LAMENESS AND DISEASES, ETC. 185 



Broken Bars.— This ailment is the result of an over- 

 growth of the sole and consequent dryness of the insensitive 

 sole. The secretions become dry and hard, the bars unyielding 

 and do not spring as the horse rests his weight upon the foot. 

 This causes the bars to give way and break, making the 

 horse very lame. If not properly treated, this disease often 

 assumes a more serious form, difficult to cure, even in time ; 

 and if neglected its ravages will soon destroy the usefulness of 

 the horse. 



The process of treatment I use is to pare the foot, leaving 

 a good, wide outer wall-bearing. Then commence at each side 

 of the point of the frog and pare the commissures thin from 

 point of frog back to the heels on the inner and outer sides of 

 the foot; then remove all the bars and sole as deep as the soft 

 tissues or broken bars, holding the knife at an angle of about 

 45 degrees, paring the sole and bars quite thin. The broken 

 ends of the bars must be removed with the knife as deeply as 

 they extend up into the foot. See that the foot is properly bal- 

 anced, and then make and put on a suitable shoe for the work 

 the horse has to perform. Place a piece of sole leather iirst 

 under the shoe, covering the bottom of the foot. Ivivet the 

 sole leather at the heels of the shoe, trimming the leather to fit 

 snugly to outside of shoe. J^ext hold up the foot, and fill the 

 bottom with my foot salve (recipe ISTo. 2). After the salve has 

 become cool, lay a thin layer of white cotton over the bottom 

 of the foot, covering the salve, and nail on the shoe. The salve 

 will exclude the air from the affected parts, the leather will pro- 

 tect the bottom of the foot and hold the salve in its place. 

 Finally stand the horse in the soaking tub for at least one or 

 two hours in warm water. The effect of the soaking tub will 

 be to open the pores of the wall, and assist nature in casting off 

 the inflammation. If the foot should show signs of fever 

 around the coronet band, keep the soaking swabs well wet with 

 warm water, and see that they are well buckled around the 



