DISEASES OF BONES 207 



splint-bone. When involving the knee, splints interfere with the flexion, 

 or bending, of the joint, and may occasion permanent disablement. 



The degree of lameness is not always proportionate to the size of the 

 growth. Splints sometimes develop to a large size without occasioning 

 trouble, while very small ones, when backwardly placed, may give rise to 

 the most acute and abiding lameness. 



Causes. Splints are hereditary in a very high degree more so, 

 perhaps, than any other affection of the limbs. They usually appear 

 between the ages of two and five years, but they are by no means rare in 

 yearlings, and may occasionally be seen in foals. Owing to the great pre- 

 disposition to them inherited by our horses, they are easily provoked to 

 growth by too early work, and the imposition of heavy weights on the backs 

 of the young and immature. Blows inflicted by one leg upon the other 

 occasionally cause splints, and many cases are referrible to the concussion 

 or jar induced by the high-beating action which some animals display. 



How far conformation and indifferent shoeing may take part in the 

 production of splint it is difficult to say, but there are reasons for the belief 

 that they operate as inducing causes. 



Symptoms. Although, as a rule, splints are obvious enough either to 

 the sight or touch, this is by no means always the case. In some instances 

 the greatest care in the manipulation of the limb is required to detect 

 them, and occasionally they evade the most diligent search. This is 

 especially the case when they are small and placed on the posterior 

 aspect of the limb. In the early period of their formation, while the 

 periosteum or covering of the bone is still inflamed, pressure applied to 

 the splint induces pain, and causes the animal to jerk away the leg forcibly. 

 Abnormal heat may or may not be discernible at this time. 



Pain, however, in the splint itself is not always necessary to splint 

 lameness. In many instances the defective action remains after all inflam- 

 mation has subsided in the bone. In these cases impaired movement is 

 mainly due to mechanical irritation excited in the tendons and ligaments 

 on which the projecting splint encroaches. The lameness resulting from 

 this disease affects the action in various ways, according to the situation 

 of the growth. 



When the splint is at the back of the shin the knee is imperfectly 

 flexed, and the movement of the limb is consequently stiff and short. 

 When it encroaches on the knee the same imperfect action is observed, 

 with the addition that the limb is slightly abducted or thrown outward' at 

 each step. Splint lameness is aggravated by the jar of hard ground. 



Treatment. On the first appearance of lameness from this cause the 

 horse should cease to work, and be placed in a well-littered box. A dose 



