Splint Bone Fracture

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SophieAlice

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So it's been 3 months since the diagnosis of a splint bone fracture of the hind leg from a kick. A fragment was catching on the suspensory but that seems to have resolved. Fracture is still not 100% healed but as were now sound we can be turned out. Its the l9wer oart of the splint ao will take longer to heal as nothing is pushing it together. My worry is the lower part of her leg swells up then it looks normal then swells again. Have been speaking to vets who say I just have to let nature take its course. Just looking for any tips. I wondered if using some supporting wraps on her legs would help with swelling... I'm looking for any tips really. I'm constantly in a panic and looking at her legs all the time now. There isn't much I can do I know but any slight thing may help. Thanks!
 
My mare had a splint bone fracture which did not resolve itself and eventually she was operated on which was successful.
 
i remember my mare's leg swelling from time to time when she broke a splint bone... I think it happened a couple of times when she was allowed to be more active. Really patience is the best thing, try to keep her quiet when it fills and don't panic too much. I used stable bandages when she was in but her legs tend to fill when stabled anyway.

Mine formed a huge callous initially which has now completely vanished, it did change quite a lot over the first year.
 
Not much help but I would keep him fairly restricted until it is fully healed, mine had a fracture that was stable and not picked up by the vets initially despite him being sore and swollen in the area, the vet was focused on another area which actually was fine, once he was moving about it destabilised and he then went very lame ending up with the fragment being removed, I assume yours has been doing plenty of in hand walking to prepare him for turnout.

I would not worry too much about some minor swelling he is still going to be healing and the soft tissue will take time, mine took almost 12 months for the leg to be 100% normal, I did not use bandages or wraps after the main healing had taken place as I feel the limb needs to support itself and keeping them wrapped up is potentially more harmful with them heating up underneath. I did hose regularly in the summer when he came back to work but otherwise treated him as normal.
 
Mine had a splint bone fracture on his front (medial side, likely from a kick), and it took a total of 7 months to heal. It seemed to have healed (horse sound) after 8 weeks of small paddock rest, and we'd been walking again for about three weeks when horse was all of a sudden obviously lame again in walk (by this time turned out in a larger paddock). New x-rays showed the fracture was still/again there, but second opinion agreed with my vet that surgery wasn't really warranted. So, more rest, but this time 6 (I think) weeks of really small paddock rest (think slightly bigger than stable sized), followed by walking etc., and splint healed fully without any more problems 10 years on. I used a padded stable bandage for a while when I started walking him again, to avoid banging the area with the opposite hoof (too lumpy still to want to put on a regular brushing boot), but didn't do any bandaging otherwise. There wasn't that much swelling with my boy in the first place though. In my case, time was all that was needed, and maybe it was a mistake not to make the initial resting paddock smaller. It was definitely a mistake not to x-ray before starting work again on the first attempt, as it might have shown that the fracture wasn't fully healed yet, even though horse was paddock sound. Good luck!
 
Thanks for all your comments. This makes me positive . Spoken with my vet again today. A little swelling is fine nothing to worry about which puts my mind at rest. I'm in no rush at the end of the day so like everyone is saying it's defiantly time!
 
i just turned out in brushing boots when mine had a fractured splint bone again lower part ( just to try and help prevent any knocks), it took ages and ages to finally resolve - good luck
 
It took my pony 7 months to fully recover from his hind splint bone fracture, and he was a professional rehab yard.

He had 10 weeks box rest with big bandage on box rest and then two weeks going on the walker gradually building up to half an hour twice a day, then started turnout in small paddock for 10 minutes gradually building up time allowed in the field as well as going on the walker. He was not allowed in group turnout until he was cantering under saddle.
 
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