86 MANUAL FOR ARMY HORSESHOERS. 



Symptoms. — A fissure in the wall at toe or quarter. The fissure 

 may be shallow and not cause lameness, or it may be a deep one 

 which extends through the thickness of the wall and, owing to 

 pinching of the sensitive laminae, causes lameness, frequently with 

 extensive laceration and hemorrhage. 



Treatment. — First remove the shoe and soften the horn and re- 

 duce the inflammation by cold foot baths or poultices. Then cut 

 away the hard overlapping edges of the horn to prevent the pinching 

 of the laminae. Shorten the toe. lower the wall, and trim away the 

 bearing surface of the wall so that it does not rest on the shoe for half 

 an inch to an inch on each side of the crack (PL XXII). Apply 

 a bar shoe, providing considerable frog pressure, and keep the foot 

 soft and elastic by applying tar, oakum and a leather pad. Keep the 

 wall surface soft, especially over the crack, by daily applications oi 

 pine tar or an oil. Blisters to the coronet are beneficial by stimulating 

 the growth of horn. A run at grass, barefooted, for two or three 

 months is decidedly beneficial. 



In case of toe crack the operation is the same. In shoeing, the 

 wall is cut away at the toe to prevent pressure. A bar shoe, rolled 

 at the toe and with a clip on each side of the crack, is recom.mended. 

 The bar shoe serves two purposes: 



1. Ordinarily it is not possible to drive the proper number of nails 

 on the side of the affected quarter, but the bar keeps the shoe in 

 place on account of the firm nailing on the other side. 



2. The bar gives trog pressure and expansion, which are desirable 

 because quarter cracks usually result from a weak and drawn-in 

 quarter. 



FALSE QUARTKR. 



85. This term is given to a faulty condition of the hoof in which 

 the horn is thin and weak, and extends Irom the coronet to the ground 

 surface of the wall. 



Causes. — Most commonly caused by barbed wire cutting into 

 and destroying the horn secreting layer ol the coronary band. 



Symptoms. — The horn of the affected part is usually concave, 

 rough and scaly in appearance, and is much thinner than the adjacent 

 healthy parts of the wall. Owing to the weakened condition of the 

 wall, cracks may appear when the horn becomes hard and dry and 

 cause lameness. 



Treatment. — This is confined to protection of the weakened 

 area by the use of the bar shoe, remo\ al of pressure, and keeping the 



