splint bone fracture/break - cost of op?/recovery time

[cheekywelshie]

Jet has been in the vets for two days now - they nerve blocked the foot thinking it was there and then x-rayed quite a lot to discover the splint bone looks a bit fractured. They are going to nerve block that tomorrow to see if it is the cause. And possibly scan. Then if it is i can leave him on box rest for months with his leg bandaged in the hope it will improve or have the op to have it removed!

I want what is best for my horse but worried about the cost - can anyone advise? Am going to ring tomorrow and get a bill-to-date update! Gulp.

Also recovery - what is the chances of them going back to what they were doing (i was training mine up to start eventing - just BE80 and maybe one day 90 - nothing beyond that as he is only a small cob) - does this op affect jumping etc?

Did anyone ever move yards as a result - my yard is fab but quite expensive for a box rested horse...! But if it is 3 months maybe I can live with it..hmm..

 

[unbalanced]

A horse at my yard had a broken splint bone from a kick in the field - they were going to put to sleep as she is 30 but decided to give her a chance with box rest and controlled exercise. She has recovered well - I think they did just a month's box rest followed by walking under saddle and no turnout for the whole winter (her owner doesn't believe in turning out in winter anyway). She is back to living out and gentle hacking again so for her age that is a full recovery.

Also my instructor's horse had a broken splint bone - wasn't insured so was nearly PTS before being x-rayed as it looked very bad. In the end it cost £2,500 without surgery which she didn't have. She is back to competing BD Medium (19 years old). I'm not sure how long her recovery was. I know my instructor did a lot of the dressing changes etc herself to keep the costs down.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

My mare was kicked in the field in 95 shattered her splint bone in 19 pieces . Down to a livery having a vendetta against my mare at the yard i was at before we bought this place.. Further tried to get her on her recovery coming at us double barreling. Thats y i always separate new ones now . Was paid for on insurance. poss probs as very close to hock. i wrap hock up in winter. But she is fine tho a little arthritic there.

Shattered splint isnt that big a deal .

She is now 23 ( has lami) but until the lami she has done 3 sponsored rides this year 8 miles 11 miles and 10 miles. Anesthetic is biggest danger , how old is he?

He should more or less return to normal. I still have the bone fragments as a memento

 

[be positive]

Had one years ago with penetrating wound and fracture,he was operated on as wound was deep and fracture site was going to be at risk of serious infection.
Cost I cannot remember,he was insured.
Full recovery, back to work he was sold and passed 5 stage vetting ,operation disclosed,about two years later.
If your horse has a splint bone fracture there should be a good chance, that if it heals with rest,he would be able to return to full work.The splint bones are not weight bearing as such and are not part of a joint so once healed I would think are unlikely to cause problems in the future.

 

[PML]

One of mine was kicked and sustained 2 fractures to his lateral splint bone on his left hind, which then sequested for good measure. He had to be operated on and the only concern my Vet had was that the suspensory ligament and surrounding tissues did not look good but that we would know more once he had done his 10 weeks box rest and we could scan him. +10wks and he got the all clear and has never looked back. His leg used to fill when stood in over the first few months but good stable/pressure bandages helped with that. He came back into work in MAy last year and was dressaging in August and hunting last season with no problems.

Another horse i had knocked into itself whilst in season (she used to strike out in front when in the vicinity of any other horse) and fractured the medial splint on her left fore. She was lame. She was given 8 weeks off work and was turned out as she was much quieter in the field than being box rested and her leg had a better chance of recovering. It did and she returned to work just fine and is sound as a pound!

A lot depends on where the fractures are on the splint; if they're in the top third of the splint i believe there can be knock on problems with the suspensory ligament and sometimes with the joint above.

I can't remember how much the surgery etc cost but i know i was insured and would figure that it was around the £1500-£2000 mark; his wasn't a straight forward case though.

 

[Magnetic Sparrow]

A friend of mine had her youngster operated on when it fractured a splint bone. The pony was fine although it was never destined for a top class career, I never saw it have any ill effects once it had been cleared by the vet.

 

[cheekywelshie]

He's already had lots of nerve blocks and x-rays and they are talking about a scan!

The split appears to be on side of the cannon bone but i can't remember how high up between fetlock and knee

 

[The Fuzzy Furry]

Had a NF mare with a shattered splint bone in November.
Upper 3rd of rear left hind, also torn tendon & damaged suspensory all in the same kick.
You could get 3 of your fingers up inside the wound

Got her to 'orspital, operated on same day after x-rays & scans
Came home 3 days later as practice was happy for me to medicate & treat at home with visits from vet.
Box rest for 8 weeks.
Then hand walking for 3 weeks - boy was she wobbly the 1st week for just 10 mins, building up to 2 x per day plus a short time to pick at grass in hand - after a month she was too naughty so with vets agreement she was ridden out instead.
8 weeks in total from then on for walking out building up to an hour each time, limited turnout for the last 2 weeks of this.

Cost was about £1200 - I assisted in theatre, also did much of the work myself afterwards. Pony was not insured, this was 1998.

May - pony was competing under saddle once again.

August, pony doing PC SJ teams & camp etc.

October, pony whipping in with local drag hunt at weekends.

Can be done, just take things very steady.

 

[Charlie77]

My boy had a clean break though the out side n hair line crack of his inside splint bones due to a cick higher up, the cost was mostly x rays and follow up call outs, pluss a supplement while it healed. box rest 2 / 3 months, he came sound, 18 months leter he was lame on a front leg, i was worried about the other leg so the vet scanned that at the same time, he said that leg would now be sronger than all his others n if i want to jump jump, so we did! still sound on that leg 6 years later though sadly not on the front leg ! Good Luck , it may not be as bad as you fear x

 

[Adeer]

My 15.1 gelding broke his splint bone 4 years ago, due to a kick in the field. He wasn't even lame with it but had a wound which would not heal. Took him to vets who x-rayed and found the problem. He went to vets at Newmarket for operation. He was kept there for about 10days and then had 6 weeks box rest. Gradually built his work load back and he has had no further problems.
The cost came to £3500 and luckily vets fees on his insurance was £3500 so we just about covered it. I remember the insurance didn't pay for the cost of stabling whilst at the vets.

Good luck.

 

[billy2]

Ouch! Mine had his shattered by another horse, but it was easy to diagnose (xrays the next day and immediate surgery to remove the bits). That was just under his hock. Was dubious about surgery as he was 33 but he sailed through it and came home the day after the op. About 3 weeks box rest before turnout in small paddock. Brilliant recovery. Cost was about £1,700, my vet dispensed any meds he needed but gave me a list of dressings, bandages etc so I could source them more cheaply. I love my Vets!

 

[cheekywelshie]

My 15.1 gelding broke his splint bone 4 years ago, due to a kick in the field. He wasn't even lame with it but had a wound which would not heal. Took him to vets who x-rayed and found the problem. He went to vets at Newmarket for operation. He was kept there for about 10days and then had 6 weeks box rest. Gradually built his work load back and he has had no further problems.
The cost came to £3500 and luckily vets fees on his insurance was £3500 so we just about covered it. I remember the insurance didn't pay for the cost of stabling whilst at the vets.

Good luck.

Ouch. I've repeatedly said my insurance limit is 3500 *(and i have a high 500 quid excess!) so i cannot go over that. I remember my colic bill i had to pay for the stabling - and the entire bill was about 4500

 

[Trixie88]

When i worked for an eventing yard in France we had a horse who fractured his splint bone doing an event. The choice was leave it and he would have had to stay on box rest for a month or have it removed...the recovery time would be the same. The owner opted to have it removed, he was at the vets for a week, it cost 2000 euros in total. He was on box rest for a month and then after that went on the walker twice a day for 10 mins and that was built up week by week and then he went hacking to build the strength up and gradually bought back into work. As far as i know he is back competing at intermediate level this year,so either way the recovery will be the same, the cost does differ though. I think as long as you do it slowly, there is no reason who shouldn't be able to event.

Hope this helps.