SAND CRACKS 



Sand Crack. 



into a bad state, and hence there is always a prospect of 

 its appearance in brittle hoofs. It comes on very gradually, 



but when the fissure once appears 

 it quickly increases, until it some- 

 times extends down to the shoe, 

 the inner parts of the foot being 

 exposed. 



Treatment. — The first course to 

 take is to check the progress of 

 the crack, and this can generally 

 be done by cutting a groove in the 

 wall of the hoof below the lowest 

 extremity of the fissure. The shoe 

 should be removed, and if the horse 

 can still be worked, the wall of the 

 foot under where the crack exists 

 should be pared away, so that it will not touch the shoe 

 if it is replaced, and by this course pressure will be removed 

 from the crack, but it will be better to use a bar-shoe. Then 

 the edges of the crack should be pared away, as otherwise 

 they will never unite, and the fissure may be fomented or 

 poulticed in order to reduce the inflammation and encourage 

 any matter which may have formed to drain away. A mild 

 purge should also be administered and the horse placed on a 

 cooling diet. When the pain and inflammation cease, it often 

 occurs that though the horse may be workably sound in other 

 respects, the crack in his hoof constitutes a danger, as it may 

 open and shut. In order to bring the two edges as close 

 together as possible, small notches should be cut near the 

 top of the crack and about \ inch from it, and long shoeing 

 nails driven through the horn on both sides so as to draw 

 the edges towards each other. The heads of the nails 

 will then be imbedded in the notches, and if the ends on 

 the other side of the fissure are clinched, the hoof will be 

 held together. As a rule, one nail on each side will suffice, 

 but if necessary more may be used. (See Bar-shoe, Clinches, 

 Hoofs, Poultices, Prescriptions.) 



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