SPLINTS.
Cause.—This disease is chiefly produced by trotting or running on hard ground, etc. It is evident that horses with high knee action and heavy bodies are more liable to this disease. Jumping is also a common cause of splints, but the more accustomed a horse is to jumping the less liable he is to throw splints, because practice teaches the animal to regulate his movements so as to more or less diminish the disagreeable if not actually painful effect of concussion.
Symptoms.—A splint is detected by grasping the horse’s leg with the fingers upon one side and the thumb upon the other, and tracing the inner and outer splint bones from their heads downward to their tapering extremities. Any actual enlargement will at once arrest the hand; any rising or irregularity will create suspicion and lead to close examination. Horses, especially young ones which have lately been put to work, not infrequently develop splints before any swelling appears. For this reason, in examining a case of obscure lameness, particularly if the animal is young, do not fail to look for the sign of splint lameness, namely; that the lameness is abnormally greater at a trot than at a walk and that the animal usually fails to bend the knees freely and grows worse with exercise. The last mentioned condition is also present with corns, but an examination of the foot will determine the question of their existence. In young horses splints are sometimes mistaken for coffin-joint lameness or navicular disease. To avoid this error, it should be remembered that, when brought on by navicular disease, the action of the limb improves with exercise; also that horses of five years of age or less very rarely suffer from coffin-joint disease. Some horses, owing to unusual development of the inner splint bones of the fore legs may appear to have splints, although careful examination may prove both limbs to be free from any bony deposit. When deciding such a point, note if the two inner splint bones are of the same size. Any swelling perceptible in a limb recently affected with splint-lameness is usually attended by heat and pain.
Treatment.—If there is heat present, foment with hot or cold water; when heat has subsided, apply the following ointment: Red Iodide of Mercury, two drams; Turpentine, twenty drops; Lard two ounces, and mix. Apply every forty-eight hours until three applications have been applied. Rub in for twenty minutes each time.
During this treatment use the horse for slow work on soft roads, etc. As a rule the splints will not disappear at once, but gradually. I may add that common splints are not considered an unsoundness.