QUARTER-CRACK. 159 



quarter-crack is to put on a bar-shoe, make a crease with 

 a hot iron across at the edge of the hair, and keep the foot 

 soft and grow it down. All this I had tried, and knew its 

 value exactly. Opening the quarter, so as to let the hoof 

 give to the pressure upon the edge of the horn was before 

 entirely effective ; but in this case, with the utmost care, 

 it would not do. I was at my wit's end, when one night 

 it occurred to me how to contrive the shoe, so as to 

 spread the quarter out, and remove all possible pressure 

 upon it. Next day I fitted one, as explained for contraction, 

 fitting a clip or spur to the side of the quarter-crack. I nailed 

 on the shoe firmly, and on the opposite side, well back to the 

 heel, and spread the quarter out all I dared. I repeated 

 this spreading two or three times; and, though the horse 

 was driven and used as usual, and is the hardest horse on 

 his feet of any I ever saw, the shell being very thin, and 

 he being blind, striking the ground very hard, the foot 

 grew down sound. Repeated trials with the same treatment 

 since have proved to me that the remedy is complete. No 

 matter how hard the horse is driven or used, the hoof will 

 grow down without any inclination to split the new growth 

 of horn, until the hoof is grown down sound. I cut away 

 the edges of the horn where it is split, so that gravel or dirt 

 cannot imbed between, and then spread the quarter out- 

 ward, sometimes covering the crack with a little resin and 

 tallow. I was so successful by this contrivance for opening 

 and holding the quarter spread for the cure of quarter- crack, 

 that I was led to try it upon one of my horses that had the 

 heels drawn in badly. I fixed both sides of the shoe to be 

 spread, and put on carefully. It worked perfectly. I was 

 able to open the quarters as I pleased, and, in two months, 

 opened the quarters fully an inch, making a complete change 

 in the horse's action. Of course I could have opened the 

 heels all I pleased at once ; but this would not do, as violent 

 inflammation would follow opening either quarter in the least 

 too much at once. You must spread a little more every day 

 or two, until the point desired is accomplished. 



The primary cause of quarter-crack is, that the hoof is sim- 

 ply too small for the internal structure of the foot. The quar- 

 ters always burst during dry, hot weather, or dry, freezing 

 weather, when the ground is hard, causing severe strain and 



