HORSES: THEIR POINTS AND MANAGEMENT 



splint bones -under co\'er of the ligamentous and tendinus, 

 structures passing down the cannon. These are not an unknown 

 cause of an " occult " (hidden) splint lameness. 



The writer has known this statement to be verihed, after 

 death, in a mare that was suspected as being lame from this 

 cause for years. 



The roughened surfaces of the splints are liable to injure the 

 soft structures playing over them. The term asperous (rough) 

 is applicable when the surface of the splinty deposit has a 

 roughened and undulatory character. A double or " pegged " 

 splint is one in which the duplex deposit is connected by a 

 strand of the same diseased material. The lighter breeds of 

 horses are the chief subjects of splint, probably because 

 of the greater movements their limbs are called upon to exe- 

 cute. Hereditary predisposition is, by many, regarded as a 

 cause in its production. 



Evidence to disprove the truth of this statement is by 

 no means of a positive character ; in fact, rather the reverse. 

 By some, splint is regarded as a transformation of the liga- 

 ment (between the cannon and splint bone) into bone (intra- 

 ossification), which is probably correct when the splinty 

 deposit is confined to this situation. Obviously, it is incorrect 

 when the seat of the deposit is situated upon the front, etc., 

 of the cannon. Splint, in its broadest sense, is the legacy of 

 inflammation in connection with the covering of the bone 

 {periosteum), the bone, or a dual inflammation of these struc- 

 tures, and the causes are, in the main, injuries, applied directly 

 or indirectly ; the latter being brought about through unequal 

 distribution of pressure. Lameness arising through splint, 

 is chiefly seen at the time when the area of disease is acutely 



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