DISEASES OF THE FEET AND LEGS. 139 



The careful strapping-up with tar and tow, which 

 must be constantly attended to, rest, and the indenta- 

 tion process, will, with time and care, effect a cure. 



Sand-crack, especially the vertical, is more dangerous 

 and tedious the nearer it is to the coronet. This once 

 divided, the case becomes serious, the coronet being 

 very vascular, and a split here requires a great deal 

 of care to induce it to take on union. Unless the 

 closing commences at the coronet, and continues as the 

 hoof grows down, it will never close at all; in fact, if 

 the coronet be divided, it is fortunate if the crack does 

 not go the whole way down to the shoe. If it does 

 not, the lower end should be weakened by filing an 

 indentation at its lower extremity, weakening the sides 

 of the crack by rasping them, and keeping the hoof 

 strapped round with dressings of tar and tow, also (a 

 most important part of the treatment) paring away the 

 wall of the foot (above the shoe and immediately under 

 the crack) an inch — that is, half an inch on each side 

 of it — making as large a vacuum as can with safety to 

 the sensible parts of the foot be pared away, directly 

 under the crack and over the shoe; the object of thin 

 being that all parts of the wall except that under 

 the crack shall press on the shoe. It is obvious that 

 by the above means every movement of the horse, in 

 place of aggravation, will tend towards alleviation of 

 the disease, by pressing the weakened sides of the 

 fissure together. For the foregoing reasons, in the case 

 of a vertical crack the shoes had better remain on, 

 while in the worst cases of the horizontal crack, as its 

 weight round the bottom tends to weaken the centre of 

 the hoof where the crack is likely to be situated, it had 

 better be removed (or light tips worn), its absence also 



