Hello my horse came in with a fairly descent size splint on inside of hind leg. I’m assuming it’s from a kick. Vet came out said it was a splint and X-rayed it but no fracture. He said walk/trot under saddle only. Well, two weeks have gone by and he is still lame but no longer sensitive to the splint. What would be next move? Ultrasound? Or is this just a time thing? Someone recommended freeze firing it?
Freeze firing works well on splints. Two weeks isn’t much time to expect a splint to set up. You could look around for a vet who knows how to freeze fire, usually vets who work for Standardbred trainers have the equipment to do the job. Often, there IS a crack in the splint bone which does not show up well in an xray, and the freeze firing drives healing, and thus soundness is the result. Have had several done successfully. Quick, cheap, and pain free procedure… leaves a few white hairs. This is NOT “hot firing”, and it is NOT “cruelty”. The skin is NOT broken in the procedure… it’s just a supercooled probe placed on the skin, freezes down deep, draws inflammation to the area, which drives healing to completion.
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Thank you. What is the average time frame for a splint? I’m guessing it varies.
2 months to set up, IF it is just a splint and not a crack (that may not show up well on an xray).
Thank you. Worth while to ultrasound?
Ultrasound is for soft tissue issues. Could be useful to see if there are also soft tissue problems as well as the splint. But it the splint is evident, that would be a person’s first guess at the source of the lameness. I’d give it two months, give the splint time to fully heal before investing more $$$$ in the problem. If the splint is still sore to press on after that amount of time, then consider other sources of the lameness, either a crack that has not healed (located under the calcium laid down already and not getting enough blood supply to heal it adequately), or a soft tissue/ligament problem (more of a problem than a boney issue IMO). Hope that it is just a splint, or a crack in the splint bone under the splint that freeze firing will likely help.
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Thank you for the information. I’m getting impatient! Someone at my barn mentioned injecting the splint to settle it? I’m assuming my vet doesn’t want to do it because it might make it worse in the long run?
I would do an ultrasound depending also from the location of the splint but i am a stressed person and would not want to wait. Freezing it worked very well for all thé horses that needed to settle the splint.
If it were me I would be doing more to make the splint set up than just light riding.
First I would make sure 100% the heat was out by poultice and ice.
Then I would start using a cold sweat, working up to a hot sweat and then a leg paint just on the splint and finally a hot paint.
This takes a couple weeks to work through but I’ve never not had one set up with this method.
Cold sweat: alcohol and then furasone. With the Saran Wrap out side the white bandage. Then with the Saran Wrap directly on the skin.
Hot sweat: 75% furasone 25% dmso or butacord. Same process with the Saran Wrap.
Leg Paint: something with alcohol, turpentine, ether and iodine. McTarnahans is good.
Hot leg paint: I go right for the straight cedar oil for this.
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One month recheck and it now looks like the suspensory is now according to my vet, irritated by the splint. Still off going to left. He wants to do shockwave or something called Anicell?
He thought surgery would be required if this does not help but after reading threads on this, isn’t surgery the best solution to prevent more injury to the suspensory? I don’t want to waste rehab time if eventually this is the outcome. Second opinion time?
Did they ultrasound the suspensory to confirm?
I will share my experience that became a witch hunt. Horse whacked splint was swollen for a bit, went away. Vet came and took one x-ray view, no fracture etc just recommended normal healing. Well it didn’t get better, we did shockwave as suspected suspensory issue etc to get healing. Didn’t get better, swelling would come and go.
Long story short, had my local vet come back out for additional x-rays at various angles to investigate. There were shadows found on a rear angled view between the splint and cannon bones. Clinic confirmed with ultrasound by holding up leg parallel to the ground and ultrasounding that space between the bones that there were 2-3 bone chips in there. When she whacked the splint those pieces had broken off and were irritating the soft tissue space. Surgical removal of those and she healed beautifully, but it was not something seen on x-ray unless on very oblique angle.
Just do the surgery. By the time you do the injection and the series of shockwaves, you will have spent the same amount of time and money as for the surgery and the horse still may not be sound.
They do have to be laid down for the surgery, but it’s relatively simple and horses the rehab after is relatively simple. Prognosis is usually a full return to work, depending on the damage done to the suspensory.
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So my original vet decided that stem cell would be the way to go now that the suspensory was inflamed. I’m getting a second opinion. I would say the horse is getting a touch worse now at trot. When we flexed him last week he was positive to the suspensory which was not the case at the start of this injury. I’m reading up on the surgery and it seems like the best option. If I do decide to do surgery, New Bolton or Mid Atlantic? And what is the estimated cost? Layup time 3 months? Oye.
I’m not sure what surgeons are at either place now, but I’d generally go with the university for super rare or odd things and a regular clinic for routine things. You’d have to ask the clinic doing the surgery what the cost is, but I’d expect less than $2000. That may vary from the teaching hospital to the regular clinic.
If I remember correctly, the layup is significantly shorter than that. They have stitches in for 2 weeks after surgery and can soon after start some small turnout. That could be different for your horse, though. Depending on how much damage has been done to the suspensory.
Rehab will depend on how much damage the suspensory has. Rehab from the surgery itself is minimal, but you want to fully heal the suspensory before going back to work. It’s not uncommon to use stem cells for this, in addition to surgery.
Another update if anyone is following. Second opinion vet could not pinpoint the lameness. Flexed poorly and when we started to block, he got better but vet thought he was warming out of the lameness. Vet suggested we go to New Bolton for further diagnostics. First up bone scan, then CT, if necessary. I have called in insurance but it’s a policy that is riddled with limits and co pays. Sooooo can anyone give me an idea what a bone scan is gonna run? Then a CT? We are not even at surgery, if he needs it for splint removal and/or faciotomy for suspensory. Oye.
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I would just call New Bolton and ask them how much it would cost. Can’t be too much if it’s just a lower limb (famous last words, I know).
Good luck 
Update! He has a suspensory branch lesion, not the splint.
I’m so sorry.
Thank you for keeping us updated.
How did they determine that was the issue?
Jingles for a quick and complete recovery!
