DISEASES OF BONES 187 



the large cannon-bone, on either the near or off fore 

 Hmb, or both fore. The sphnt, i.e. the deposit of bone, 

 is the legacy or result of a circumscribed inflammation 

 of the bone and bone skin — possibly of the ligament as 

 well — or all these structures, usually appearing a short 

 distance below the knee. There is a ligament between 

 the large cannon-bone and the splint-bones, and it often 

 happens that splint forms just where this ligament is, 

 consequently some authorities have regarded splint as 

 an ossification of the interosseous ligament. To a certain 

 extent this theory is tnie, but sometimes it bears no 

 relation to the actual seat of the trouble. Splint may 

 develop in any breed of horse and at any age, but it 

 commonly makes its appearance in young horses, and in 

 such breeds as hackneys, thoroughbreds, hunters, trotters, 

 cobs, and ponies generally, and very often in van horses. 

 There are many thoroughly practical horsemen who 

 feel amused when you tell them that a horse has got a 

 spUnt and that it will be necessary to reject the animal 

 on the ground of unsoundness, but it must be borne in 

 mind that there are splints and splints. There is the 

 splint which is harmless and there is the spHnt which 

 produces irreparable damage and lameness until the 

 unfortunate animal finds its way into the copper, 

 where disease ceases to trouble, and the animal is for ever 

 at rest. 



Sometimes there is a large splint, and in other in- 

 stances numerous very small ones, situated in the 

 channel at the back of the cannon bone, and it is splints 

 of this kind which often lead to an incurable lameness. 

 The reader must understand that the suspensory ligament 

 runs at the back of the cannon bone and the roughened 

 surfaces of the splinty growth or growths are very liable 

 to injure the ligament by abrading its surface. When 

 splints of the nature referred to have been formed, they are 

 sometimes situated immediately, below the knee, and very 

 difficult to detect ; in fact, it is impossible for an amateur 



