278 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



tread — is reduced. They may be successfully 

 treated, if taken in time, by blistering or firing. 

 A horse subject to them may be reasonably sus- 

 pected of being disposed to contract ring-bone, 

 and careful shoeing, as for ring-bone, is therefore 

 advisable. 



Splint is of very common occurrence. There 

 are, in fact, but very few horses which have been 

 subjected to hard work, especially roadwork, 

 which are perfectly free from it. It is a de- 

 posit of bony matter on the bone of the leg, 

 invariably on the fore-leg, and nearly always on 

 its inner side. It is generally caused by the 

 irritation set up by concussion. As in the case of 

 a broken limb, a certain amount of inflammation is 

 necessary, in order that fresh bone, or what answers 

 to bone (viz., callus), may be thrown out for the 

 purpose of uniting the fractured bone ; so undue 

 irritation, causing inflammation, brings about a super- 

 fluous deposit on the sound limb, and thereby renders 

 it unsound. This deposit being lodged between the 

 bone itself and the skin, or, as it is termed, the 

 periosteum which covers it, causes severe pain and 

 lameness. If the deposit is lodged well forward on 

 the leg so as not to implicate what are termed the 

 ' splint-bones ' themselves, or to interfere with the 

 action of the tendons, or so placed as not to be 



