A PARTIAL QUARTER SANDCRACK DRESSED
AND SHOD.
THE METHODS OF ERADICATING A SANDCRACK:
EITHER THE SEMICIRCULAR OR THE ANGULAR
LINES ARE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE.
Sandcrack, when it occurs at the toe, usually extends the entire length of the foot, and leaves a portion of bleeding flesh exposed. The laminæ, being opened to the stimulating effects of the air, are very apt to throw out a crop of luxuriant granulations. These, of course, are pinched between the two sides of the division. They bleed freely; often, from the pressure, they turn black, and then smell abominably. The putrid action, having once commenced, is apt to extend, and portions of the coffin-bone are likely to exfoliate.
Now to prevent this, so soon as the horse is brought in with a sandcrack, wash the part thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion, one grain to the ounce of water. The bleeding having ceased, pare down the outward edges of the separation, and put on a bar shoe, eased off at the toe, and with a clip on either side of the division. If the injury has not extended the length of the hoof, you must make a line at each extremity with a heated iron, as in quarter crack, than which it is also of more consequence that the coronet should be isolated; because the external horn being thickest at the toe, is the more likely by its movements to be influential upon the new and plastic horn of the coronet.
A FOOT WITH TOE SANDCRACK.
Illustrating the mode of shoeing with clips, and of easing off at the toe; also exemplifying the manner of paring down the hoof, and showing the part where granulations are likely to appear.
Should, however, the granulations have appeared, and the horse, with appetite lost and the head dejected, the pulse thumping and the injured foot held in the air, appear the picture of a living misery, first cleanse the wound thoroughly with the chloride of zinc lotion. Then apply a firing-iron, of a black heat, to the hoof, near to the crack. The intention, in doing this, is to warm and thus to soften the horn. This effect being accomplished, pare down or scoop off the edges—using the heated iron again, if necessary. Do all this leisurely, and with every consideration for the animal, which endures intense agony; for anything like violence or impatience tells fearfully upon the sufferer's system.