06/15/2026
When is a splinter, just a splinter? Well, that depends on where it is. This horse sustained a small puncture wound in its lateral heel bulb. The small shard of wood was removed, the tendon sheath flushed out of an abundance of caution, and the horse returned to work.
About a month later, a waxing and waning lameness had been noted. Initially, the horse would work out of the asymmetry, but as time went on a subtle lameness persisted. The cause? An adhesion (fibrous soft tissue union) had formed between the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) and the wall of the tendon sheath.
It’s important to remember that the structures in the limb are extremely dynamic. When the leg is in motion, as it was when the splinter became lodged in the heel, the soft tissue planes, skin, tendons and ligaments, are all in a different orientation and location than they are at rest. The splinter in the lateral heel had penetrated the lateral lobe of the DDFT mid pastern. The adhesion and subsequent granuloma were debrided tenoscopically, and the horse returned successfully to compete over fences.
