104 EXAMINATION OF HORSES 
the lower’ part of the knee was, as he pointed out to 
them, jl/ed up, so. that instead of there being a slight 
depression, as in sound horses, the lower part of the knee 
had no well-defined border. On running the hand over 
these parts you will, under such circumstances, fail to 
detect a splint if you are not careful, but a comparison. 
of the two knees, seen from the front, always. discloses 
the ailment. Splints, in their usual situation, in the 
upper two-thirds of the cannon bone on the inside, are 
to be judged according to their age, but more especially 
‘according to the age of the horse. I never yet heard of 
a good horseman thinking any worse of a horse because 
of his having a single splint favourably situated and 
thoroughly formed, provided the horse was sound in 
every other point, and wot less than seven years old. 
Splints, wherever situated, lame horses during their for- 
mation, but after they are once well formed, they hardly 
ever cause lameness, unless they encroach upon an impor- 
tant structure. Their sizes are various, being often no 
larger than a small split bean, but are occasionally seen 
the size of half an orange; when situated at the back 
of the bone and between the two small splint bones 
‘they are often moulded by the parts which press upon 
them, and so interfere with these parts less than one 
would at first suppose. Their being single or multiple 
on the same bone is of little importance if well situated 
and fully formed. Should they encroach upon and inter- 
fere with either the tendon or ligament, they are a grave 
defect. 
