SANDCRACK.
Any cause which weakens the body of the horse by interfering with the health of its secretions may induce sandcrack. Treading for any length of time upon ground from which all moisture is absent, by rendering the horn hard or dry, may cause the hoof to be brittle and give rise to sandcrack. However, this last provocative seldom operates in this country; when sandcrack occurs in an English horse, it is generally generated by debility, which leads to the secretion of faulty horn. So far, however, is this from being the prevailing opinion, and so little sympathy does the horse receive in its diseases, that the endeavor, indeed the custom, of all veterinary surgeons is to continue at work the horse having a division running completely through the hoof.
Sandcracks are of two sorts. Quarter crack, which chiefly happens among the lighter breed of animals; toe crack, which occurs principally with cart-horses, and mostly with those which work between the shafts.
Quarter sandcrack is of the least importance of the two. It is oftenest seen upon the inner quarter of the hoof, where the horn, being thinnest, is most subjected to motion. Usually it commences at the coronet, extending to the sole, and also to the sensitive laminæ.
A horse thus affected should be thrown up; should be placed in a large, loose box, and receive soft, nutritious food, such as boiled oats, boiled linseed, and scalded hay. A little green-meat occasionally should be allowed to regulate the bowels; greased swabs should be placed over the hoof and under the sole. A bar shoe should be worn upon the affected foot. This treatment should be continued till the horse has recovered from its debility.
QUARTER SANDCRACK.
Generally met with, in fast horses, upon the inner side of the fore foot.
With regard to the crack itself, take a fine knife and gradually scrape off the sharp edges till the division assumes the appearance of a groove. If the crack does not reach through to the flesh, no fear need be entertained concerning the lower edges of the crack, because the horn secreted by the laminæ is of a soft nature, and will most readily yield. Besides, paring the outer horn often prevents the inner layer being cracked by the motion of the foot; this being done, should the division not descend the entire length of the hoof, or reach from the ground to the coronet, with a firing-iron, heated to redness, draw a line at each extremity of the fissure. The line need not be made so deep as will occasion pain; it is only necessary that the mark should go through the hard outer crust of the foot to prevent extension of the division.
Should the separation be the whole way down the hoof, it is as well to adopt either the plan followed by the late Mr. Read, or the mode pursued by Mr. Woodger, the clever practical veterinarian, well known in Paddington. Mr. Read used to make a semicircular line near the coronet with the hot iron: Mr. Woodger has for years been accustomed to draw lines from the coronet to the crack in the shape of a V, with the same instrument. Both methods have a like intention, namely, to cut off the coronet from the inferior portion of the hoof, thereby preventing the movements of the foot from operating upon the newly secreted horn. However, Mr. Woodger's plan being the easiest, and quite as effective as that of the late Mr. Read, is certainly the best.