DISEASES AFFECTING BONES, ETC. 



lameness. Like most other forms of lameness 

 in the horse, it is most manifest when the animal 

 is trotted on hard ground, exhibiting no tendency 

 to disappear as the exercise or work increases. 

 It is impossible to lay down any fixed time 

 for the formation of splint, but it is tolerably 

 certain that such deposition could not occur 

 in a period less than eight or ten days, therefore 

 if a newly purchased hunter proves to have splint 

 on its arrival home, such must have been in exist- 

 ence at the time of purchase. A good deal of liti-» 

 gation has frequently arisen in relation to splint, 

 and the liability of veterinary surgeons has on 

 many occasions been tested as to the passing of 

 a horse for soundness, which, the purchaser has 

 subsequently discovered, had splint at the time 

 of such examination. If sufficient precaution 

 were exercised to discriminate the difference 

 between the fulfilment of a legal obligation and 

 a moral one, very little trouble would ever 

 arise. Legally considered, every horse with 

 splint, no matter in what form, or under what 

 conditions, must be regarded as unsound. 

 Speaking in a practical manner, a horse having 

 splint may be just as useful as one without it, 



159 



