588 SAND-CRACK. 



ence of bad shoeing for its production, with this differ- 

 ence however, that a predisposition almost always prevails 

 with horses in whose feet sand-cracks appear, and occurring 

 in those with weak feet, such as have been bred where 

 hard or firm sound soil, and liberty to range over it, has 

 been wanting. English horses generally are, of all domes- 

 ticated breeds, the least subject to sand-crack of any that 

 we know of, either European or Oriental ; and this obser- 

 vation holds good, though our horses be taken to distant 

 countries at an early age : the immunity follows on a 

 perfect development of the whole foot with the growth of 

 the horse. 



Some notion may be formed of the acute pain which the 

 smallest bursting of the cuticle and hoof at the coronet 

 gives, by those who have been exposed to causes giving 

 rise to cracks at the base of the nail; which, however, 

 it should be remarked, is insignificant, with our hands 

 moving freely, compared to the forced exertion on the 

 ground such as the horse's foot undergoes. A small sand- 

 crack soon acquires larger dimensions, contiguous parts take 

 on inflammation, and swell ; the wound gapes, and though 

 no additional splitting of the hoof occurs, the length of the 

 fissure seems increased by the stretching, and is actually 

 increased daily by the growth of the hoof , with no pos- 

 sibility of its reunion. Unrelieved, the case becomes worse, 

 blood issues under exertion, and, as the wound advances, 

 with some partially effective attempts to relieve it ; nature, 

 always provident in fencing out extraneous matter, forms a 

 secretion of horn in the bottom of the crack, giving rise to 

 an inner ridge, or, as the French call it a seam ; to get rid 

 of which, they remove the wall at the quarter, which, 

 is a formidable, tedious, and we believe uncalled-for pro- 

 cedure. 



