DISEASES OF THE FETLOCK, ANKLE, AND FOOT. 431 
from the abuse of the rasp; the frog, heels, and bars are not to be 
mutilated with the knife, nor should calks be used on the shoe except 
when absolutely necessary. The shoes should be reset at least once a 
month to prevent the feet from becoming too long, and daily exercise 
must be insisted on. 
As to curative measures, a diversity of opinion exists. A number 
of kinds of special shoes have been invented, having for an object the 
spreading of the heels, and perhaps any of these, if properly used, 
would eventually effect the desired result. But a serious objection 
to most of these shoes is that they are expensive and often difficult to 
make and apply. The method of treatment which I have adopted is 
not only attended with good results, but is inexpensive, if the loss of 
the patient’s services for a time is not considered a part of the ques- 
tion. It consists, first, in the use of poultices or baths of cold water 
until the horn is thoroughly softened. The foot is now prepared for 
the shoe in the usual way, except that the heels are lowered a little 
and the frog remains untouched. A shoe, called a “tip,” is made by 
cutting off both branches at the center of the foot and drawing the 
ends down to-an edge. The tapering of the branches should begin at 
the toe, and the shoe should be of the usual width, with both the upper 
and lower surfaces flat. This tip is to be fastened on with six or eight 
small nails, all set well forward, two being in the toe. With a com- 
mon foot rasp begin at the heels, close to the coronet, and cut away 
the horn of the wall until only a thin layer covers the soft tissues 
beneath. Cut forward until the new surface meets the old 24 or 3 
inches from the heel. The same sloping shape is to be observed in 
cutting downward toward the bottom of the foot, at which point the 
wall is to retain its normal thickness. The foot is now blistered all 
round the coronet with Spanish-fly ointment; when this is well set, 
the patient is to be turned to pasture in a damp field or meadow. The 
blister should be repeated in three or four weeks, and, as a rule, the 
patient can be returned to work in two or three months. 
The object of the tip is to throw the weight on the frog and heels, 
which are readily spread after the horn has been cut away on the 
sides of the wall. The internal structures of the foot at the heels, 
being relieved of excessive pressure, regain their nomal condition if 
the disease is not of too long standing. The blister tends to relieve 
any inflammation which may be present, and stimulates a rapid 
growth of healthy horn, which, in most cases, ultimately forms a 
wide and normal heel. In old, chronic cases, with a shrunken frog 
and increased concavity of the sdle, accompanied with excessive 
wasting of all the internal tissues of the foot, satisfactory results can 
not be expected and are rarely obtained. Still, much relief, if not 
an entire cure, may be effected by these measures. 
