240 DISEASES OF BONE. 



on the bone. For this reason, in the examination of a case of 

 obscure lameness, especially if the animal be young, we should 

 never fail to look for the signs of splint lameness, namely : that 

 the lameness at the trot is out of all proportion greater than thai 

 at the walk ; that the animal, usually, fails to bend the knee freely ; 

 and that exercise increases the lameness. The last-mentioned con- 

 dition is also present with corns j but an examination of the foot 

 will determine the question of their existence. Young horses with 

 obscure splints which cause lameness, are sometimes wrongly sus- 

 pected of having navicular disease. To avoid making this mis- 

 take, we should recollect — 1st, that the lameness of navicular 

 disease gets better as the animal becomes warm with exercise ; 

 and 2ndly, that young horses, say, those of five years old and 

 under, very rarely suffer from it. Some horses, by an unusual 

 development in the size of the inner splint bones of their fore 

 legs, appear, at first glance, to have splints on both of them, 

 although the limbs may be free from, any diseased growth of bone. 

 In such a case, the splint bones will feel, to the touch of the 

 fingers, free from any bony deposit. When deciding on such a 

 point, we should carefully observe if the two inner splint bones 

 be of the same size. 



If the swelling which causes the lameness in the case of a recent 

 splint be perceptible, there will usually be heat present, and pain 

 on pressure. 



When training young horses for racing and steeplechasing — ■ 

 during which process I of course made a daily examination of 

 the legs of my charges — I generally found that splints on the 

 fore legs, before becoming manifest to the touch, have an apparent 

 period of incubation, varying, say, from three to six weeks, during 

 which time, the affected leg, below the knee, shows signs of in- 

 flammatory action, as may be evidenced by filling of the sheath 

 of the back tendons, unusual heat, and, in some instances, by 

 the formation of windgalls. The fact of these inflammatory effects 

 disappearing on the completion of the bony growth, taken in 

 conjunction with the history of the respective cases, convinces me 

 that these splints, and probably many other splints, took some 

 weeks to become sufficiently developed to be felt by the hand. 



'['he lameness occasioned by a recently-formed splint is in no 

 way proportional to the size of the deposit; for small splints 

 often cause extreme lameness, while large ones, sometimes, occa- 

 sion little or no inconvenience. In the former case, the lameness 

 is probably due tO' inflammation deeply seated in the bone ; but, 

 in the latter, the increased action may be almost entirely confined 

 to the covering membrane of the bone, which " grows as the 

 tumour grows, and so accommodates itself to the increased super- 



