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this they mean, as I believe they generally do, 

 that those little tubercles or excrescences on the 

 bone which usually go by the general name of 

 splents, are immaterial, perhaps they are right; but 

 nevertheless, I should alv^ays regard their appear- 

 ance as a serious blemish, if I found them near the 

 knee-joint, or seated in the posterior part of the leg, 

 or wherever situated, if so large as to be prominent, 

 and distinctly visible to the eye. As regards the 

 pleasantness of a horse, it is just as disagreeable 

 to ride one that you think will fall, as one that is 

 already a professed stumbler ; and you never can 

 feel perfectly secure with a splent under you, wher- 

 ever it may appear. It certainly, however, would 

 not be deemed unsoundness, if the animal was not 

 actually lame. Dealers will tell you, ay, and swear 

 to it stoutly, that they frequently disappear after 

 a year or two, or even a few months. That casual 

 swellings, and perhaps of a callous nature, may do 

 so, I will not deny ; but, if I am right in assuming 

 the real splent to be an unnatural ossification of 

 the membrane that covers the bone, or of the sur- 

 rounding integuments, I believe that it will never 

 disappear, and on the contrary, has a constant 

 tendency to increase. I must in candour, however, 

 admit a fact that rather militates against my posi- 

 tion, — that splents are not commonly found in old 



