Horses and Horsemastership. 23 



whether the enlargement which has been detected is of 

 a bony nature. Recollect that the seat of spavin is 

 usually on the inside of the hock, below the joint and 

 well to the front. It is, however, quite possible for a 

 horse to be afflicted with spavin without showing much 

 visible signs ; such cases are usually of the worst descrip- 

 tion. It does not by any means follow that a horse 

 exhibiting spavins is a useless animal. It is entirely a 

 question of degree. 



SPLINT. — The origin of splint is pretty much the 

 same as spavin. It is an exostosis, and usually forms 

 on the inside of the canon bone, nearer the knee than 

 the fetlock. Its importance entirely depends on its 

 position. A splint which is well forward, and away 

 from the knee, is of small moment, but it may be so 

 placed as to interfere with the tendons, and consequently 

 subject the animal to recurrent lameness. 



A splint rarely appears on the hind legs. It is a 

 curious fact that whereas spavin lameness becomes less 

 apparent (for the time being) if the horse is subjected 

 to exercise, splint lameness becomes accentuated. 



There is no difficulty in finding a splint when w^ell 

 forward, simply because a glance at the canon bone 

 reveals it at once, but as the larger splints are usually 

 fully formed, a horse need not be rejected or trouble 

 with him from that cause be anticipated, provided, as 

 stated abcve. the protuberance is net in a position 



