HOOF-BOUND.
(Plate No. 24.) A horse that is hoof-bound is deprived of his free action, and resembles a horse that is foundered.
Treatment.—The foot should be pared out thoroughly, and on each side of the frog, until it yields to the pressure of the thumb. Open the heels and remove the bors that press the frog on each side, and cause the animal much pain.
The toe should be shortened, and if the foot is inclined to contraction, the shoe should be fitted wider than the foot, which, if done properly, will expand the foot (see article Contraction). The shoe should be a good, heavy, open one, well eased off at the heels. Having the foot prepared, the operation should next be performed around the coronet, as follows: If the cartilages are hard, as they are generally from being pressed upwards, a groove should be made with a rasp immediately under the coronet, and extending all the way across from heel to heel, deep enough to draw blood. Next, with a fine knife cut notches across the groove at equal distances the whole length of the groove, and extending from the coronet downward.
By this operation, illustrated on Plate No. 24, the pressure is removed from the cartilages. After this a poultice of linseed meal should be applied around the coronet, which loosens all pressure and starts a new growth.
If the horse is lame from this disease the close cutting operation should be performed and the poultice applied one week; otherwise the operation need not be so severe.
Plates Nos. 25, 26, 27—Illustrations of Overgrowth of Hoof and Neglect before and after Treatment.—The illustration, “Before Treatment,” Plate No, 25, represents the ground surface of a foot operated upon, and “After Treatment” represents the same foot after one pound of overgrowth had been removed from one foot. Plates Nos. 26 and 27 show the difference between the foot before and after treatment, and show the importance of being careful in observing a horse’s foot so as to prevent lameness, and the various diseases caused by neglect.
Plates Nos. 28 and 29—Enlargement of the Metacarpal Bone.—In a great many cases because the enlargement interferes with the free use of the flexor tendon, pressing it out of its proper place. A horse with a contracted foot suffers from this pressure when the shoe is fitted tight and brings the heels inward. The metacarpal bones extend from the back of the knee downward to the pastern joint, forming, as it were, a brace on each side. They become quite small as they extend downward, and the enlargement is generally found on the inside of the leg. (See Plate No. 28.)
No. 29. Enlargement of the Metacarpal Bone.