What do you need for the proper care of your horse? Besides things such as horse blankets, saddles, a horse trailer, the right food, clean water, adequate housing and roaming room, a horse brush, treats, careful training, and lots of love and attention? You need veterinary care.
One of the things a horse can encounter includes something called splints. There are splint bones, not to be confused with the injury itself; however, splints do affect the area of the splint bones. There is a bone called the cannon that is affected as well. Blind splints occur between the two. These are harder to diagnose and take longer to heal.
The locations of the splint bones run alongside the cannon bone, being attached by a ligament to the cannon bone itself. The ligament is called the "interosseous ligament". Understanding the terms will help familiarize you when the vet comes to call. This is helpful especially if you are a first-time horse owner.
Pain and swelling of the bone area occurs on the inside of the leg, just below the knees. It is possible for this injury to happen to the back legs as well. Splints normally would happen to a horse up to five years of age.
The condition can cause lameness for several weeks. Fast, hard overworking can cause splints, so please be kind and considerate to your animal and don't expect him to work until he literally drops from exhaustion. Especially understand that the work load and pace must be reduced for the horse to heal. Try to put yourself in his place. The horse can't tell you verbally when he's had enough. If you had a sprain or a fracture, you would want the same consideration from others.
The area will feel hot to the touch when inflamed. Help your horse remain calm, keep him or her in an area where no one and nothing could spook, hose the hot area with cold water. Allow rest.
Although you should reduce the workload, light exercise on a soft surface is recommended to encourage the healing bone growth. It may take a few days of treatment with the cold therapy. Surgery is possible, but it is not as productive as you would think and may increase the size of the splint injury.
Splints are usually caused by a hard hit to the splint bone area, such as another horse's kick. Working on hard surfaces is another possible cause, but this usually will affect both legs at once.
When you place your horse on rest and recovery, remember to put that horse blanket to good use. If a horse is kept warm and comfortable, healing will be much more pleasant. The horse blanket is like a jacket to a horse, and an injured horse may need his jacket more than normal. If he is running fever from an inflammation, he may get chills. If he is recovering during the cold weather season, the blanket may save an even bigger vet bill!
If treated properly, complete healing is expected.
