436 DISEASES OF THE HORSE. 



persistent or frequently recurring skin disease. Hence at such times 

 the diet shoukl be nonstimulating; any excess of grain, and above all 

 of buckwheat, Indian corn, or wheat, being avoided. A large grain 

 ration should not be given at once on return from hard work, when 

 the general system and stomach are unable to cope with it ; the animal 

 should not be given more than a swallow or two of cold water when 

 perspiring and fatigued; nor should he be allowed a full supply of 

 water just after his grain ration; he should not be overheated or 

 exhausted by work, nor should dried sweat and dust be allowed to 

 accumulate on the skin or on the harness pressing on it. The expo- 

 sure of the affected heels to damp, mud, and snow^, and, above all, to 

 melting snow, should be guarded against ; light, smooth, well-fitting 

 harness must be secured, and where the saddle or collar irritates an 

 incision should be made in them above and below the part that chafes, 

 and, the padding between having been removed, the lining should be 

 beaten so as to make a hollow. A zinc shield in the upper angle of 

 the collar will often prevent chafing in front of the withers. 



Treatment. — Wash the chafed skin and apply salt w^ater (one-half 

 ounce to the quart), extract of witch-hazel, a weak solution of oak 

 bark, or camphorated spirit. If the surface is raw use bland pow^ders, 

 such as oxide of zinc, lycopodium, starch, or smear the surface with 

 vaseline, or w ith 1 ounce of vaseline intimately mixed wdth one-half 

 dram each of sugar of lead and opium. In cases of chafing rest must 

 be strictly enjoined. "\Miere there is constitutional disorder or acrid 

 sweat, 1 ounce cream of tartar or a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda 

 may be given twice daily. 



CONGESTION, WITH SMALL PIMPLES, OR PAPULES. 



In this affection there is the general blush, heat, etc., of erythema, 

 together with a crop of elevations from the size of a poppy seed to a 

 coffee bean, visible when the hair is reversed or to be felt with the 

 finger where the hair is scanty. In w-hite skins they vary from the 

 palest to the darkest red. All do not retain the papular type, but 

 some go on to form blisters (eczema, bulla') or pustules, or dry up 

 into scales, or break out into open sores, or extend into larger swell- 

 ings (tubercles). The majority, however, remaining as pimples, 

 characterize the disease. When very itchy the rubbing breaks them 

 open, and the resulting sores and scales hide the true nature of the 

 eruption. 



The general and local causes may be the same as for erythema, and 

 in the same subject one portion of the skin may have simple conges- 

 tion and another adjacent papules. As the inflammatory action is 

 more pronounced, so the irritation and itching are usually greater, 

 the animal rubbing and biting himself severely. This itching is espe- 



