310 CHAPTER 39. 



men sometimes expect four, and always five year old animals to carry 

 them across country. 



Horses at an early age may no doubt do a certain amount of work, 

 and perhaps may be none the worse for it ; but the work demanded of 

 them is often in excess of the age and capability of the animal. It is 

 mainly from this cause, as we think, that we see so many horses, whose 

 make and shape are unexceptionable, affected with splints. 



The exostosis arising from these and such like causes usually appears 

 about midway between the knee and the fetlock, because the middle is 

 the weakest part in long bones. The reason why it appears on the 

 inside rather than on the outside was explained above in par. 615. 



Defects of conformation are, however, we must remind the reader, in 

 a great degree relative to the work which we require from a horse. Many 

 an animal's legs, for instance, which might stand for years for harness 

 work may be battered to pieces in a short time by hard riding along a 

 road, or strained by hunting in a deep country. 



Though some defect in conformation, or some excess of work rela- 

 tively to age and structure, are the ordinary causes of Splint, yet in some 

 cases the exostosis can be traced to no other causes than an hereditary 

 predisposition to throw out ossific material. In such animals we gene- 

 rally find spavins and other exostoses concurrently with splint. 



Exostoses, not true splints as defined above, are sometimes found on 

 the outside of the leg, wholly unconnected with any of the above causes, 

 which arise from inflammation set up in the bone or periosteum from 

 the effect of a blow, such as a servant may give a horse with the handle 

 of a pitchfork, or the animal may give himself accidentally in the 

 hunting-field or when turned out. 



618. Position of Splints. 



In most cases the Splint, for reasons already given, appears on the 

 inside a little above the centre of the bone between the knee and the 

 fetlock. Special circumstances, however, in some degree vary its position. 

 If, for instance, the incidence of the weight does not fall true on the legs, 

 the exostosis will probably form on that part of the bone or bones on 

 which undue pressure comes ; or if the leg is crooked, the exostoses will 

 be found at that spot where the malformation causes unusual strain. 



Splints, when fully formed and consolidated, do not of themselves, as 

 a rule, cause lameness. They no doubt lessen to a certain degree the 

 elasticity of the tread, but they do not affect the action in any per- 

 ceptible degree. 



The importance of a splint is dependent more on its position in refer- 

 ence to the action of the other leg, or to the passage of the tendons 

 and suspensory ligament, than on its size. If it be so placed that its 

 protuberance is likely to be struck or interfered with by the other leg 

 in action, Splint becomes a serious evil. If it is not so placed, the mere 

 exostosis may be of but little consequence. This question can only be 

 settled by actual experience in the particular horse affected. A splint in 

 One horse from some peculiarity of action may be interfered with by the 



