SPLINTS. 299 



and the horse is not severely worked. It is commonly remarked 

 that a splint is of no consequence unless its situation is such as to 

 intei fere with the back siuews, or suspensory ligament, and although 

 it is quite true, as has been asserted by learned veterinarians, that 

 the splint is far removed from the former, and seldom interferes 

 with the latter, yet it is almost always directly connected with the 

 attachments of the sheath of the tendon, and this being stretched 

 every time the leg is extended will occasion the pain which is ex- 

 pressed by the limp in the action. The size of the morbid growth 

 has no relation with the amount, or even with the existence of 

 lameness, for a very small splint will often be far more productive 

 of this symptom than a very large one. In examining a leg it is 

 often only after careful manipulation in the flexed condition that 

 a small bony tumor (of the size perhaps only of a garden pea) can 

 be detected, but when once the fiuger presses upon it, the horse 

 will almost invariably be found to flinch, and usually it will be 

 thrown out just where the sheath of the tendon is attached. Here 

 there is no union between the small and large metacarpal bones, 

 and the injury is confined to the inflammation produced in the 

 sheath, which will generally go off after proper treatment and rest. 

 These small bony growths are not very uncommonly met with in 

 the hind legs, but they are not recognised there as splints. No 

 constitutional symptoms are met with in these cases, and they must 

 be ascertained by the local symptoms alone. Unless the splint is 

 in the way of the action of the other foot, and the skin on its sur- 

 face is bruised by repeated blows, there is seldom any swelling of 

 the soft parts, but when this occurs, the skin and cellular mem- 

 brane become puffed and hot, and extreme lameness is the result, 

 temporarily aggravated by every blow. 



The treatment of a splint will depend upon the state in which 

 it exists, and upon the purpose to which the horse possessing it is 

 destined. If no lameness exists, and the blemish is not objected 

 to, it is far better not to meddle with it, for in the course of a few 

 years it will disappear by absorption as a matter of course. 

 Moreover it often happens that in attempting to remove a splint 

 by some irritating application, extensive inflammation is set up in 

 the fibrous strictures attached to it, and lameness, which was not 

 previously in existence, is thenceforth a most troublesome attend- 

 ant. If, however, the horse is for sale, in which case the exist- 

 ence of a splint would be regarded with suspicion, or if lameness 

 has shown itself, it will be necessary to adopt measures likely to 

 effect the absorption of the morbid growth, and these are chiefly 

 two : — 1st, Sub-cutaneous scarification, or without, a seton, or the 

 seton alone ; and 2d. Counter-irritation by means of some form of 

 blister. If the soft parts covering the splint are much inflamed, 

 the horse should have his corn taken away, and a dose of physic 



