# Yearling with splints. YO wants to blister...



## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

Youngster just turned one has splints under the knees. First one appeared on one leg (right, I think) and then the other. Treatment thus far has been DMSOing (with not much regularity, it has to be said) but the splint on the right is already much smaller than it was. 
Anyhow, YO is convinced that these splints need to be blitzed straight away with, at the very least, a blister, as otherwise they will interfere with the tendons (Yes, I thought this was complete B***S*** as well). I was utterly horrified; not that I'm against using a blister on mature horses in certain circumstances (I've seen it work on splints that were located in the groove next to the ligaments, but that's a whole other argument if you happen to disagree - many do!) surely it can't be right to put an irritant on a growing horse's legs? 
Questions; would an uneven/sudden growth spurt have caused the splints? We've had a very hard winter and suddenly the rains came and with it the grass.  All of the babies were looking pretty rough.
Surely they'll just settle and shrink in their own time?
Is DMSOing the correct course of action to take under the circumstances?
Could blistering affect the growth of the bone or have the bones below the knee stopped growing at around 1 year?
Thanks for any ideas


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## puc (7 January 2010)

Juvenile splits tend to go by themselves.  If they have them as yearlings they tend to be gone by the time they're three anyway so i would say its not necessary at this stage.


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## Halfstep (7 January 2010)

I'm not experienced with babies. 

But, I do know something about splints. 

Leave them alone.  Definitley don't blister.  DMSO will do no harm (probably will do nothing at all). 

Very likely they have developed because of a growth spurt and the uneven ground as you describe.  Very rarely splints do irritate the suspensory ligament; this is possible  but rare.  Blistering such young bones will only cause them to lay down more calcification, hightening the risk of interference with the suspensory. 

Chances are the bony exotosis will be reabsorbed as he grows. Unless it is bothering him ignore it.


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## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

I'm so glad you said that! I was sure that was the case, but YO has this way of addressing you so that you feel like a complete ARSE and I started to doubt my common sense!! I shall argue vehemently against him tomorrow!!


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## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

Phew, I'm right then and YO is wrong. They're not bothering the baby AT all. 
Thanks


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## Navalgem (7 January 2010)

I had a 3yo who threw splints (never lame), by 5 they were gone


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## Ciss (7 January 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
Leave them alone.  Definitley don't blister.  

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I think it would also be very hard to find a vet that would do it anyway as I think it is now forbidden by BEVA Codes of Practice thank goodness.

[ QUOTE ]
 Very likely they have developed because of a growth spurt and the uneven ground as you describe.  Very rarely splints do irritate the suspensory ligament; this is possible  but rare.  Blistering such young bones will only cause them to lay down more calcification, hightening the risk of interference with the suspensory. 

Chances are the bony exotosis will be reabsorbed as he grows. Unless it is bothering him ignore it. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree. YO must have been born and brought up in the Middle Ages to seriously suggest this form of medieval torture!


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## holiday (7 January 2010)

Il second Ciss on that one, its more than likely they will be gone as he grows!!!!!


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## S_N (7 January 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Leave them alone.  Definitley don't blister.  

[/ QUOTE ]

I think it would also be very hard to find a vet that would do it anyway as I think it is now forbidden by BEVA Codes of Practice thank goodness.

[ QUOTE ]
 Very likely they have developed because of a growth spurt and the uneven ground as you describe.  Very rarely splints do irritate the suspensory ligament; this is possible  but rare.  Blistering such young bones will only cause them to lay down more calcification, hightening the risk of interference with the suspensory. 

Chances are the bony exotosis will be reabsorbed as he grows. Unless it is bothering him ignore it. 

[/ QUOTE ]

Totally agree. YO must have been born and brought up in the Middle Ages to seriously suggest this form of medieval torture! 

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It's always worth looking to see where a poster is based in the world, before commenting &lt;sigh&gt;


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## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Leave them alone.  Definitley don't blister.  

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I think it would also be very hard to find a vet that would do it anyway as I think it is now forbidden by BEVA Codes of Practice thank goodness.

[/ QUOTE ]
Vets still blister here in Argentina. YO actually thinks blistering is too mild!!!! 
	
	
		
		
	


	





[ QUOTE ]
 [ QUOTE ]
Very likely they have developed because of a growth spurt and the uneven ground as you describe.  Very rarely splints do irritate the suspensory ligament; this is possible  but rare.  Blistering such young bones will only cause them to lay down more calcification, hightening the risk of interference with the suspensory. 

Chances are the bony exotosis will be reabsorbed as he grows. Unless it is bothering him ignore it. 

[/ QUOTE ]
Totally agree. YO must have been born and brought up in the Middle Ages to seriously suggest this form of medieval torture! 

[/ QUOTE ]
I do believe my YO WAS born and brought up in the middle ages. Or perhaps earlier! Sometime around the time horses arrived in the Americas.


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## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

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Il second Ciss on that one, its more than likely they will be gone as he grows!!!!! 

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Excellent! I'm glad my initial thoughts on this were correct!


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## TarrSteps (7 January 2010)

Another vote for, "What the £$(&amp;!?" 
	
	
		
		
	


	





But you might want to check his foot balance.  While it is quite common for young horses to throw bilateral splints that sort themselves out with time, I've also seen it happen when people try to "correct" a mild angular limb deformity or play around with foot shape.


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## PapaFrita (7 January 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
Another vote for, "What the £$(&amp;!?" 
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]
I seem to say that A LOT when it comes to YO!!

[ QUOTE ]
But you might want to check his foot balance.  While it is quite common for young horses to throw bilateral splints that sort themselves out with time, I've also seen it happen when people try to "correct" a mild angular limb deformity or play around with foot shape. 

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He's slightly toed out (I believe this is not unusual and is generally self correcting- LC is also a bit toed-out still, but much better than he was) Trimming has been conservative; just keeping the balance of the hoof.
In the cases you mention, do the splints remain or also go away?


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## Penniless (8 January 2010)

Are some people getting confused between "blistering" and "firing"?  Blistering takes place in nearly every racing yard in Newmarket - the horses don't even get sedated for it - it's just a small paint brush dipped into a bottle which you paint onto the horses legs.  The horses legs are then wrapped up and you repeat a few days later.

I've seen it done loads of times and believe me, it certainly does not cause any pain at all to the horse.  Blistering seems to be done by the more older head lads, as they seem to think it will harden the youngsters legs up.  The skin peels off initially but it doesn't take more than a few days for the hair to grow back.

Firing is a totally different matter which in my opinion is barbaric but is allowed still to be done in this country.  We thought it had been banned here a few years ago, but apparently the vets are still allowed to do it but can't remember whether its the bar firing which is allowed or the pin firing - one is allowed, one isn't.


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## _Phoenix_ (8 January 2010)

I think over here Pin Firing is illegal now.. 

Tis barbaric whichever way they are fired.


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## TarrSteps (8 January 2010)

I think we are talking about blistering, or at least I was.

The way I see it, there are two options.  

Either it has an effect, in which case you are messing with something on a growing youngster that will likely self-correct.  And if there is an effect at the level of bone, surely it's then a concern that it might effect growing tissue?  

Or it doesn't have an effect, in which case why do it?  Agreed it's not anything in the vicinity of firing but it surely can't be comfortable.  

As to toughening horses up, I know it gets done in the old school but I haven't found that horses which are not blistered routinely are inherently weaker.

On the foot balance front, yes, it's common for young horses to toe out a bit - they often come straight when their chests fill out.  If the splints are bilateral, cool and not bothering him it's very likely it's nothing and will resolve with time.  It's quite surprising how many young horses go through this and come out clean on the other end.  Certainly I've never seen anyone stress too much unless the horse is showing in hand, in which case I've seen them blistered, cryo-ed, DMSOed, iced, injected, rubbed, rolled (with a piece of bone if you're old style) and generally obsessed about.  With small, hot, active splints (usually unilateral and from over work or a blow) a few of those things likely speed the process along.  But the big ones that just appear seem to sort themselves out whatever, sometimes within a freakishly short space of time for a big hard lump.


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## PapaFrita (8 January 2010)

Well, I definitely mean blistering and not firing, which I think is utterly inexcusable.


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## irishdraught (8 January 2010)

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I think over here Pin Firing is illegal now.. 






[/ QUOTE ]
Some still do it and not illegal.

My ID had a splint the size of a golf ball as a yearling and as she grew, the splint grew out with her. Def leave alone.


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## Maesfen (8 January 2010)

A friend's youngster, same age threw up a good solid splint and he was meant for showing, the best thing she found were magnetic boots, the Bioflow type.  Used for 12 hours a day only, but within 3 months, it had reduced a lot and eventually disappeared - before he got into the ring.  Whether this was co incidental to it going on its own volition or not, who can say, but it was certainly a non invasive method of treatment which I would try first.


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## S_N (8 January 2010)

[ QUOTE ]
Are some people getting confused between "blistering" and "firing"?  Blistering takes place in nearly every racing yard in Newmarket - the horses don't even get sedated for it - it's just a small paint brush dipped into a bottle which you paint onto the horses legs.  The horses legs are then wrapped up and you repeat a few days later.

I've seen it done loads of times and believe me, it certainly does not cause any pain at all to the horse.  Blistering seems to be done by the more older head lads, as they seem to think it will harden the youngsters legs up.  The skin peels off initially but it doesn't take more than a few days for the hair to grow back.

Firing is a totally different matter which in my opinion is barbaric but is allowed still to be done in this country.  We thought it had been banned here a few years ago, but apparently the vets are still allowed to do it but can't remember whether its the bar firing which is allowed or the pin firing - one is allowed, one isn't. 

[/ QUOTE ]

What a fabulous picture you do paint of the Racing Industry!


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## Halfstep (8 January 2010)

When you use splintex or DMSO for splints you are essentially "blistering" - causing irritation in the hope that it will cause the bone to remodel quickly and absorb the extra calcification.  

Firing is a totally different matter!


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## volatis (8 January 2010)

Blistering is very common on showing yards - IMHO it doesnt work


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## Rollin (8 January 2010)

Ciss I am pleased you added to the post.  i thought UK vets would not do it and I was about to post a question on the forum.

Just across the road from my French Saddler is a field with TB yearlings.  These poor little souls live out all winter in a horrible weed infested field with no Hay although they do get hard feed.

There is always a youngster who has been blistered and quite shocking it looks too.


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## S_N (8 January 2010)

Hate to say it though rollin, you are not in the UK and I have had some shocking experiences of horses (not just TB's) arriving to the UK and to the USA from where you are.


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## librauk (8 January 2010)

I have heard if you rub lemon  juice on splints , can be effective.


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## kathleen57 (8 January 2010)

Don't blister we have had a couple with  splints as young horses which have gone by the time they were 4 yr olds


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## amandaco2 (8 January 2010)

ditto tarrsteps


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## only_me (8 January 2010)

In my experience - we had a 2/3 year old on yard who had 2 splints on one leg and one on the other (had decent confo too, just one of those things.

We left her be and by the time she was broken at 4 and riding away she had no splints - she had grown into herself and in doing so had increased bone (it happened!) and the splints leveled out leaving perfect cannon bones! not a mark on them.

I would leave be, even if they dont go totally (and they probably will because he is young and the bone is still forming) they do decrease in size, my pony's splint is barely noticeable any more.


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## PapaFrita (8 January 2010)

Excellent, thanks everyone for the replies. Most encouraging, especially for the baby!


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## ccooxxyy (11 January 2010)

You could always try LASER with a Chartered Veterinary Physiotherapist if they dont go down by themselves.


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## levantosh (11 January 2010)

I bought my stallion with a splint when he was 2. I have now had him for a year and half and the splint has gone. The treatment I did was use aloe vera, I fed him this aloe vera stuff in his food and put some aloe vera msm gel onto the splint (shave the hair off first) I thought the person who told me to do this was crazy, BUT it worked and I think after a month it was nearly gone after 2 months you would never know he had one! I told someone else about it and it worked for their horse to.
I have been on a TB stud where they used to blister the weanlings at the beginning of the winter. I remember one baby having a hock, 2 knees and all fetlocks done I felt so sorry for her. Don't know if it worked but she has never made the racecourse!!!


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