24 Horses and Horsemastership 



likelv to cause lameness. It is, however, in the detec- 

 tion of a splint which has just commenced to form, and 

 which as vet exhibits no objective sign, that one's 

 experience is tested. It must be borne in mind that in 

 the majority of cases the horse may walk to all appear- 

 ance quite sound, and yet trot "dead lame."' That is 

 usually a sure indication of splint trouble. But to 

 locate it. get an assistant to hold up the leg opposite the 

 suspected one, so that the horse is obliged to brace the 

 tendons of the latter. Pass the first and second finger 

 carefully along the groove formed by the inner small 

 metacarpal and the canon bones, and if the least 

 irregularitv or unevenness is revealed to the touchy 

 there, in all probability, is the splint. 



As the cause and effect are similar to those of spavin, 

 so must the treatment be. Rest and cold application 

 in the first place, followed by severer measures if these 

 fail. A sweating bandage is greatly favoured by some. 

 An crdinarv linen bandage is soaked in ice-cold water 

 and placed on the leg: this is covered with oiled silk, 

 and this in turn with an ordinary woollen bandage. It 

 is a peculiarity of all bony deposits that they decrease 

 in size as the animal increases in age. 



EIXGBOXE is the name given to a bony deposit 

 which, from similar causes to spavin and splint, may 

 form on the pastern bone, and involvins: either the 

 jDastern cr coffin joints. If the deposit affects the bones 



