114 MAS UAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



well developed fore-arm, it maj be fairly inferred that h<^ 

 has come down from some accidental cause. 



SPLENT, OR SPLINT. 



A splent is an enlargement, or bony excrescence, of some 

 part of the shank-bone, generally in the higher portion of 

 it, and situate in the inside of the leg (plate 6, fig. 1.) 

 This is a complaint to which young horses are most liable ; 

 and it has been generally remarked, that as horses ad- 

 vance in years they gradually diminish, and not unfre- 

 quently disappear altogether. It seldom happens, unless the 

 splent is tolerably large, and encroaches too much upon 

 the knee-joint or the back sinew, that it is productive 

 of lameness, unless the horse happen to strike it with the 

 foot of the other leg. In other instances a splent not 

 larger than a pea may be detected in consequence of being 

 acutely sensitive, and produces such lameness as, without 

 being experienced in this complaint, might lead to the belief 

 that it was quite disproportionate to the cause. 



Cause. — It is difficult to conceive how splent should 

 appear on the outside of the small bones, except we suppose 

 that the space between these bones is occupied by mechanism 

 of an important character. It is much easier to account 

 for their almost exclusive appearance on the inside of tht 

 limb. The inner splent-bone is situate nearer the central 

 part of the body than the other ; and from the nature of its 

 connexion with the knee, it is subject to a greater propor- 

 tion of weight than the outer one, and hence is more liable 

 to injury and inflammation, and consequently inducing this 

 bony deposit, which has been termed splent. The inner 

 bone supports the entire weight, which is transmitted to one 

 of the small knee-bones. It is the only support of that 

 bone, while but a portion of the weight is sustained Ijy 



