takes no bearing on the ground when the opposite limb is held up by
an assistant and full weight placed upon the foot.

For a day or two after the operation lameness is intense. This is to be
treated with hot poultices or hot baths, and and soon disappears. Three to
four days later a bar shoe is nailed on (taking care that the bearing of
the quarters is still eased), and the hot poultices still continued. Four
days later still walking exercise may be commenced, to be followed
shortly afterwards by trotting. At about the twelfth day some animals may
conveniently be put to work, while in other cases a fortnight, or even a
month, must elapse before this can be done. When put to work early, it is
wise to fill in the fissures made in the wall with hard soap, with wax, or
with a suitable hoof dressing, in order that irritation of the sensitive
structures with outside matter may be prevented.

This operation is soon followed by remarkable changes in the shape of the
foot. At about the third week the coronet shows signs of bulging, and the
upper part of the wall operated on is often so protruding as to render the
foot wider here than at the ground surface. This is a sign that the case is
doing well.

Should no improvement be noticed at the end of three weeks or a month, or
should the grooves become filled from the bottom (which they do remarkably
fast), then the incisions must be deepened, the exercise reduced, and the
fomentations or poulticing repeated. So treated, many cases of side-bone
lameness will be relieved, if not entirely cured, and, should the worst
happen, and no alteration in the lameness is noticeable, no harm will have
been done to the foot. In this connection, the originator of the treatment
says: 'I may assure those induced to doubt either their diagnosis or the
value of hoof section that no harm is done to the foot, even should the
operation be of no value. It may do much good; it cannot do harm. The
operation will never succeed until the inherent timidity of sawing or
cutting into the wall is overcome. The _incisions must be deep, and of the
same depth from the coronet to the ground_.'[A]

[Footnote A: _Journal of Comparative Pathology and Therapeutics_, vol.
iii., p. 313.]

It is well to remark here that the operation of hoof section cannot be
expected to succeed in every case. The last man in the world to claim that
for it would be its originator. Failure to relieve the lameness may be
accounted for i