Treatment.—­As a prophylactic, a good hoof-dressing is indicated.  It should not consist solely of grease, but should have mixed with it either wax, turpentine, or tar.

Above all, careful shoeing should be insisted on, and the owner of an animal with feet such as these will be well advised if he is recommended to have the shoeing superintended by one well competent to direct it rightly.  The foot should be trimmed but lightly, always remembering that in a foot of this description the horn, in addition to being brittle, is generally abnormally thin.  Jagged or partly broken pieces should be removed, and the bearing surface rendered as level as possible.  The foot should be carefully examined before punching the nail-holes in the shoe, and the nail-holes afterwards placed so as to come opposite the soundest portions of horn.  The nails themselves should be as thin as is consistent with durability, and should be driven as high up as possible.

On the least sign of undue wear the shoes should be removed, never, as is too often done, allowing them to remain on so long that a portion breaks away.  If, with the laudable idea of not interfering with the horn more than is possible, this is practised, the portion of the shoe breaking off is bound to tear away with it more or less of the brittle horn to which it is attached.

Where the breaks in the horn are so large as to prevent a level bearing for the shoe being obtained, the interstices should be filled up with one or other of the preparations made for this purpose.  One of the most suitable is that discovered by M. Defay.  By its means sand-cracks or other fractures of the horn may be durably cemented up.

’Even pieces of iron may be securely joined together by its means.  The only precaution for its successful application is the careful removal of all grease by spirits of sal-ammoniac, sulphide of carbon, or ether.  M. Defay makes no secret of its composition, which is as follows:  Take 1 part of coarsely-powdered gum-ammoniac, and 2 parts of gutta-percha, in pieces the size of a hazel-nut.  Put them in a tin-lined vessel over a slow fire, and stir constantly until thoroughly mixed.  Before the thick, resinous mass gets cold mould it into sticks like sealing-wax.  The cement will keep for years, and when required for use it is only necessary to cut off a sufficient quantity, and remelt it immediately before application.  We have frequently used this cement for the repair of seriously broken hoofs.  It is so tenacious that it will retain the nails by which the shoe is attached without tearing away from the hoof.’[A]

[Footnote A:  Veterinary Journal, vol. iii., p.71.]

Failing this, the bearing surface may be made level, and fractures repaired by using the huflederkitt described in the treatment of pumiced sole.

(b) THE SPONGY HOOF.

Definition.—­This is the opposite condition to the one we have just described, and is characterized by the soft and non-resistant qualities of the horn.