Carrying the hand down the front of the canon, one not unfrequently finds here in young thoroughbreds soreness, with bony deposit (sore shins), which is distinctly an unsoundness.

As the hand travels along, the tips of the fingers should be made to grip lightly the inner splint-bone and its connection with the canon in search of splints, which will be recognized as small nodosities or lumps either upon the splint-bone or at its junction with the canon. As to whether a splint is an unsoundness, this will depend upon a variety of circumstances; but it is well to understand that it is not necessarily so, or, in other words, that a horse may have a splint and yet be in a legal sense sound. If, however, it should cause lameness at the time, or be in such a position, or of such a size, or of such a form as to do so in the future, the horse would be unsound. The most objectionable position in which a splint can form is at the upper part of the canon, behind and below the knee, where it is bound to encroach upon and interfere with the suspensory ligament. A large splint behind the leg in any position may do the same, or even encroach upon the flexor tendons, where a small one might be perfectly harmless. A small sharp-pointed or asperous splint is more likely to injure parts contiguous with it than one having a round, smooth surface. Further, a splint may be quite out of the way of all tendons and ligaments, but of such a size and in such a position as to render it liable to be struck by the opposite limb. It is, therefore, of the first importance that these points be well considered in carrying on an examination of this region. It should, moreover, be kept in mind that splints, which, by virtue of one or another of these forms, are very objectionable in young animals, are much less so in older ones, where the parts about the splint have by time accommodated themselves to the encroachment of the bony growth.