202 HORSESHOEING. 



from fast work until sound honi has grown down at least one- 

 half of an hich from the coronet. 



Bar-crachs are usually the result of changes of position of 

 the quarters, and are just as frequently brought about by con- 

 traction as by leaving the quarters too high. We see them 

 almost entirely upon the fore-hoofs. They seldom occur alone, 

 but are usually accompanied by corns. When the crack ex- 

 tends to the pododerm there is a superficial inflammation of 

 ■the pododerm and lameness. When treatment is not promptly 

 begun the inflammation extends to the deeper layers of the 

 pododerm, or, indeed, even to the plantar cushion, and gives 

 rise to swelling of the bulb of the heel upon that side and to a 

 well-marked lameness, which requires treatment by a com- 

 petent veterinarian. 



Ordinarily a bar-crack is only found by a close examination 

 of the hoof after the shoe has been removed. In paring the 

 hoof the crack usually appears as a dark streak, sometimes as a 

 bloody fissure; not infrequently grayish hoof -pus is discovered 

 in the depths of the crack. 



The treatment must be directed towards favoring the growth 

 of a continuous (unbroken) bar. This is accomplished by com- 

 pletely removing the edges of tlie crack, paring the horn of the 

 vicinity very thin, and preventing the least pressure upon the 

 wall of this quarter by the shoe, by lowering this quarter with 

 the rasp and applying a bar-shoe with leather sole. 



Following the removal of the edges of the crack there often 

 appears, especially in stumpy hoofs, a deep groove; if the bot- 

 tom of this groove is moist, we should pack it with oakum wet 

 with a five per cent, solution of creolin or carbolic acid, and 

 cover the oakum with wax (grafting wax). The cracks will 

 return if the exciting causes cannot be completely removed. 



(&) Treaiment of Low Cracks (Plantar Cracks). — These 

 cracks, occurring principally upon the hoofs of unshod horses, 

 are the result of excessive stretching and bending of the lower 

 border of the wall. Insufficient rounding of the wall with the 

 rasp is largely responsible for them. An exciting cause in 



