896 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



When a splint is not situated immediately under a tendon, 

 or contiguous to ligamentary matter, it occasions no lame- 

 ness. The veterinary practitioner should, therefore, in his 

 consideration of the consequences in these cases, be guided 

 in a great measure by the situation of the splint. If placed 

 in front, it is productive of much less injury than when 

 placed behind ; for, as already pointed out, in this latter 

 case the swellings may press on the ligaments, or interfere 

 with the tiexor tendons. For the same reason also, a splint 

 placed at the lower end of the cannon is still more pre- 

 judicial than when situated higher up the leg. It is not 

 uncommon to attribute that lameness to a splint which is 

 dependent on other causes. A fully developed splint never 

 lames, unless it interferes with a tendon or ligament. A 

 splint, in the course of formation, however, may produce the 

 most acute lameness, and often does so in young horses. A 

 splint, also, by its situation, may excite inflammation in the 

 ligaments and tendons themselves. As a splint is neither 

 more nor less than a conversion of fibro-cartilage into bone, 

 once formed, it can never be entirely removed ; nevertheless, 

 from the absorption common in later periods of life, the 

 splints often diminish in bulk, or, as farriers call it, " wear 

 away." 



Treatment — As we have just said, "a splint once is a 

 splint always." Periosteotomy, or division of the skin 

 which covers the bone, is the modern treatment for splints. 

 It may be thus described : The horse is cast, and the leg 

 straightened and j^roperly secured. A small opening is then 

 made just below the splint, sufficient to introduce a long, 

 narrow, convex, probe-pointed knife, the edge of which is 

 on the convex side. This knife is passed under the skin, 

 and by drawing it backwards and forwards the periosteum 

 is completely divided. A small opening is then made 

 through the skin above the splint, and a narrow seton passed 

 from one orifice to the other, after which a bandage is 

 placed on the leg and the horse released. The seton is 

 moved daily and dressed with digestive ointment, and at 

 the end of a week removed and the wound allowed to heal. 

 Our own dictum on splints which do not involve lameness, 

 is to let them alone ; or, if the horse goes slightly stiff, to 

 apply a little tincture of cantharides, which may be repeated 

 if benefit is derived from it. 



In the olden time, dreadful measures were adopted with 



