Everyone who answered our Whats Your Diagnosis photo yesterday, NAILED it!!! Way to go!! Yes, the radiograph from yesterday shows a horse who has a fractured splint bone-in laymans terms a popped splint. Popped splints can also be from damage to the ligament that attaches this bone to the cannon bone and not actually be a fracture so its best to not assume one or the other without radiographs. When you have a splint fracture, they are the best type of fractures to have (if you had to have one!) because the splint bones are not weight bearing bones (they help with torque forces) and are not always associated with lameness. Some splint fractures can cause lameness depending on where the fracture is and how close to the head of the splint it is (the part close to or involving the carpus or hock joints). Splint fractures, when simple like this one, can easily be removed with surgery, or will heal on their own with rest. The horse whos radiograph was shown, like most splint bone fractures, has a great prognosis for a full recovery!
Posted on: Fri, 09 May 2014 21:54:17 +0000