206 



HEALTH AND DISEASE 



encroaches on the posterior surface. The degree and character of the 

 lameness will vary with the position of the growth. When situated on 

 the small pastern, within the hoof, the lameness is very considerable, and 

 the foot is brought to the ground with the bearing full on the heel. If 

 it be situated behind, the fetlock joint is partially flexed and the weight 

 is thrown on the toe. In other situations the action is not so conspicuously 

 altered, but in all there is more or less severe lameness, with swelling, heat, 

 and tenderness of the part. 



Treatment. To subdue existing inflammation should be our first aim. 

 In this connection a dose of physic, with perfect rest, and the application of 



hot fomentations and bandaging, must be 

 resorted to; after which a repetition of 

 blisters, or the application of the actual 

 cautery to the pastern, will be required 

 to check further growth of the excre- 

 scence and to effect its reduction. A 

 long rest is often needed before pain 

 and lameness are removed, and in many 

 instances this desired result is never 

 attained. 



SPLINT 



Splint (fig. 315) is a bony excrescence 

 situated on or near the small splint 

 bones, and is often the means of per- 

 manently uniting the latter to the canon. 

 Not fewer than 90 per cent of our light 

 horses suffer from this ailment, but a 

 large proportion of this number acquire 

 it without suffering any inconvenience. 

 Splints may be situated on the inner or 

 the outer part of the limb, but in the great majority of cases they occupy 

 the first-named position. Some are placed well forward, while others are 

 situated quite at the back of the leg. In the former position they are not 

 of much importance, but in the latter they usually prove troublesome, and 

 provoke most acute and lasting lameness by encroaching upon and irri- 

 tating the ligaments and tendons there situated. These growths assume 

 a variety of forms. Sometimes they are very prominent and project from 

 a narrow base, at others they are quite flat and diffused, and consequently 

 with difficulty recognized. There may be only one large one, or several 

 smaller ones may exist, placed one below another along the course of the 



Fig. 315. Splint 

 A, Exposed Splint. B, Splint covered by Skin. 



