than lameness? Have you had shoes back on?

Molly took 2 dodgy trot strides when she came off box rest, but that was before turnout and she just couldn't use her legs properly. Trot up after 4 weeks field rest was fine, but she wasn't level in her pelvis- which was when I got chiro out and started ridden.

Good luck - it's so stressful isn't it. Mine was also complicated in that they had to abort the first op as she had allergic reaction and couldn't breathe! Worst day of my life. Second op was fine, although lots of blood loss and she tried to get up to fast, but we now know she is allergic to penicillin :(
 
Mine was the same only 1/10 lame if that to start off with and treated as infection for first two weeks.

acw295 said:
Mind you - she was only lame for 24hrs with the fracture, it was treated as lymphangitis for 5 weeks as she just had a huge fat leg but not lame.
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This is interesting and I am wondering if this is why I am having a problem with canter, my pony wore a pressure bandage for 10 weeks and his hair on that leg has gone all curly from wearing it. I did not know that wearing a pressure bandage might put his pelvis out.

acw295 said:
now).

Molly was 100% sound when came back to work though, she had chiro out to check her over and had lots of alignment issues which I had corrected first which related to the pressure bandage (pelvis was out) and lying down with the anaesthetic (ribs weren't right on one side) but this wasn't making her lame - just wonky.
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