424 VETERINARY SURGICAL OPERATIONS 



fore, of capital importance, and when the defect therein is 

 extensive, there is little chance of success from any method 

 of treatment. On the other hand, in cracks of purely ac- 

 cidental origin in fairly good feet whose coronary cushions 

 have suffered no local damage, operative intervention is 

 usually successful. 



The object of hoof-crack operations is to start a sound 

 (uncracked) growth of horn from the coronet by destroying 

 the spot in the cushion where the separation of the horn- 

 fibers begins. To this end various methods are practiced, 

 the simplest of which is the burning of a tranverse fissure 

 through the hoof at the uppermost end of the crack, followed 

 by blistering, clamping of the crack, and special shoeing. 

 That this simple procedure .is often successful, even without 



Fig. 211 



incapacitating the horse for work, is not denied, but the 

 failures are too numerous to warrant its general adoption. 



RESTRAINT. — The recumbent position on the operat- 

 ing table and cocaine anaesthesia of the plantar nerves, is the 

 preferable restraint, although with the aid of plantar 

 cocainization and the twitch it is possible to perform the 

 operation in the standing position, especially if but one foot is 

 affected. In bilateral cases, the work is very tiresome in the 

 standing posture and the opposition provoked is inimical to 

 the best results. 



ANTISEPSIS. — In order to be successful it is necessary 

 to forestall infection of- the surgical wound by pre-operative, 

 operative and post-operative antisepsis. Infective inflamma- 

 tion, while not especially dangerous, prolongs the period of 



