200 The Management and Treatment of the Horse, 



horse's back. The constant friction sets up inflammation 

 of the cuticle, which closes the pores of the true skin, 

 and prevents a healthy perspiration, and causes small 

 pustules. These are aggravated by continual pressure, 

 and the irritation is kept up by the rocking of the 

 saddle. An abscess forms, breaks, and ultimately 

 becomes a bad back. Here want of cleanliness becomes 

 a tyrant ; as no attention is paid to the lining of the 

 saddles, sweat accumulates, and the lining becomes as 

 hard as a board. Some horses are more liable to sore 

 backs than others ; but a little care will always prevent 

 them becoming ulcerated. The first thing which should 

 be done when a horse has chafed his back is to wash it 

 clean with warm water and soda, not soft soap, and after- 

 wards apply strong salt and water, or, what is far better, 

 a strong decoction of oak bark. This, with a day or 

 two of rest, will be all that is required. But should the 

 sore be of a deep nature, it will be necessary to dress the 

 parts with carbolic acid one part, sweet oil seven parts, 

 which, with rest to the part afflicted, will cure it in a 

 few days. Sore shoulders are caused by the same 

 neglect of cleanlines and badly fitting collars, and require 

 the same treatment. 



KOARING. 

 This is a disease that is too well known in this 

 country, yet, strange as it may appear, the Arab does not 

 know of it in his stud ; and of the thousands of horses 

 of that class that came under my observation, when 

 buying horses for the Spanish Government, during the 

 Don Carlos war, I do not recollect one that was affected 

 as a roarer ; and the author is of opinion that the Arab 



