Splints...please help!

Okay so about 3 weeks ago my horse came up lame from two splints one on each front leg. The one on the left was small and not tender, but the one on the right was the size of half a golf ball and very tender. So we DMSO'd and cold hosed his leg. After about a week, he was sound on his right, but lame on his left which we believed was over compensation from the right leg. After two and a half weeks he finally was sound. We continued to give him time off and after 5 days of being sound I rode him Sunday and he was great!

The ring is very hard and I only trotted in the ring, but moved to the fields to canter and work on other things. Yesterday he was slightly lame but worked out of it and was better as he went. Today the ring was completely dragged and in much better shape and he was mildly lame.

I am not familiar with splints and unsure what to do. While the splint was not hot, it was still slightly tender. We think maybe the location of the splint is causing him to be lame since its close to the tendon. Today we tried to blister the splint in hopes to finish the calcification that is already occurring.


Ideas thoughts? How long will he be lame?

Hi,

I think you've handled the immediate prob fine. It is the cause I'd be looking to remedy. Splints generally come about due to toe-first impacts &/or working shod horses too hard on hard ground, especially when they're not conditioned for it. So...

If your horse is shod, the first thing I'd do would be remove the shoes, so there is better shock absorbtion. Toe-first impacts also hugely reduce the hoof's capacity for dissipating shock, and heel sensitivity being the no. 1 reason for the horse landing on it's toes. Therefore protecting & supporting his feet so he can *comfortably* make heel first impacts is vital. Also building gradually up to working on hard surfaces is a good idea, but when his feet are functioning properly, the shock that is travelling through the joints and up the leg will be greatly reduced anyway.

Your horse does not need to be barefoot to heal a splint.

Some splints just take a while to heal all the way. Some horses are more sensitive than others.

I think all your horse needs is time.

You can not rush some things.

Yeah we know the cause is hard ground :( Working on that as we speak. Because the ground was so hard, I only trotted on it, and moved to the field to continue canter etc. But it seems the ground must still be hard enough to affect it. The farrier is coming out in two weeks so I am thinking of asking him to pad and gel his front feet for the next shoeing until he gets use to the ground.

I just wasn't sure what the time frame was I needed to be prepared for

I would think uneven ground would more likely be the cause over hard ground.

THIS article is pretty informative.

And it agree with your soft ground theory.

It says at least 30 days.