190 



Common Diseases of the Horse 



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Splint, although undoubtedly hereditary, is not nearly so 

 serious a disease as any of those previously enumerated. Indeed, 

 in the majority of cases, it causes very little trouble, and in some 

 animals may be entirely disregarded. The class of horse and 

 the position of the splint must be the guide in determining 

 whether the animal's usefulness will be interfered with. In cart 

 horses, splint seldom or never causes lameness; in a long ex- 

 perience in the examination 

 of a very large number of 

 cart horses the writer has 

 never known it to cause any 

 trouble, so that in dealing 

 with this disease it is not 

 proposed to include heavy 

 horses in the following ob- 

 servations. 



The class of animals 

 affected are light horses, par- 

 ticularly finely-bred ones with 

 long cannon bones and pas- 

 terns, narrow in their knees 

 and chests. In short, while 

 all light horses are subject 

 to it, and many do suffer 

 slightly, the "weed" is in- 

 finitely the most susceptible 

 to the disease. 



Splints may be found on 

 any part of the cannon; they 

 occur more often in the fore 

 than in the hind limbs, and 

 also on the inside more often 

 than the outside. The posi- 

 tion in which they occur determines whether or not they will 

 cause lameness. In most cases they must be regarded as a 

 throwing out of bone, the result of inflammation of the bone 

 or its covering, caused by injury or overwork. Especially is this 

 so in young horses whose frames have not arrived at maturity. 

 They do not cause any trouble when placed in a forward position 

 on the bone, but they must be regarded as serious when so far 

 back as to interfere with the action of the tendon which runs down 

 the back of the leg. 



The chief cause is concussion, and the reason for their being 



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Splint 

 A, Exposed splint. B, Splint covered by skin. 



