526 BRITTLE HOOF, LIABLE TO CRACK. [BOOK III. 



to, and elsewhere ; except that for fat, we have 

 more appropriately termed it a " juicy elastic sub- 

 stance." 



SAND-CRACK. 



When suffered to continue, the cure is attended 

 with great difficulty, and the disorder may therefore 

 be divided into two stages or degrees, like many 

 other affections of the horse. The name of sand- 

 crack is derived from the worst of these states, when 

 sand, gravel, or dirt, has got into the crack, which 

 constitutes the disease. 



Cause. — A blow on brittle hoof will occasion 

 sand crack of a very bad sort, but the accompanying 

 cause is the cessation of the function of supplying 

 matter for forming new horn in the vessels leading 

 from the coronet. This may arise from an external 

 injury at the coronet, or severe treatment for some 

 other disorder of the foot, as qirittor, or frush, but 

 oftener both are indebted to a heated state of the 

 blood for their origin, and the function may be re- 

 stored by physicking the animal, provided it does 

 not dung at proper intervals. Slight cases have 

 been removed by this means alone. As the hoof 

 is always hot, one main cause of sand-crack is 

 referred to heated roads, to travelling in deep, hot, 

 sandy countries ; scantiness of water, and removal 

 out of a cold to a very hot climate, as from Eng- 

 land to India (East or West,) are all known to 

 cause the heat and brittleness which accompany 



sand-crack. 



o 



