44 THE NEW POCKET FARRIER. 



horse that all at once leaps from one side to the other, is 

 neither safe nor agreeable, and we would advise the 

 owner of such an animal, if he has any consideration 

 for his own neck, to get rid of him as soon as possible, 

 for whoever undertakes to break a horse of this trick 

 endangers his life to an imminent desrree.. 



When riding a horse of this kind, however, in all 

 cases treat him with the utmost gentleness ; neither beat 

 him nor speak harshly to him during his fright, but 

 make him advance gently to the object — this treatment 

 will in time (with some horses) give them confidence 

 and free them from their foolish fears. 



TO CURE THE SPLINTS. 



The splint is a fixed hard excrescence or knob, grow- 

 ing upon the flat of the in or outside (and sometimes 

 both) of the shank bone ; a little under, and not far from 

 the knee, and may be seen and felt. 



Splints when buried within the tendons are apt to 

 lame a horse seriously ; but, if situated on the plain 

 bone, unless very large, they seldom do injury ; and if 

 a splint be early attended to it is not very difficult to 

 remove. 



Some practitioners rub the splint with a round stick 

 till the part is almost raw, and then touch it with oil of 

 origanum. Others lay on a pitch plaster, with a small 

 quantity of sublimate or arsenic, to corrode and eat the 

 substance away. Others again use butter of antimony, 

 or oil of vitriol, and some tincture of cantharides. All 

 of which methods have at times succeeded ; but they are 

 most, if not all, apt to leave an ugly scar behind, with 

 the loss of all the hair on the part. Blaine recom- 

 mends the swelling to be rubbed night and morning for 



