DISEASES OF THE FEET AND LEGS. 129 



The careful strapping up with tar and tow, which 

 must be constantly atterided 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 com- 

 mences 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 this being that all parts 

 of the wall except that under the crack shall press on 

 the shoe. It is obvious that by the foregoing 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 enabling the wall of 



I 



