Last December during our first snow storm my then five-year-old TB popped a splint. She was boarded at a barn with 24/7 turnout and after a week when I was finally able to get to her and bring her in to be groomed I found it. I was really surprised because it was already hard and cold and it didn’t seem to bother her, but the vet said that it was not that unusual with young horses.
So I was also surprised a couple of months ago when she was having a bone scan for an unrelated issue and they told me that the splint was still active and that is was probably due to the really hard ground we had this summer but not to worry about it, that it would settle with time and that she could continue to be worked. They also mentioned that there were some therapies, such as shock wave, that were available if that became necessary.
Well the other night someone on the farm where I board had a kid’s Halloween party and some of the stuff going on had the horses pretty wound up and there was a fair bit of running. The next day my mare was just slightly off on the side of the splint and so I was concerned that it might be bothering her.
My questions then are how effective Splintex Gold is for older splints. Do people mostly use it for cosmetic purposes? How about DMSO at this point? Or should I just give it more time?
