Splints.

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Rachael42

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Vet has been out and is coming out again in 2 weeks.
vet was out today and my horse has two splints, very small and not aggressive, he is also not lame.
do they ever go away? My vets calling tomorrow to give me more information but I wanted to chat to other owners that have dealt with splints. He is a show jumper/ cross country is this the end of his career?
Are they a lifelong thing?
Thanks!
 
I have steep hills here including my turnout and every young horse I buy gets splints. Sometimes they are lame for a week or two, sometimes not, but they have never caused any issues after they have hardened off. They will usually get a lot smaller over the first year. Splints are really, really common and rarely cause a problem once cold and hard.
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I'm puzzled why your vet is going to call again in 2 weeks if your horse is sound?
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ycbm said:
I'm puzzled why your vet is going to call again in 2 weeks if your horse is sound?
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Click to expand...
Really just to keep an eye on them, make sure they don’t cause any issues. She’s coming out to my other pony so she’s just going to check while she’s out :)
 
My Connie got a whacking splint when I first bought her. In hindsight she went from living and being exercised on the moor to hacked out on the road so no wonder why it happened really. When it first appeared it was the size of half a golf ball on the inside of her leg, and hot. She was never lame on it though. I gave her time off till the heat went. Over time it’s reduced and now - 5 years down the line it’s the size of a pea.
 
Sky has two large splints .
He had them when I bought him
They are unusual in that at times they get smaller and then get bigger again .
I ignore them .
 
My two best horses were both bought with splints, cold and hard and never caused an issue.

My youngster also came with one but did actually re-absorb.

Not ideal on a show horse, but shouldn't be an issue for any other activities.......

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My first Arab had a small splint at 6 it completely went no lameness and you can just feel it if you run your hand down his leg.

My other Arab he had a huge one at 13 it was literally like an egg on his leg his 16 now it's virtually gone now, neither of them were lame with them.
 
My mare has splints, she had them when I bought her, never caused any problems. Think they were probably caused by owners in her past using her as a trotter when she was younger.
 
One of my yearlings got caught up in the electric fence and developed a large splint and a bog spavin as a result. The splint was hot for a day or two but I couldn’t attribute his slight and short lived lameness to that alone as there were other indications that he had been hung on the fence for a while. Both the splint and bog spavin have disappeared over the course of the winter.
 
Thanks everyone! I was so worried this spelled retirement from his jumping career! Thank goodness it’s not! A few weeks off and we will readdress :)
 
Madam (at 10) threw 2 matching splints last summer - she was sore for a few days then fine - they don't seem to have grown or reduced in size since then ?‍♀️
 
I have had a few vets check them, the first vet told me to just watch him on hard ground as they are dormant. the second vet told me to give him a month off work completely!
I’m a bit lost there is no heat/swelling or lameness and to me they seem dormant and old. (he’s only just lost his full feathers hence why we have noticed now!) what did everyone else do?
 
The advice I have always followed is that if they are lame they will not heal without field rest but if they are sound crack on unless they are close to the knee joint or you're into showing and need them kept as small as possible.

If it's cold and hard I would completely ignore it.
 
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