il6 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



tlie splent will begin to lessen, and eventually disappear 

 altogether. In fact most splents disappear hy absorption 

 wlien the horse begins to get old. 



SPEEDY CUT. 



This is an injury inflicted on the inside of the leg, just 

 below the knee-joint, and extending to the head of the 

 inner splent- bone. Horses of high action are liable to this 

 injury, by severely striking this part with the edge of the 

 shoe when they are trotting at a speedy rate. This, in 

 some instances, occasions a bony enlargement, and in others 

 considerable tenderness and great heat in the adjacent 

 parts. Sometimes the pain inflicted is so great that the 

 horse will suddenly drop as if life were extinct. 



Remedies. — The only thing required is to prevent the 

 shoe from extending beyond the hoof ; and the shoe should 

 have only one nail on the inside of the foot, and that 

 placed near the toe. Let the shoe also be of equal thick- 

 ness at the heel and toe, and formed so that the foot may 

 bear equally on both sides, 



KNEE-TIED. 



In some instances, when the trapezium or hinder bone 

 of the knee is not sufficiently prominent, the ligamentous 

 ring by which the tendons are bound together, will confine 

 the flexor tendons of the foot so tightly that the leg will be 

 very deficient in depth under the knee. This is known by 

 the phrase, that the horse is " tied below the knee." This 

 defect has always been found to limit the speed of the 

 animal, as well as its endurance. If such a horse is ridden 

 either fast or far, he is almost certain of being seized with a 

 sprain of the back sinews. This is caused by the pressure 

 of the ring producing such a degree of friction as will 



