LAMENESS, FROM VARIOUS CAUSES. 357 
well, were we to talk about laying a horse up for so trifling an 
accident. Nay, some horses, with non-penetrant sand-cracks, or 
with sand-cracks that have been penetrant, but have become horned 
over, showing little or no lameness, continue to work on without 
evincing any pain or inconvenience from them. Whether a horse 
be lame or not, however, should he have a sand-crack, and we be 
consulted about it, it becomes our duty to arrest the extension of 
the crack so long as it be but partial; and, besides that, to take 
measures for the cure or permanent removal of the crack. The 
owner of the horse should be given to understand that no flaw or 
crack in the hoof can, by possibility, unite the same as a wound 
in a vital part does, but must, as the saying is, grow down; that 
is, must be replaced by new horn, and be itself, by degrees, re- 
newed, as it continues to come under the operation of the drawing- 
knife every time the horse is fresh shod; so that, in fact, the cure, 
or obliteration of the crack, is necessarily a work of some months, 
though the lameness may be cured in as many hours or days. 
Paring out the crack, the shoe being taken off the foot, is the 
first thing to be done. The cutting cautiously away of its rugged 
edges, and the scooping out, with a light hand, (probably with 
the back of the drawing-knife,) of its cavity, will enable us to 
examine intc the condition of it. Should there be no lesion or 
exposure of the lamin detectable, nothing further will be needed 
from the drawing-knife than the cleaning out of the crack. 
Firing the crack is the next operation. Cross-firing will be 
advisable below or above, or in both situations, according to cir- 
cumstances. So long as the crack has not reached to the bottom 
of the wall, it will be requisite, with an ordinary firing-iron, at a 
red heat, to burn a deep but short fissure, or ‘mark,’ across its 
lower extremity; and whether a similar operation be required 
across the superior termination of the crack, must depend uyon 
its cxtension or not through the horn at the coronet. If there ke 
any interval of sound horn between the hair and the crack, of 
sufficient breadth and substance to bear firing, a very slight burn 
may do good. In all cases it is the practice to finish the firing 
with running the sharp edge of the iron down the crack ; and this 
certainly proves beneficial in destroying any tendency there may 
be (supposing the laminz to have become denuded) to abnormal 
_action, as well to stimulate any vascular parts exposed to issue 
horny matter to cover in the bottom of the crack. 
