Anyone with experience/advice on splints?

Sometimes a splint can be up near the knee, close enough to cause intermittent mild lameness such as you describe. Or when the bone broke, it involved the tendon in some scar tissue. Then it can be irritating when the ground firms up as the horse has to get used to traveling on different ground and uses the joint a bit differently. Usually, once a splint has popped and healed they are trouble free. Just a calcium knob blemish. My stupid colts do these to themselves squirting around in their pasture, but rarely close to the knee. Supportive boots on the front legs during the lame time may help a lot. It's most likely a very minor issue dealing with old scar tissue. You can try massaging the area well to see if the horse enjoys this and if he does it may help him out a lot as it will encourage the surrounding tissue to be more elastic and he may be lame for a shorter period. I might have guessed a little bursitis in the knee, but the vet didn't mention it, so he is probably fine there. All in all, there's a lot worse that could be wrong and this is a pretty minor deal.

I will answer this question assuming that the reason for the lameness or favoring of that leg is due to the splint...usually it is not, unless the splint is green [in other words, just happened] Actually, there are some things that one can do to diminish the appearance of a splint, even an old one...no, not a wive's tale. Obviously, the greener the splint, the better the remedies are going to work. First of all, even if your horse is not lame, once they pop a splint, use splint boots when you use them...not necessarily for support, but to protect the horse from hitting the affected area with his other hoof. Now, there are a couple of methods that actually do help in reducing the size of a splint. Both involve improving the blood suppy to the affected area. You can use a stiff toothbrush and brush on a substance that will blister the area...you can use reducine, absorbine, anything that is known to cause blister and stimulation of blood supply. Use it daily for 4 or 5 days, then let it alone for 3, then again for the same amount of time, then off...it will get scaly and scruffy and yucky, but it does work. There is an old wive's tale that tells you to take a flat chicken bone and rub it vigorously up and down the bone every day for a week, stop for 3 days, do it again for a week...cause about the same results, because it does nothing but stimulate circulation...believe me, the toothbrush and the blister solution is much easier...I know, I know....we have all heard, once you have a splint, it's part of the horse...well, that is true, but it doesn't have to remain so large that the blemish is so obvious and, when the bone doesn't protrude so far, it isn't as easy for the other hoof to hit it when the horse is exercised.

A splint is a fracture of the splint bone, most horses usually get them and they don't cause a problem but some horses can have serious issues depending on the size and location of the splint. My advice would be to try turning your horse out in magnetic or support boots, if the vets can't find anything wrong then it may just mean that leg needs extra support over hard ground. I'd also talk to your farrier for advice.

splints rarely cause problems once they have settled down,however if the splint is in a bad position or very large then it can be aggrevated occasionally.you say that this happens in hard ground conditions.i would say,and it is hard without seeing this ,that the splint is not to blame because wet conditions will test a splint just as much as dry.Your animal probibaly has a foot problem and i would start there.boots are a waste of time and IF you are an expert bandager then use those for support if it makes you feel better but often a bandage poorly applied does more harm than good.

you can get some stuff off of the vet to break down the calciun deposit which the splint is made of, ideally it works better when the splint is first formed

this is vetinary medicine and you MUST follow they instructions correctly and carefully, wear gloves and do not go near it if you are pregnant!

once you have got rid of the splint you might suport the front legs with boots when the ground is hard

splints are usually not bad things that affect the horses in any way but they are blemishes if you want to keep your horses legs safe because your horse is kind of a clutz you might want to consider wrapping his or her legs at night but only if you keep your horse inside a stall at night. if you leave them out all the time you may want to put on jumper boots but you have to be careful to take them off regularly and make sure they're not rubbing too much but that will protect your horses legs from him or her doing anything else to damage its legs.

the lameness may be caused by anything it could be coming from the shoulder, foot, back or nearly anything. it could also be your horse knows that you wont ride it if he or she acts like they're hurt. horses can be that smart. my advice would to just keep riding it through they might also just have stiffness and riding it through would be good. unless it gets worse when you ride that should do the trick.

There are various things you can do such as use cold poultices, cold hosing, bute, injections with steroids, massages, and application of DMSO. I personally like to sweat legs with a mixture of DMSO, Dex and furasine, 12 hours on, 12 hours off for a couple of days. For large splints or ones that become a real problem, you could consider pin firing or lithotripsy (shockwave therapy) and both have been shown to be quite successful in treating splints.

You can not ever get rid of it but you can help the horse with lameness and swelling first run the hose on its leg for 15 min.

then make p a poltice mixture and wrap the bad leg in poltice and the other front leg with just a plain wrap this will help the swelling and keep the horse fron favoring one leg.

hope this helped you

trainer for 30 years!

good luck

i have an ex racer and she has a splint on her left hind, but this has never caused her a problem and i've been advised by a vet that it's highly unlikely to cause a problem.

maybe it's coincidence?

hope you figure it out soon.

all the best!

xxx

dad used to hav a ex show jumper with a splint it was minor but like above it can be serious if in certain a place i would deefinatley recomend support boots