Old Splint Got Larger - No pain heat or swelling - WWYD?

[AAHunterGal]

Hey all!

My nearly 4 yo (turns 4 in early April) baby horse popped a splint with his old owner last summer while playing in the field - was small and he hadn’t been started yet - it never seemed to bother him so she just let it be.

He came to me with it and I and multiple vets felt it and just considered it “jewelry” to be aware of. He passed an extensive PPE with multiple Xrays. He wears polos or boots for every ride and is turned out with splint boots all around (because he does like to play). I’ve had him since early October. He is barefoot all around with good balance in his feet, but he does have a very narrow base.

We ride him 4-5 times a week for about 20ish minutes at a time, never more than 30, no excessive lunging (we might do 5-10 minutes of groundwork if he hasn’t been worked in a few days before we get on and factor that into total work time) and no tight turns. We have started him over small cross rails - nothing over caveletti height - he can walk over them to start. More to let him get a sense of where his feet go. We’ve jumped maybe 9 of these “jumps” in total at the most in each session, and I would say we’ve had four sessions starting back in early December.

In our lesson on Sunday, we did our first trot in / canter out line and he was a superstar.

Well yesterday I went out to the barn, and his small splint had gotten larger. No heat, no lameness, no sensitivity to palpation, just a bit more of a bony knob than before. I’ve been resting him, icing and DMSO-ing it, vet comes out tomorrow.

I’m going to scale back our work once get gives green light and of course no more jumping for at least another 6 months. But he does like to play and I can’t protect him at all times.

Any other experiences of folks who have “reactivated” old splints? My understanding was that once it’s set, it’s set. I’ll be interested to see what the vet thinks tomorrow.

[joiedevie99]

I saw one of these. Young horse whacked it in the field, and irritated the soft tissue near the splint. No sensitivity, but inflammation on ultrasound. He did need a few months off, but was perfectly fine thereafter. There was no arthritis/fracture to warrant surgery.

[MDKCongo]

My horse had an old splint grow three times the size it originally was. He was never lame, but he was sensitive to palpation since it irritated the suspensory. It took 6 months for it to fully set. He had four months of stall rest. The last two months, he was allowed to have light ridden work. We had x rays done every two weeks. He was cold hosed, poulticed and wrapped. I also lasered it. One of the vets recommended a homeopathic, Calcarea Phosphorica, to help the bone settle. Not sure how much it really worked but his splint is finally starting to reabsorb! We had sent his x rays to a surgeon since the bottom tip of it wouldn’t set and the surgeon said he was good to go back to normal activity. He has been fine ever since.

[EmilyM]

Seen what the vet says and try not to over think it. I know some vets will say they are laying down bone where they need it. I had a horse w an enormous splint that wasn’t in work. Was on vacation. Somehow it shrunk on its own. Hard to know what will happen but also important to make sure it isn’t irritating soft tissue around it. Hopefully you can stay on work.

[AAHunterGal]

Thanks all! Vet came out and splint is indeed still cold, just some remodeling. Xrays didn’t show anything worrisome, we’re just going to ramp down work for a week and ice/Surpass after our rides.

I’m still most likely going to table the jumping just because we’re not on any sort of timeline and why push things, but what a relief!

[IPEsq]

Yes, my guy keeps doing this. Came to me with a small splint on LF. Xrayed at PPE even though I wasn’t worried about it. Fine.

Popped a right one (and this is an older horse, now 8) last year, I think playing–there was also a small cut. He’s got big ol’ feet and he definitely interferes sometimes based on how my boots look, but I don’t turn him out in boots because he would try to take them off. He likes polos even less. It was a bit reactive at first so I stopped jumping for a while, iced, and watched it. Vet said no need to stop work altogether. X-ray showed just periosteum swelling; bone was fine. Not reactive to palpation even though it ebbed and flowed in size and had a little heat.

That had been going down nicely (and LF one hardly noticeable at all now), but he whacked it again this winter TWICE now in turnout and although no heat this time and no up and down swelling, and even though I hate it, my vets are totally not concerned. I did try Surpass for a while with zero effect on this one.

I’d be less concerned on a coming 4yo so long as there’s no fixable way to avoid this (like a foot balance or footing issue), and it will probably shrink right down if he leaves it alone.