Splints!! Help please!!!

You Wont Forget Me

You Wont Forget Me

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I had my horse vetted for his certificate for his insurance and we discovered that he had a 'splint' in 2 of his legs. I will be speaking to my vet for advice when she's back on monday but im starting to feel worried and was wanting to know if anyone could tell me now what it mean?? Will it cause any problems ect ect... Any advice welcome! Thankyou
 
splints are just a fracture of the splint bone that has then calcified in to what is known as a splint once they have gone solid they cause no pain they just sit there, when they first get them they tend to be slightly lame but that only lasts for a couple of days while they calcify, while they are soft you can get spray that will get rid of them but i have never tried it so i dont know if it works or not! hope this helps! x
 
Very common in ridden horses they should,if small and settled, cause no problems and may disappear in time.Working on hard ground can be the cause but they can also develop in young horses that have done nothing.
Dont worry about them.
 
My mare developed a splint 10 years ago and never caused her any problems. Hers was caused by the hard ground and has actually disappeared.
My yearling also got one on each front leg this summer, again from the hard ground, and again hasnt caused any problems.
I have known a few horses on the yard I used to work on get splints and none f them were affected by them.

I personally would not be worried by them but if you are ask your vet for advice.
 
My horse has 2 one on each fore leg. He got them when he got his first set of shoes, silly me never thought to put boots on him when turning him out and he came in with a cut on the inside of his cannon bone and then got a splint. I presume he caught himself fooling about in the field. The went massive and I was gutted but have since settle down to hardly anything. Both have never caused any problems.
 
My horse has splints - doesn't cause any problems and the insurance company wasn't bothered about them when I took out her policy.
 
One of my guys has a splint which I suspect is causing him to be slightly lame at the moment, and I'll be chatting to the vet about it soon.

Whilst reading up on splints, I saw it is possible for the splint to affect the suspensory ligament, in as much as that if the splint lays down new bone in the path of the sus lig, it can cause problems which then require intervention.

I've no idea how common that is though, and up until reading that, I thought splints were just "cosmetic" once they settled down.

I'm not into showing but I think I've heard that some judges will mark an animal down for having splints, unless it's in something like a working hunter class. Anyone know if that's true, just in case it's relevant to you?

Sarah
 
flintfootfilly said:
I'm not into showing but I think I've heard that some judges will mark an animal down for having splints, unless it's in something like a working hunter class. Anyone know if that's true, just in case it's relevant to you?

Sarah
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Hope not!! I want to do showing with him next year!! :eek: I'll speak to my vet and do a bit of research on it, thanks
 
Does anyone if they can flame up again ? My boy got one last year and it's quiet large, he is a little lame on that leg at the mo, although there is a little heat on the splint I'm wondering if he has knocked it . Does anyone have any experience of this.
 
You Wont Forget Me said:
Hope not!! I want to do showing with him next year!! :eek: I'll speak to my vet and do a bit of research on it, thanks
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Splints, if large enough, will be picked up in a showing class and you would get marked down for them, unless your horse is exceptional.

If the splint is close to the knee you need to be sure it won't affect his action.

There are topical applications to help them go down but it depends on the size and age of them.
 
WindyMiller said:
Does anyone if they can flame up again ? My boy got one last year and it's quiet large, he is a little lame on that leg at the mo, although there is a little heat on the splint I'm wondering if he has knocked it . Does anyone have any experience of this.
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comfrey oil massaged into it couple of times per day. Stinks to high heaven but its not traditionally called 'knit-bone' for nothing!
 
mine's got a split bone fracture which we think was done recently and caused him to be lame..although it could be that and the fact he needed corrective shoeing! Anyway i'm speaking to vets tomorrow to see if we can ge t it removed as i have concerns in the future (i jump, xc etc) as if it doesn't heal properly a callous can form and cause issues. If the splint in your horse has healed and it has been there for sometime i'm sure it will be ok.
 
My mare has 2 small splints. One on each foreleg. They are barely noticable, she has never been lame on them and still moves as straight as a ruler :)

I could take her showing the splints are that small, sometimes I can't find them :D

Ask your vet, thats all you can do. I would be more worried about if the splints are that noticable to be picked up in a showing class if thats is what you want to do!
 
Mine had them on just one leg and they have gone, however, he got a kick in the field and another rather large one has come up in the other leg.

Allsorts of theories as to what will make it go, but if it's mechanical then you should look at what stresses caused it i.e. foot balance, uneven weight bearing etc. It sometimes gets reabsorbed.

Judges will mark you down in show classes because it's an imperfection. You get away with it in WH but not Show Hunter. Which is why I mainly do Dressage, WH and SJ now. Never really known a splint to cause major lameness issues though.
 
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