144 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 



rubbed down every day, both morning and evening, so as to 

 stimulate the vessels to activity. Pressure by means of 

 bandages will also be found to have a powerful tendency to 

 promote the circulation It is too much the practice of 

 grooms to give diuretics in swellings of the limbs, as these 

 by being frequently repeated are sure to weaken the urinary 

 organs and produce an incurable debility. 



GREASE. 



This is a disease of the skin of the heel, sometimes in 

 the fore feet, but most commonly in the hind ones. The 

 disease is too frequently the effect of washing the limbs 

 with cold water while they are over-heated from exercise, 

 and allowing them to dry of their own accord ; the conse- 

 quent reaction after the application of cold being very 

 great, produces inflammation. The vessels becoming gorged, 

 nature seeks to relieve them by sending forth a discharge 

 of ichorous matter from the parts which are so violently 

 inflamed. Another cause is taking a horse into a warm 

 stable in winter, when the legs have been chilled by 

 excessive cold from standing. 



Grease is not contagious, yet it has been known to affect 

 all the horses of a stable at the same time, after one has 

 been seized with the complaint. This can only be accounted 

 for by bad stable management. The skin of the heel is 

 considerably different in its texture from that of other parts 

 of the legs. The fetlock is subjected to a greater degree of 

 motion and friction than any other joint, and it is provided 

 with a soft unctuous matter to keep it from chapping or 

 excoriation, which can be easily felt to be greasy to the 

 touch. When inflammation ensues, this greasy exudation 

 stops, and the heel exhibits a red, dry, and mealy appear- 

 ance ; and in consequence of the continual motion of this 



