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Sorry, I don't know the Ca/P ratio for flax seed. ?However, I also haven't heard of the Ca/P ratio being a factor in the formation of splints -- I'm sure someone on the list will correct me if that is wrong. ? :)

I would be more inclined to look at a shoeing imbalance, or a very subtle lameness, especially since you mentioned that he had a problem before. ? ?My old horse popped a splint at the age of 22 because he was developing arthritis. ?Same thing -- no lameness, no soreness, just a hard lump. ??It was quite a while (over a year) until the arthritis progressed to the point where I could feel him going slightly off (and a that point, the vet couldn't see it, but I could feel that he was just very slightly uneven). ??I also knew of another mature horse that popped a splint -- he was used as a vaulting horse, so was heavily over-using one foreleg on the circle. ?Same principle.

So -- one thing that you might want to check for would be a very slight unevenness in Alpine's way of going that is causing him to over-use the one diagonal, leading to the splint formation.

On Jul 24, 2007, at 1:58 PM, Juli Bechard wrote:

I have recently noticed that Alpine has popped what I think is a splint. ?He has a small (half a grape size) bony bump on the inside of his front leg, half way between his knee and his ankle. ?It's not sore, swollen, or giving him any problems. ?He's not lame...and hasn't been for a long time, not since we fixed the saddle fit issue. ?So I am unsure as to why he has one, and it's bothering me. ?So the first thing I am checking is that his CA/Ph ratio is correct in his diet. ??

He gets a total of 1.25 # of oats, 1.25 # of barley, 2 cups of whole flax seed, a selenium/vit e supplement, and ABC Fortified vitamins. ?He get unlimited coastal bermuda hay, and one flake of perennial peanut hay a day that is approxamatly 2 #'s or so (I should weigh it...) ?He also gets about 2/3 of a scoop of alfalfa pellets soaked in the evenings. ?I should probably weigh that too. ? I can find the Ca/Ph ratio on the barley, oats, alfalfa, coastal, and peanut hay (it's similar to alfalfa). ?I can't find it on Flax seed. ??

I'm not worried about the coastal hay, it's pretty balanced from what I see, so I am not including that in my calculations. ?Besides, I have no clue how much he actually eats of that. ?He has it in his face 24/7. ?I have done the calculations for the oats and barley, and for the peanut hay. ?That came out to a 1.65:1 ratio of Ca:Ph. ?The vitamins are already balanced. ?So that just leaves the flax as my question mark. ?So, anyone know the Ca/Ph ratio's in flax seed?

?

Juli and the Herd

Alpine (who, between the fly bites and the splints, is currently a bumpy horse)

Merlin (who went on his first ponied trail ride this week and had a ball doing it)

???