This done, thin the wall all around below 

 this groove ; you are not going to hurt any- 

 thing, as it has all got to come on new before 

 a cure is efifected. You will, no doubt, find it 

 very thick, and if you thin it about one-half 

 there will be plenty of it left. Then with the 

 point of the shoeing knife cut a row of grooves 

 all around the top of the wall and across the 

 big groove ; cut them in as deep as you can 

 without cutting through, making them about 

 an inch and a quarter long and three-quarters 

 of an inch apart ; and over the spot on each 

 side where the main groove is w^idest put them 

 only a half inch apart. Put on a plain, flat bar- 

 shoe with the nail holes punched around the 

 toe, a leather pad, a stiff pair of springs, and 

 the usual packing. Apply a blister to the coron- 

 ary band and let him stand in the stable a few 

 days. When you bring him out 3'ou w411 look 

 down on about the toughest looking pair of 

 feet you ever saw, but how good they will feel 

 to that dumb brute that has been suffering 

 maybe for years. This relief is given on the 

 same principle of cutting an old stiff shoe that 

 pinched your foot. Did you ever have that ex- 

 perience? If you have you will better under- 

 stand how this horse felt after this treatment. 



In a week or two 3^ou will notice a roll of 

 new wall coming down, carrying the circular 

 groove down with it and as the springs are 

 constantly expanding the heels, the new wall 

 accommodates itself to the new order of things. 

 and when it has fully grown out, the cartilages 

 — if they have not become ossified — will 

 drop back where they belong, the navicular 



53 



