192 THE VETERINARY SCIENCE, 



pasture, move him to a good, high pasture field, and give a tea- 

 spoonful of sulphate of iron in some oats twice a day to build the 

 system up and overcome the disease. 



SPLINTS. 



This is a bony enlargement on the inside ot the leg, between 

 the knee and fetlock, and is sometimes noticed to affect the out- 

 side of the leg, and it is noticed to affect the bones of the hind 

 legs, below the hock joint, either on the inside or outside. Any 

 enlargement of the bone along the places mentioned comes under 

 the name of splint. 



Causes. — Certain breeds of animals are more liable to splints 

 than others. For instance, horses with small, weak bones below 

 the knees, or colts that are very fat, and heavy on their legs, are 

 -the most liable to splints. Driving or riding colts on hard roads, 

 or working them on hard roads. Horses that are driven on the 

 pavements of large cities are very apt to have splints, from shoe- 

 ing too heavy; or from the animal striking his foot against the 

 other leg in traveling. In all of these cases, whether it is due to 

 hard roads, or from striking the leg with anything, inflammation 

 will set in between the bone and the covering of the bone, then 

 there is a deposit of bony matter, this is what causes the enlarge- 

 ment and soreness. When the splint affects both sides of one leg 

 it is called a double splint. 



Symptoms. — At first it is a little hard to detect, but when the 

 splint gets any size it is very easy to tell what is wrong, and when 

 a young horse goes lame on the hard road it is well to examine 

 for splints. The lameness has a peculiarity about it, when the 

 animal is walking he walks perfectly sound, and he also stands on 

 the leg as if nothing was wrong, but when you come to trot him 

 he will be very lame, and he will drop and raise his head to a 

 great extent. Always bear in mind that when a lame horse is 

 trotting his head goes down when he strikes his weight on the 

 sound leg, he does this in trying to favor the lame leg, and in all 

 cases, no matter how sure you are about the part the horse is 

 lame in, examine the foot to see there is no nail in it. 



Treatment. — As a general thing it is successful. Keep the 

 horse from work as much as possible, and if in summer time 

 bathe the leg in cold water with a little salt in it ; do this a couple 

 of times a day, and after rubbing dry, apply the white liniment ; 

 keep at this treatment until you get the inflammation and sore- 



