92 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



SPLENT, OR SPLINT. 



A splent is an enlargement, or bony excrescence, 

 of some part of the shank-bone, generally In the 

 higher portion of it, and situate in the inside of the 

 leg (Plate vi, fig. i). This is a complaint to which 

 young horses are most liable ; and it has been 

 generally remarked, that as horses advance in years 

 they gradually diminish, and not unfrequently dis- 

 appear altogether. It seldom happens, unless the 

 splent is tolerably large, and encroaches too much 

 upon the knee-joint or the back sinew, that it is 

 productive of lameness, unless the horse happen to 

 strike it with the foot of the other leg. In other 

 instances a splent not larger than a pea may be 

 detected in consequence of being acutely sensitive, 

 and produces such lameness as, without being ex- 

 perienced in this complaint, might lead to the belief 

 that it Vv^as quite disproportionate to the cause. 



Cause, — It is difficult to conceive hov/ splent 

 should appear on the outside of the small bones, 

 except we suppose that the space between these 

 bones is occupied by mechanism of an important 

 character. It is much easier to account for their 

 almost exclusive appearance on the inside of the 

 limb. The inner splent-bone is situate nearer the 

 central part of the body than the other ; and from 

 the nature of its connection with the knee, it is 

 subject to a greater proportion of weight than the 

 outer one, and hence is more liable to injury and 

 inflammation, and consequently Inducing this bony 

 deposit, which has been termed splent. The inner 

 bone supports the entire weight, which is transmitted 

 to one of the small knee-bones. It is the only 

 support of that bone, while but a portion of the 



