SWELLED LEGS 587 



washing the legs in the stable, or any of those causjs which roughen and chap 

 our own skins are liable to produce the same effects on the horse's heels. 



Treatment. — Avoid washing the legs and feet, or if absolutely necessary 

 to do so, carefully dry them and anoint the heel with vaseline or any simple 

 ointment. Simple chaps may be cured by a wash made of glycerine and 

 water, by dusting over with flour and oxide of zinc, or by the application of 

 cai-bolized oil, but cracks may need a poultice if the heel looks red and angry, 

 and there is pain and lameness. A cooling dose of medicine may also be 

 desirable. The cracks themselves are apt to remain open when the surround- 

 ing inflammation has subsided. They take on the character of indolent ulcers 

 and need to be stimulated into reunion by the application of such agents as 

 nitrate of silver, sulphate of copper, etc., but these caustics should not be 

 too fi'eely used, as a crack that heals up too quickly is the more liable to 

 break open again. An excellent ointment for chaps and cracks is made of 

 cacao butter one part and vaseline five parts. Goulard's extract in linseed 

 oil is also a good application and especially suited to the inflamed heels pro- 

 duced by salt mixed with snow ; an abomination permitted on tramway tracks. 

 Grease, so often associated with cracked heels, or following upon them, is not 

 so much a disease of the well-bred horse as his hairy-legged brother in the 

 cart. It may be distinctly constitutional and hereditary, without chapped 

 or cracked heels, and when this is the case it is well to attack it from within. 

 Before any eruption is seen or abrasion of the skin manifest, there may be 

 stamping the ground and rubbing one leg over the other. This has been re- 

 ferred to in connection with, symbiotes (see Mange), and as the result of a 

 series of careful microscopic examinations, Mr. E. Martin, of the Royal Veteri- 

 nary College, is of opinion that many so-called cases of grease are the result 

 of these mange mites pricking for their food in cold weather, when the secre- 

 tions of the skin are not so abundant as to supply them with food. 



Treatment. — Wash the legs with soft soap and water to ensure the 

 medicaments coming in contact v/ith the affected parts, and when nearly 

 dry rub in a lotion composed of — 



Sulphate of Zinc 1 lb. 



Sulphate of Iron 1 lb. 



Sulphur' 4 ounces. 



Carbolic Acid 4 ounces. 



AVater 1 gallon. 



Shake well and apply with a water-brush daily. 



This has the effect both of repressing the fungoid growths and destroying 



any parasites that may have their habitat among them. As an internal 



remedy a ball twice a week may be given of the following ingredients : — 



Sulphate of Copper 1 drachm. 



Sulphur 4 drachms. 



Nitre 2 drachms. 



Treacle enough to form a bolus. 



This may be varied with small doses of arsenic, but it is advisable in giving 

 such powerful drugs to act only under the advice of a skilled veterinarian. 



SWELLED LEGS 



Ordinary swelling op the legs, or cedema, occurs in every degree, 

 from a slight "filling,'' to which many horses are always subject whethe: 



