The horse, could it only speak, would have sufficient cause to overwhelm man with its injuries. It is to be hoped that He who heeds not language, but reads the heart, will not peruse the horror written on that of the most contented and sweetest-dispositioned of man's many slaves. It is true, colts have spavin and splints. Creatures, whose days of bitterness are as yet to come, exhibit exostoses; but these blemishes are the sad inheritances of the cruel service exacted by thoughtless masters from the progenitors of the deformed. Nature gave the horse a fibro-cartilaginous or elastic union to particular bones, so that all its motions might be bounding and graceful. The animal, thus formed, was presented to man; but the gift was not prized by him to whom it was given. The authority possessed was abused. The capability of the horse was only measured by what it was able, at the risk of its life, to perform. The most humane of modern proprietors is an ignorant tyrant to his graceful bond-servant. The most meek of owners likes his horse to possess high action. The consequence is, the leg, lifted from the ground to the highest possible point, is forcibly driven again to the earth. This pace is imposed upon a creature so docile, it only seeks to learn that which pleases its master, and, in the entirety of its confidence, never mistrusts its instructor. The lesson is learned. The animal soon becomes proud to exhibit its acquirement. High action, however--especially that kind of action the horse is taught to exemplify--soon deranges the system. It breeds inflammation in the fibro-cartilaginous tissues, upon which its chief strain is felt. The union between the splint bones and the cannon, or between the shin-bone and the accessories, one on either side, speedily becomes converted into osseous matter. However, man cannot say to nature, "Thus far shalt thou go, and no farther," otherwise the alteration of structure, if unseen, might distress the horse, but would little affect the owner. A diseased action, once started up, is apt to involve other parts than those in which it originated. Thus, a splint is strictly an exostosis or bony tumor on the inner and lower part of the knee-joint; but there are found to be others which this definition will not embrace. Here, for instance, are the ordinary kinds of splint to be seen, more or less, in every animal subject to man's usage. [Illustration: THE DIFFERENT KINDS OF SPLINT. 1. A high splint, near the knee. 2. A low splint, far from the knee. 3. A small bony growth on the front of the leg, which is also called a splint. ]