[pine creek farm]

HELP!

Last october my 7 year old TB gelding got a popped splint TB in the middle of his right front cannon bone. we had our local vets come out and give him a lameness exam and they said to give him stall rest for one month and turn out for a month and then bring him back into work. I did all of this and was bringing him back slowly and was about 2 weeks into my trotting on straight lines when he went off again. it was not dead lame but he was off.
The vets came back out and this time took an ultra sound of his leg to check for ant tendon or ligament issues and took x-rays as well. turns out that he needed to have the bottom half of his splint bone removed because he was starting to have a boney reaction where the splint had occurred.
He had surgery january 31. the surgery went well. barely any swelling, the cut was healing nicely and he was behaving in his stall. after a month of stall rest he was able to be turned out with his wraps on as long as he was quiet, which he was. he had been turned out for 2 weeks and was doing fine until one day when we went to take him out of his stall to be turned out he could barely walk and his leg was huge.
We had the vets come out and thy took more x-rays and said that he had to have surgery again because the bone had refracted. this time they wanted to go in and remove almost all of the splint bone from his leg which i have heard is risky. but this was the only option according to our vet.... so we went on with the 2nd surgery march 28th. this time the surgery did not go as well he had lots of swelling and bleeding from the incision and he now had swelling up in to his knee. it was also extremely painful for him, he would not move when we would try to walk him out his stall to re-do his wraps and he would barley put any weight in his leg at all. the swelling went down a little and he was re checked by the vets May 10th where they said that he had minimal swelling (we he really still had more than his original injury) and to keep him on stall rest wrapped for 90 more days.
He was rechecked august 7th and more x rays were taken he was still lame. we took x rays of his knee as well because that is where the main swelling was coming from and he now is have a boney reaction in his knee from the little piece of splint that is left up in the knee. the vet told us to turn him out alone and re check him in the end of november. and that he would make a full recovery for sure!
From the beginning they told us this was a simple surgery and he would be ready to go in 2 months after the surgery. october will be a year of him being off. this was my main event horse and now it looks as if he will never be sound again.
DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR COMMENTS ABOUT WHAT I SHOULD DO?

thanks caroline

[CHT]

Sorry you are going through all of this. I hope your horse does pull through for you.

At this point, I would likely get a second vets opinion. Perhaps a race track or soundness expert. If you have the xrays and ultra sound you could likely even work with a vet from out of town/state for that opinion. I am sure there are others on COTH who could advise someone worth talking to.

[Melissa.Hare.Jones]

I second the suggestion for a second opinion. Splint surgery usually *is* quite simple, with a simple, short recovery. I'm sorry your guy is having so much trouble! Good luck!

[Concetta]

HELP!

Last october my 7 year old TB gelding got a popped splint TB in the middle of his right front cannon bone. we had our local vets come out and give him a lameness exam and they said to give him stall rest for one month and turn out for a month and then bring him back into work. I did all of this and was bringing him back slowly and was about 2 weeks into my trotting on straight lines when he went off again. it was not dead lame but he was off.
The vets came back out and this time took an ultra sound of his leg to check for ant tendon or ligament issues and took x-rays as well. turns out that he needed to have the bottom half of his splint bone removed because he was starting to have a boney reaction where the splint had occurred.
He had surgery january 31. the surgery went well. barely any swelling, the cut was healing nicely and he was behaving in his stall. after a month of stall rest he was able to be turned out with his wraps on as long as he was quiet, which he was. he had been turned out for 2 weeks and was doing fine until one day when we went to take him out of his stall to be turned out he could barely walk and his leg was huge.
We had the vets come out and thy took more x-rays and said that he had to have surgery again because the bone had refracted. this time they wanted to go in and remove almost all of the splint bone from his leg which i have heard is risky. but this was the only option according to our vet.... so we went on with the 2nd surgery march 28th. this time the surgery did not go as well he had lots of swelling and bleeding from the incision and he now had swelling up in to his knee. it was also extremely painful for him, he would not move when we would try to walk him out his stall to re-do his wraps and he would barley put any weight in his leg at all. the swelling went down a little and he was re checked by the vets May 10th where they said that he had minimal swelling (we he really still had more than his original injury) and to keep him on stall rest wrapped for 90 more days.
He was rechecked august 7th and more x rays were taken he was still lame. we took x rays of his knee as well because that is where the main swelling was coming from and he now is have a boney reaction in his knee from the little piece of splint that is left up in the knee. the vet told us to turn him out alone and re check him in the end of november. and that he would make a full recovery for sure!
From the beginning they told us this was a simple surgery and he would be ready to go in 2 months after the surgery. october will be a year of him being off. this was my main event horse and now it looks as if he will never be sound again.
DOES ANY ONE HAVE ANY IDEAS OR COMMENTS ABOUT WHAT I SHOULD DO?

thanks caroline

Start giving him Platinum Performance Osteon(silicon) for sure will help strengthen/heal/repair the bone,tendon,and ligaments surrounding the fracture...also Recovery Eq Ha will also help speed healing.