Splints

[laura jeanne]

Okay, I'll confess I'm reading another Georgette Heyer regency romance. I have now come across a sentence where someone says that she would not choose a horse that was "forever throwing out a splint."

So what does that mean?? Thanks!

[Teehee]

My guess would be a horse that never stands still??? Or one that throws fits??

[Harry Hobbes]

I have now come across a sentence where someone says that she would not choose a horse that was "forever throwing out a splint."

So what does that mean?? Thanks!The author is refering to an injury of the splint bone (at the top of the cannon bone, just below the knee) in which it separates from the cannon and produces a noticeable bulge on the side of the cannon bone (under the skin/fur). It looks like a large lump.

Ask Pink's Lady to render the Veterinary clinical description.

Best regards,
Harry

[laura jeanne]

Teehee, good try!

Thanks Harry, I think it's the "forever" part that confuses me. It makes it sound like the horse can re-injure itself over and over this way. Could that happen?

[SJ wanabe]

It can keep getting more and more splints, they get them when they have weak bones, when they are worked hard or just if they hit there leg hard in the field.

[Rips]

A don't think a horse can keep 'getting' splints, a 'splint' is a bony growth on the splint bone, in a lot of cases, they cause lameness when the splint is 'thrown' or when it first occurs.
That is not always the case though.

Splints growing in towards the tendons are the ones that cause the problems - some horses have splints though which forever cause problems, and intermittent lameness can occur. A friend of mine had a young horse PTS because he had a splint near his tendon and he would just go from being perfectly sound to hopping lame. She rested him for a year and he was still the same. There is an illegal operation that can be used to 'cure' this type of splint so she preferred to have him PTS rather then risk someone doing it to him.

I suppose a horse could get a splint on both sides of the splint bone, but that would be unusual as the ones which grow on the inner side are usually due to a conformational fault.

[SJ wanabe]

[QUOTE=Rips;1245524]A don't think a horse can keep 'getting' splints, a 'splint' is a bony growth on the splint bone.

Horses can get quite a few splints on each leg, not just one on each side. Pleeeeaaassee trust me. I have sat through many very looong stable management lessons preparing for my B test. I must nearly be an expert on splints by now!:)

[Shadowlark]

By constantly throwing splints i would assume a refernce to either multible splint protrusions on the legs, and likely an easy reinjuring of existing ones. Deja has a "good" one which right now is quite small too the touch, but when she reinjures or "throws" it it more than doubles in size. She is actually quite prone to them.. She is a known Futurity baby so I suspect that may be the why of it.

Splash on the other hand had one, that was again small, that never seemed to trouble him no matter the work load request.

[laura jeanne]

Thanks everyone!