SPLINT. 341 



tion of those substances ; or, being close to a joint, it may interfere with its action. 

 Splints, then, do not necessarily cause unsoundness, and may not lessen in the 

 slightest degree the action or value of the horse. All depends on their situation. 



The treatment of splints, if it is worth while to meddle with them, is ex- 

 ceedingly simple. The hair should be closely shaved off round the tumour ; a 

 little strong mercurial ointment rubbed in for two days ; and this followed by 

 an active blister. If the splint is of recent formation, it will generally yield 

 to this, or to a second blister. Should it however resist these applications, 

 it can rarely be advisable to cauterize the part, unless the tumour materially 

 interferes with the action of the suspensory ligament, or the flexor tendon ; for 

 it not unfrequently happens, that, although the splint may have apparently 

 resisted this treatment, it will afterwards, and at no great distance of time, begin 

 rapidly to lessen, and quite disappear. There is also a natural process by 

 which the greater part of splints disappear when the horse grows old. 



The hydriodate of potash made into an ointment with lard, and a small 

 quantity of mercurial ointment being added, will frequently cause the disap- 

 pearance of a splint of either sort. 



As for the old remedies, many of them brutal enough, bruising the splint 

 with a hammer, boring it with a gimlet, chipping it off with a mallet, sawing it 

 off, slitting down the skin and periosteum over it, sweating it down with hot oils, 

 and passing setons over it the voice of humanity, and the progress of science, 

 will consign them to speedy oblivion. 



Professor Sewell has introduced a new treatment of splints, which is certainly 

 ingenious, and generally successful. He removes any inflammation about 

 the part by the use of poultices or fomentations, and then, the horse being cast, 

 the operation is commenced by pinching up the skin, immediately above the 

 bony enlargement, with the finger and thumb of the left hand, and with the 

 knife, or lancet, or scissors, making an orifice sufficient to introduce a probe- 

 pointed bistoury, with the edge on the convex side. This is passed under the skin 

 along the whole length of the ossification beneath, cutting through the thickened 

 periosteum down to the bone ; and this being effectually completed by drawing 

 the knife backwards and forwards several times, a small tape or seton is inserted, 

 and if the tumour is of long standing, kept in during a few days. The opera- 

 tion is attended with very slight pain to the animal. Perhaps slight inflam- 

 mation may appear, which subsides in a few days if fomentation is used. The 

 inflammation being removed, the enlargement considerably subsides, and in 

 many cases becomes quite absorbed*. 



The inside of the leg, immediately under the knee, and extending to the head 

 of the inner splint bone, is subject to injury from what is termed the speedy cut. 

 A horse with high action, and in the fast trot, violently strikes this part, either 

 with his hoof or the edge of the shoe. Sometimes bony enlargement is the 

 result, at others great heat and tenderness ; and the pain from the blow seems 

 occasionally to be so great that the horse drops as if he were shot. The only 

 remedy is to take care that no part of the shoe projects beyond the foot ; and to 

 let the inner side of the shoe except the country is very deep, or the horse used 

 for hunting have but one nail, and that near the toe. This part of the hoof, 

 being unfettered with nails, will expand when it comes in contact with the 

 ground, and contract when in air and relieved from the pressure of the weight 

 of the body ; and, although this contraction is to no great extent, it will be suf- 

 ficient to carry the foot harmlessly by the leg. Care should likewise be taken 

 that the shoe is of equal thickness at the heel and the toe, and that the bearing 

 is equal on both sides. 



* Vide Veterinarian, vol. viii. p. 504. 



