My mare has a splint, HELP!!!

[faluut42]

I went to the barn today and my mares legs were stocked up, and her right front was a swollen. I walked her and trotted her out and she isnt lame. But I cold hosed the leg and got the swelling down to pretty much normal and discovered a warm splint. This was not there yestarday, so I am kinda freaking out. I have heard horror stories about splints gone bad.

The splint is on the top third of her leg. Should I be worried? How do I proceed with treating it? Ill keep cold hoseing it and give her time off but should I wrap it? I never really had to personally deal with a popped splint, just old cold ones.

TIA!!!

[faluut42]

anyone?

[manyspots]

At the risk of being tarred and feathered...

I left my geldings splints alone.

Especially since he stayed sound.

They eventually cooled, hardened and became a non-issue. I have heard you can use DMSO to reduce the size of them, but I did not. He had a tendency to have self-inflicted splints as a youngster so it just kind of came with the territory, prevented by splint boots in turnout.

[faluut42]

should i give her time off though? the other splints that i have kinda dealt with the horses were lame so we obviously gave them time off.

[manyspots]

I continued to work my guy lightly. Let your horse tell you... if they start tp go off, then back off. Other than that, I just let him pick the pace (western pleasure) and I didn't ask for anything intense until it seemed healed.

If you are uncomfortable and don't have anyone else around to confirm/deny your thoughts, I would call the vet and run it by them on the phone. My vet will answer questions for me if need be, I think most will without a road call!

[Janet]

Ask your vet.

The precise location of the splint makes a big difference.

[bntnail]

Adams` Lameness,
Anti-inflammatory and rest for acute phase,counterirritation and occasionally surgery for chronic stages.

Acute=anti-inflamitorys(bute,banimine),hypothermia 30-45 min (ice packs,turbulate,water therapy) 2x day for 5-7 days, 30-45 days stall rest, hand walking 2x day for 15-20 min after inflammation subsides.

Check w/ your vet first. Also, sometimes med/lat imbalance can cause splints, that's if he didn't bang it in turn out.:)

[Pancakes]

Rest for about 30-45 days (controlled exercise such as hand walking), NSAIDs (bute or equioxx best for musculoskeletal pain), can use topical Surpass too, cold hose, poultices, or bandaging.

Keep an eye on it if it swells up and looks really bad, but if you just do the above things and keep her on stall rest/controlled exercise, it should go down. If she is really painful and is still lame after a few days, she could have some suspensory issues too -- might be worth an ultrasound from your vet. That can really affect the prognosis.

Good luck!

[Houndboy]

Time off, cold hose 2x a day for 20 minutes and you can poultice if you like. You do not have to wrap the leg. My horse was not lame with any of his splints either, but he still got a least a month off for each, as he was sore on his suspensory. Once I started riding him again, it was two weeks of walking, two weeks of walk/trotting and then back to full work. Good luck. I hope your horse is feeling better soon.

[ZiggyStardust]

I am no vet, so that is my disclaimer, although unfortunately, my gelding has given me lots of experience with splints :rolleyes:

Most of them are pretty minor and need to have bute/cold hosing and DMSO if you want for the first few days to get the swelling down. The position of it matters most in terms of proximity to the suspensory. Very generally speaking, if it is further to the front of the leg, it is less of a worry.

Typically you would want to give the horse some time off until the swelling goes down, then hand walking for a while. Many times horses do not find these too uncomfortable, but putting them back into work too soon can interfere with healing.

My horse fractured one splint and had to have surgery, and popped another one, which just required time off and slow return to work after the soft tissue swelling was totally gone. In my case I automatically have the vet out to do x-rays for splint problems, since the fracture made me a little paranoid. An x-ray will give a better idea of exactly what she did and how long she will need to heal. If there was an excessive amount of swelling, which it sounds like there might have been, I would definitely get an x-ray from your vet. Not to freak you out, but my horse had a lot of swelling but was initially just barely lame on the leg even though the bone was actually fractured.

If you are in doubt at all, for sure call your vet since s/he hopefully knows your horse's history. I'm sure there are a ton of old threads on here discussing splints, too.

[brightwhitestockings]

my gelding popped one over winter break.

he needed stall rest for a week and a half, with cold hosing 2x a day and i put surpass on it after hosing it.

i don't think there's a set time frame for coming back from a splint, i think it just depends on how long it takes to cool and harden. You're horse will tell you. ;)

the nature of the splint (where it is, etc., also might make a difference.) My horse's was on the top inside of his left front.

[faluut42]

Went to the barn today and her leg was cold... so know I dont know what to think. It feels too big to have all the swelling to have gone down but there was no heat.... ugh im gona call my vet out, she needs her shots anyways, GRRR horses!

I am still cold hosing it and putting DMSO on it just to be safe but hopefully i can get the vet out soon.