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Treatment. — In recent cases, apply cold, as directed for 

 splint; but in protracted cases, when the joint is extensively 

 affected, hot fomentations afford more relief, by promoting 

 exudation. Where these do not succeed, blisters or firing, 

 or the insertion of a seton, is advisable. The farriers' oils, 

 and other remedies in vogue for this and similar lamenesses, 

 act merely like blisters, and not, as is popularly believed, by 

 extracting the bony deposit. Pain and lameness cease when 

 the deposit is consolidated, and the limb becomes tolerably 

 serviceable, although usually stiffened from the want of free 

 movement between the small bones of the hock. 



SPLINT 



Is a bony enlargement, technically called an exostosis, 

 situated usually below the knee, and between the large and 

 small splint bones, generally on the inside of the limb, and 

 most common in horses employed at fast work, and that 

 have been much on the road whilst young. Occasionally 

 they appear in young growing horses, almost without being 

 observed, and seldom cause much lameness unless when 

 rapidly deposited. When occurring on both sides of the 

 limb, and especially when accompanied by bony enlarge- 

 ments about the pasterns, they indicate weakness, a ten- 

 dency to bony growths, and a consequent liability to lame- 

 ness. When immediately underneath the knee, the splint is 

 most apt to interfere with the movements of the joint, and 

 cause lameness. In all cases the evil commences in the 

 periosteum — the tough vascular membrane investing the 

 bone. Inordinate exertion, especially concussion, in badly 

 shaped limbs, drives to it an over supply of blood, the parts 

 become hot and tender, and lymph is exuded from the in- 

 flamed vessels, and gradually converted into bone. The 

 animal indicates these changes by his dropping gait, espe- 

 cially noticeable at the trot, and upon a hard road. 



