SPLINT. 257 



it thereby interrupts the motion of the leg ; but what way soever 

 it come thither, it is certain that a splint joining to the knee 

 lameth the horse." The " excrescence" upon the knee, Solleysell 

 tells us, " is called an osselet :" adding, that such " grows upon the 

 inner side of the knee, never upon the outer ;" and that " some 

 horses have two of them, one upon each leg." To splinter spavin, 

 or by whatever name the disease may be called, in the form now 

 under our consideration, there can be no doubt but that too little 

 attention has been devoted by veterinary practitioners : we there- 

 fore invite their observation to the subject, while we refer them 

 for further information on it to an excellent article on " Carpitis," 

 published by Mr. Arthur Cherry, in THE VETERINARIAN, vol. xviii, 

 p. 601-607. 



The Cause of Splint, now that its nature has been deve- 

 loped, will on reflection strike us to consist in any thing that may 

 occasion undue or sudden pressure upon the splint bone, whereby 

 the fibro-cartilaginous union between it and the cannon bone is 

 stretched or strained, and so has its capillary circulation increased 

 in such manner or measure that conversion of it into bone is the 

 result, followed or not by exostosis as the case may be. Over- 

 weight or over-action at a tender age is the ordinary cause of this. 

 In the anxiety there is to bring young horses into use, in the pre- 

 cocious practice of breaking and racing and hunting that exists, 

 we cannot feel surprised at unperfected parts giving way, or being 

 re-constructed in a different manner from the original design. Nature 

 is forced beyond her powers, and, finding that the soft and elastic 

 material placed for a certain wise purpose between the splint and 

 cannon bones insufficient against weight and force, osseous mate- 

 rial is substituted for it. Even before breaking or using the colt 

 commences, however, the mischief may be perpetrated. A gallop, 

 a jump, a gambol in the field or the yard, may, even in the foal, 

 occasion the throwing out of splint. Again, a blow or other ex- 

 ternal injury may produce a splint, though this is comparatively a 

 rare case. To whatsoever cause, however, it be referrible, the 

 fact is notorious enough, that hardly any horse completes his 

 fifth year without splint, either latent or demonstrable ; for, as 



VOL. IV. L 1 



