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 Board Detective
Posts: 3886
    
Location: Millen Ga | Any experience with a fractured splint bone? Per the vet the top part is broken into several pieces and may compromise the support of the joint, so he doesnt feel like surgery is an option. He said 6 months of rest and re-evaluate but that she is most likely done as a barrel horse :( Is there anything I can do to increase her chances of coming back? I dont want the "gimmicky" things that " Oh I heard this works great!" I want tried and true " I tried this myself and it really helped" advice. Thanks!
Edited by Tanya 2014-09-16 9:01 AM
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Veteran
Posts: 206
| I would get another opinion, a performance vet is best. Had a horse that fractured his, perhaps not as bad as yours, but it was in issue and bothered him of and on. Saw two vets and decided to have it surgically removed. Was a 2 month healing process but he came back l00%. Good Luck.  |
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 I keep my butt inside
Posts: 3281
Location: Weatherford, Texas | The splint bone is a pointless bone. Get another opinion. If it is a couple pieces then surgically remove and it should be fine. I have dealt with one that was a simple break and it healed back- same amount of time off. My concern is if he is saying that is the break is not the splint but somewhere else. |
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Board Detective
Posts: 3886
Location: Millen Ga | Its in her hock. Its on the back side of the hock. Here is a picture of the problem area, that bone is in several pieces, and he is worried that removing those pieces will cause the joint to collapse.
 (equine-hock-joint-medial-view-lg.png)
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 equine-hock-joint-medial-view-lg.png (82KB - 250 downloads)
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Its not a completely pointless bone. It is a non weight bearing bone but the heads of the medial and lateral splint bone communicate with the distal row of carpal bones that make up the carpometacarpal joint. It is common place to remove the bottom of the splint bone when the bottom fractures, but the stop is a different story because it does support that most distal joint of the knee.
^^^ETA this is in response to a front splint bone.. let me read up on the hind splint bone.
Edited by casualdust07 2014-09-16 8:55 AM
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Yeah on the hind limb, the heads of the splint bones hold up the distal row of tarsal bones just as in the foreleg. Even though they aren't weight bearing, they support that TMT joint. the lateral splint bone holds up T4 and the medial splint bone holds up T1+2
ETA- so does the vet want to try and fuse it together? stem cell therapy? We talked about stem cell therapy with fractures at a seminar at TAMU last semester.
Edited by casualdust07 2014-09-16 9:00 AM
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Board Detective
Posts: 3886
Location: Millen Ga | Thats what he said. He said if it had been the bottom of the splint bone, remove it, go on with life. But the top isnt that simple. So- anyone else dealt with this injury? |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| We had one with a high fracture in the hind. Our vet called the state university vet hospital and their recommendation based on x-rays was to surgically pin the bones. They were concerned that it being a high fracture it would cause problems with the joint. This was a 2 year old that wasn't worth enough to justify the cost of surgery. Their suggestion was to put him on stall rest. I can't remember how long he stood in the stall, but I'm thinking it was several months. He did end up with a hock that was slightly larger than the other, but it was only noticeable if you were really looking at it. But he moved off sound. We sold him for cheap because of this, but just recently got an update and the leg is holding up just fine. He is being used for ranch work. I don't know if there will be long-term issues or if he would hold up for running barrels, but so far he seems to be doing pretty good. |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | I wonder if Shockwave would be an option to help speed the healing process? |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I have only ever had high splint fractures 4 of them.
All four horses have returned to be competitive with no arthritis or soundness issues due to the splint.
There are three ways you can speed up the healing.
1) bone marrow into the break down side of this is it will cause an inflammatory response even if it is their own bone marrow.
2) drill hole into cannon bone and allow bone marrow to spill out, for some reason this doesn't cause the same inflammtory response as 1
3) A cell this is generic stem cells in a bottle costs about 200 and inject this into the joint.
I have used all three ways, by vet has went away from number 1 and has went to more of number 3.
All my horses I was able to start riding in 6-8 weeks.
I would also suggest injecting the hock with HA to prevent inflammation from entering the joint and causing arthritis down the road.
Good luck, if your vet knows what he is doing it is an easy fix |
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Board Detective
Posts: 3886
Location: Millen Ga | Wow thank you for the information!!!!! |
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Expert
Posts: 1419
| My mare broke hers and the bottom was removed and they put in a screw on the top part. She did not take to stall rest well so we put her in a round during the day. Her hock was really messed up but she came back just fine! |
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 Hog Tie My Mojo
Posts: 4847
Location: Opelousas, LA | We had a mare shatter the top of her splint bone in a front leg, Dr. Hays at Elgin put a plate over it to keep it together while it healed. We ran her a time or two with the plate then had it taken out because it seemed to bother her, she ran sound after that. She is now a broodmare but was only retired because her owner wanted babies out of her not because of unsoundness. |
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