Would you buy a pony with a broken splint bone ?

[Non-Horsey Mum]

Hi,

We were in the early stages of trialling / buying a pony when she was kicked in the field and now has a broken splint bone.

My question is would you still consider buying a pony that you knew had this injury ?

The pony is great in every way, and my daughter has her heart set on her - so much that she doesn't want to consider anything else.

There is no open wound and the vet has said she will not operate to remove the broken piece (unless it causes issues) - but we will have to wait and see. The pony is currently on box rest.

Ta,

 

[be positive]

I have sold a horse that had recovered from a broken splint bone, it was operated on and came back to work sound. But I did not sell for over a year, he proved himself and I then felt I could sell him with the injury declared, he passed the vet with no problems.
In your case I think the problem is how long can you wait, he needs to recover and go back to full work imo, before you can really judge the outcome,otherwise I would look elsewhere. You will not be able to insure that area of his leg so if it goes wrong again you would need to pay for treatment.

 

[Niddlynoo]

Personally I woudln't. However, our 5 yr old pony got a kick in the field last Christmas Eve and broke his splint bone. He did have an open wound and it took lots of antibiotics and box rest before it healed. After the initial box rest, tantrums out walking in-hand, restricted turnout he is now perfectly sound (although, he does have a bump where the injury was).
You could be looking at quite a while before the pony is sound, not to mention personality issues after such a long break (which resolve, but not the best when you don't really know the pony).
Try and persuade your daughter to at least go and look at some others. It is (apparently) a buyers market!

 

[essex_rider]

My 4yr old kicked himself and fractured his splint bone earlier this year. He was box rested etc and luckily there were no fragments so it all healed up and apart from the hair growing back white and him having a couple of lumps it has not effected him at all.
If the pony really is what you want i would wait it out, see if it heals up with no complications and have him vetted.

 

[molly7886]

Mine fractured his splinter bone last year and after a bit of box rest he healed perfectly. Although mine now has other unrelated issues

 

[molly7886]

Mine fractured his splinter bone last year and after a bit of box rest he healed perfectly. (Although mine now has other unrelated issues! ) It wouldn't stop buying one if i liked it

 

[ISHmad]

I wouldn't buy one with the injury being so fresh, no. Your daughter may have her heart set on the pony but after time off to recuperate, being in a strange place, won't have worked for quite some time and so on it could be a very different pony afterwards to the one you had seen up until now.

What a desperate shame for you all though.

 

[Carefreegirl]

Mine damaged hers a couple of years ago. It was classed as a displacement fracture (I think, pls correct me if I'm wrong). It meant that it hadn't completely broken away as in a break but the bottom half looked as though it had slipped - trying to describe it the best I can but probably not doing a good job ! She was box rested, bandaged up like a cast etc. After the bandage was removed she was xrayed again and we found that the bone had actually broken away but had fused so we left it with the option that if it bothered her they would remove it. It's never bothered her, I show her in ROR classes and it's never been mentioned as sometimes if she stands around for a while it gets a tiny bit puffy. The splint bone is after all a defunct bone left over from horses not having toes anymore so serves no actual purpose. It certainly wouldn't put me off buying.

 

[smellsofhorse]

A few off my horses and others I know have.
It has Becker quickly with no problems.
The splint bone is doing exactly what it is meant to, protect the cannon bone.

 

[ATrueClassAct]

Personally I wouldn't want to risk it. We have one who shattered her splint bone when she was 21 and had it removed. She's never been the same since then, she had to be retired from full work and she gets stiff in it easier so we always keep an eye on it. I'd think it would have been too much of an unnecessary worry for you, when there are others without this problem