A quartercrack is a split or crack in a quarter from the coronet down towards the bottom of a foot. At times it is very painful and prevents the use of the horse. In most of these quartercracks one side is lapped over on the other one-quarter or three-eighths of an inch, and from the continual expansion and contraction of the foot while the horse is in action the lapped parts are continually working against one another as the foot expands with the weight of horse on it, and contracts when the foot is lifted up. This kind of action of the split horn at the coronet is what prevents it from knitting. The first thing to do is to apply a few poultices which will get the foot soft. If the foot or quarter is contracted apply a hoof expander. In fixing the foot rasp the foot as low as possible without making it tender, at both heels and toes. Do not cut any sole or bars out or cut the heels open with the knife, have the side of foot where the crack is on the lowest or you can have that part of the shoe quite thin, so that the jar or concussion will be on all parts of foot, except the quartercrack. Use a bar shoe with plenty of frog pressure, a plain shoe is best. If you have to have calks, place the heel calk on cracked side ahead of crack on shoe if possible. If the crack is close to the heel, take the bearing of foot away from the shoe by cutting the heel down. Now cut the horn away on the side that is lapped over the other the full length of the quartercrack, cut the horn away one-quarter of an inch each side of the crack at the coronet, if it bleeds a little it will not hurt. Now a blister at the coronet above and on each side of the crack will be beneficial to start the growth down solid, if it should crack open again apply a stronger one. After the crack starts to grow down solid, apply a little of the blistering ointment every week or ten days but do not let it blister, just use enough to keep it sweating, it will toughen and soften the horn as it grows down. A rivet or clamp drawing the edges of crack together as near the coronet as possible, to hold it together and strengthen it will be very beneficial. A salve or ointment formally made by the late Geo. W. St. Clair, and now by Mike Bowerman, of Lexington, Ky., is the best thing I have seen to help knit and grow down a quartercrack. A little North Carolina tar rubbed into coronet over crack every other day I find is excellent.
XXXVII. DISHED OR SCOOPED TOE.
This is caused by allowing feet to grow too long, especially on colts and horses in training, creating undue pressure and strain on the front of foot on breaking over to leave the ground. It is also caused by being foundered, where the soles of feet have dropped, and also where the fever has settled in the feet, and the soles have not dropped, but are inclined to be contracted, dry and hard, and kept at the wrong angle, and feet not kept properly fixed and shoes not properly fitted. The remedy for this is to fix the foot at the proper angle, keep the frog close to the ground. Pare the sole a little thin around the toe from the point of frog out to the wall at the toe, and after the shoe has been fitted, cut the bearing of the foot at the toe away from the shoe. A few shoeings of this kind will prevent the toe from turning up.
XXXVIII. CONCUSSION.
Horses with high knee action hit the ground the hardest. The more weight a horse carries in his shoes or toe weights, the more concussion he receives. The concussion on the hind feet and legs does not seem to pain or sting anything like what he has to endure in the front feet and legs when striking the ground fast and hard, especially when he is going over a hard piece of ground. If his front feet are out of proportion, high heels and long toes, dry and hard, he will feel the concussion severely and this will make many horses unsteady, breaking and acting bad. A horse with lofty forward action should be trained in a natural low quarter and low heeled foot, with a bar shoe as light as possible, with frog pressure.
The most dangerous and uncomfortable kind of a foot for a horse that hits the ground hard to have is one with the heels abnormally high. The higher the heels the greater the concussion. The lower the heels the less the concussion. The more weight the more concussion. The less weight the less concussion. A foot that is kept at the proper angle, as near to a natural foot as possible, and kept soft, will prevent the stinging and painful sensation that is caused by concussion. With feet kept like this the horse will not flinch or shorten up in his stride when he strikes hard places in the track. The light thin heel calks that are used on shoes do not break much of the concussion when horses are going fast. Why? because when the legs are extended at speed the shoes land on the ground back on the heel, with the toe of the foot elevated away from the ground, and with some horses more than with others. They do not strike the ground flat-footed like the most of them do when going slow. Thin hard pads are very good under light shoes, but thick pads that will allow the walls of a horse’s foot at heels to sink or cut through them at the heels are no good. They will create a hard lump at the seat of corns between the bar and wall at the heels, and hold dirt that is liable to create unpleasant feelings to a sensitive horse that goes in middling low heels. When heels of the front feet are allowed to become too high on horses taking fast work or racing, a very severe strain is thrown on the ligament or tendon that holds the navicular bone in its socket. When the leg is extended at speed the extra high heels cause the foot to land too far ahead of the leg while the toe is elevated on landing, so that it creates an extra amount of work for the ligament to hold it in its proper position at the time of impact with the ground.
XXXIX. FOUNDER, CHRONIC LAMINITIS OR DROPPED SOLE.
There is only one way to shoe this kind for comfort to the animal, and for an earning remuneration for the owner. In founder or chronic laminitis, where the sole of feet are dropped, caused by the displacement of the weight-bearing bones of the foot, fix the feet by lowering the quarters and heels so as to get as much frog pressure as is possible, without making the foot tender, and your foot is ready for the shoe. A shoe for a dropped sole foot must be a bar shoe, thick at the toe and thin at the heels, with a wide thin bar to receive the frog pressure. To make a shoe to suit this kind of diseased feet, use a piece of iron three-quarters to one inch square according to the nature of the disease and the weight of the horse, and in making the shoes for foot founder leave all the thickness of the shoe at the toe possible, and thin the shoe at the quarters and heels to a quarter of an inch, have the bar wide and thin so as to receive all the frog pressure possible, the thicker the toe of shoe and thinner the quarters and bar at heels the better. Concave or cup the shoe out so as not to get any sole pressure.
I will cite one case of this kind, the very worst in my experience. A horse that weighed over 1400 pounds that could scarcely stand on his feet, had been treated by different veterinary surgeons and shod several times and could not keep the shoes on his feet and he was so sore that I got wet with perspiration getting two nails in one shoe and I had to stand him in a very soft place to do that. This horse would lay down in the lot most all the time and eat the grass from where he could reach it and then move to where he could reach more, he was the most hopeless subject I ever came across. I shod him according to the instruction herein prescribed, and he trotted off with his tail curled over his back like a colt. He was put to work the next morning and continued at work until sold for two hundred dollars. Elevating the heels with calks creates pain and misery to the animal.