82 THE HORSE 



expected of a horse. They are easily felt as bony 

 exostoses at some position along the course of the 

 splint bones. If a horse has them on both sides 

 of each fore leg, it should be at once rejected as 

 too weak to be of use for hard work. More com- 

 monly only one splint on the inner side of one 

 fore leg will be felt, and in such a case the impor- 

 tant point to consider is its position in relation to 

 the passage of the adjacent tendon. 



Normally, the back of the cannon bone and the 

 two splint bones form a groove for the suspensory 

 ligament. If a splint forms on the inner side of 

 the splint bone, the exostosis may press on the 

 ligament, and the consequent pain will cause a 

 chronic lameness. Again, a splint weU forward 

 and high up on the outside of the fore leg is apt to 

 interfere with the extensor tendon. Some old 

 carriage horses become chronically lame owing to 

 the " growth " of a splint which eventually be- 

 comes so large as to press on the suspensory liga- 

 ment, although for the greater part of life it had 

 given them no trouble. Therefore the position is 

 the chief factor to take into consideration when 

 estimating the gi'avity of this disease. 



Owing to the fragile connection in youth be- 

 tween the metacarpal and splint bones, young 



