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  Discussion on Fractured splint
Author Message
New Member:
bsmith4

Posted on Sunday, Aug 29, 2010 - 12:33 pm:

Hi,

My 13 year old daughter's eventing horse, Badger, fractured his splint bone in the top 1/3 on the inside of his rf leg. We were unaware of the injury, until a splint popped. He was a little off on the rf when it popped. The splint is fairly large. We took him to vet who did xrays and said the fracture was a couple of weeks old. He recommended surpass topically, pressure bandaging, rest, and electromagnetic shock therapy, 3 treatments 2 weeks apart.

We initially tried to put him in a small paddock for 3 days, but Badger was running back and forth, pawing on the hard ground with his bad leg, and generally throwing a temper tantrum and being uncooperative. After we decided that it was doing him more harm than good, we put him back out in his small pasture with his friends, and he is quiet and settled, and much happier. We also tried the stall but he spent several hours running around in it and banging on the stall sides with his bad leg. Now he is back in his pasture.

When we took him back to the vet for the 2nd round of EMST, vet said to take off the pressure wrap for a week, because he had begun to rub off the hair where the pressure wrap was over the popped splint. It has been over 100 degrees here in TX everyday and it is hot. He was often soaked in sweat for the first few days after the initial diagnosis when we were trying to keep him quiet (ha ha) in the smaller paddock. I am using no bow bandages with standing wraps and I have been changing it everyday, and applying the Surpass to the splint. I am also putting baby powder on his leg first, to help keep it dry.

Badger is a 7 year old QH and we have owned him since birth. He has never had any lameness issues before this. We have been working very hard with him and my daughter to get them to mesh, especially over the last 1-1/2 years. They were finally going to compete in their first recognized horse trial next month. My daughter is quite devastated with this injury.

So, these are my questions:
-Does the treatment seem to be correct?
-My vet says no surgery necessary, and that it should not interfere with suspensory ligament in future
-can you make the determination about suspensory ligament involvement with x rays alone?
-How long should we keep the pressure bandage on him?
-He goes back to vet in one week for xrays and last EMST, if it looks to be healed, when can he start back to work?
-What type of work does he need to start with and how soon should she be jumping him and how high?
-Is it likely this is an injury from jumping (given the location and type)on the very hard ground we have here now (b/c we have not had any rain in several months and over 100 degrees for more than a month)?

My daughter was going to be starting him at Novice level (3'3") though she often schools him at Training (3'9"). We were hoping that he would be able to take her through Prelim, but we are more concerned about his health and wellbeing. How is this injury likely to affect him in the future in this field?

Thank you,
Becki
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 30, 2010 - 9:30 pm:

Hello Becki,
Our recommendations for healing proximal splint fractures are in the article. Without examining your horse and looking at the radiographs it is impossible to answer some of the specific questions about your horse with any accuracy. In general unless a proximal splint fracture is just a crack there may be too much motion on it in the pasture for it to heal simply. ESWT is not essential but may help. Pressure bandages control the edema (soft swelling) that forms around the splint and should be used as long as there is edema. Surpass probably should not be put under a bandage do to the irritation it causes.

As to when the horse can work, yes anytime the radiographs show the fracture has healed the horse can begin back work.
DrO
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