114 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRfERY. 
well developed fore-arm, it may be fairly inferred that he 
has come down from some accidental cause. 
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 6, fig. 1.) 
This is a complaint to which young horses are most liable ; 
and it has been generally remarked, that as horses ad¬ 
vance in years they gradually diminish, and not unfre- 
quently disappear 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 experienced in this complaint, might lead to the belief 
that it was quite disproportionate to the cause. 
Cause. —It is difficult to conceive how 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 
connexion with the knee, it is subject to a greater propor¬ 
tion 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 weight is sustained by 
