Rear Splint, Looking for advice from those who've experienced Options

[zibadit]

My gelding was just diagnosed as having possibly fractured the splint bone inside left rear. He has been steadily improving (was pretty lame when it first happened about 7 weeks ago but never head bobbing or three legged) I originally thought he just pulled a muscle or something screwing around with his buddies. The vet did not recommend xrays unless the recovery plateaus at some point. He will hopefully walk out of this with no lasting lameness. (fingers crossed - surgery would be expensive) Actually unless someone knows him as well as I do at this point he's barely lame, but definitely doesn't want that splint pressed on. The injury seems to be at the upper end of the splint near the hock. Since it is close to the hock joint it sounds like there is more potential for this to be an issue. Just wanted to know if others have dealt with this and how things turned out. My gelding is a solid paint, 11yrs. We just trail ride and hes pasture 24/7. It was probably the result of a kick in the pasture.

[JoAnn]

when i was a teen this happened to my gelding. it healed fine w/no issues. hope all goes well for your guy. good luck!!!

[DiluteMe]

to you

I know your vet didn't recommend x-rays. BUT, with a "fracture" so close to a major joint I would defiantely get them. If not only for the piece of mind. There could be other things wrong here. Plus if recovery stops and then you do x-rays something might have healed in a bad spot. I'd rather know before it's healed than after.

What sort of recovery treatment do you have him on?

[zibadit]

Thanks for the responses.

Since hes been improving so rapidly I'm going to hold off on xrays. He doesn't currently seem to have any pain moving the joint itself and there is no swelling or heat just a hard bump.

As far as any treatment.
Currently hes just on his usual pasture living and I get out to the stable 3 days a week. I am longing and doing stretches as there is some muscle soreness/stiffness through the back end. We've done some light riding, just walking, which hasn't seemed to cause any problems. I'm not going to give bute or anything as i'd rather he not feel that good and be careful of it.
This time of year the horses aren't traveling as much and just hanging out by the shed and hay feeders so I want to make sure hes moving and using the leg.
The Vet was actually out for a chiropractic visit when he made the diagnosis. As I said I originally thought he just pulled a muscle and then thought maybe something was out of alignment. There was never any obvious swelling and not a mark on him. The bump on the splint is really only noticible by feel. Apparently from a chiropractic standpoint my boy is in great shape.
I am very glad that i went with the Vet at my clinic who is also a Chiropractor as if follow up is necessary he will already know whats going on.

[DiluteMe]

See as he's not too lame or it's just a "bump" it might just be a simple splint instead of a fracture. You can often see splints in younger horses as their spint bone isn't fully connected to the cannon bone yet (there starts off with a ligament there and that ligament turns into bone over time) and don't know where they are putting hooves and often can "bang" themsevles while in training.

Usually not seen in older horses (over 5) because the splint bone is fully connected to the cannon bone but can happen.

An upper splint can cause severe strain of the ligament running down the inside of the leg. This can result in inflammation and healing of the injury by ossification (other wise a boney bump). It's usually only the bad lower ones that actually fracture.

The reason I suggested x ray was because actual fractures of the splint bone can be bad because there is always the risk that until full healed, the piece of bone above the fracture line could move and interfere with other important ligaments. Especially that close to the hock. But once again it's usually only the bad lower ones this is assumed with because of the higher risk of fracture.

I think in your case it's probably just a high splint and not a fracture given the history. Which is not a big deal as long as there isn't too much stress put on that inside ligament from the boney bump that heals in place. Which from your explainations doesn't sound like there is.