The following _local symptoms_ may occur: The wall of the foot at the quarters may appear drawn in at its superior or inferior portion. Sometimes one or both quarters are perpendicular, or nearly so. The foot then appears too narrow at the heel, too elongated and less rounded than normal. The changes in the appearance of the inferior surface of the hoof vary. The changes here may be so slight that they are not noticed. In well advanced and neglected cases the arch of the sole is increased, the frog is narrow and atrophied and the bars high and perpendicular. Corns may accompany the contraction. The foot may feel feverish. The animal may manifest the pain in the feet when standing at rest by pointing and changing their position. When lameness is present, it may resemble that occurring in inflammation of lateral cartilages and navicular disease. _Preventive treatment_ is of the greatest importance. This consists in giving the feet an opportunity to take up moisture when they are exposed to abnormal conditions and become feverish. Under such conditions, it is advisable to occasionally remove the shoes and turn the animal into a pasture or lot. It is best to do this in the fall or winter when the ground is wet. If this can not be practised, the shoes should be removed and a poultice of ground flaxseed and bran, equal parts, applied to the feet for a period of eight or ten hours, daily for a week or two. A plank trough six inches deep, two feet wide and as long as the stall is wide may be filled with a stiff clay, and the horse made to stand with its front feet in the clay bath for ten or twelve hours daily. When grooming the horse, the foot should be cleaned with a foot-hook and washed with clean water. Hoof ointments should be avoided so far as possible. The importance of fitting the shoe to the foot, avoiding the too free use of the rasp and hoof knife and resetting or changing the shoe when necessary can not be overestimated. Shoeing the animal with a special shoe is sometimes necessary. It is not advisable to attempt the forcible expansion of the quarters. Lowering the heels by careful trimming of the wall and sole and permitting frog pressure may be all the special attention required. SAND-CRACK.--A fissure in the wall of the foot running in the same direction as the horny fibres, or a seam in the wall resulting from the healing of the fissure is termed sand-crack. The position and extent of the fissure or seam vary. It may involve the wall of the _toe_ (toe-crack) (Fig. 41) or _quarter_ (quarter-crack) (Fig. 42). It is _superficial_ or _deep_, according to the thickness of the wall involved; _complete_ or _incomplete_, depending on whether it extends from the bearing margin of the wall to the coronary band or only a portion of the distance; _simple_, when the horny tissue only is involved; and _complicated_, when the sensitive tissue beneath becomes injured and inflamed. Cracks of long standing usually have thick, rough margins.