THE IMPROVED ART OF FARRIERY. l45 



are liable to grease. Cart-horses, and the heavy 

 draught horse with round fleshy legs are very subject 

 to it. One very great cause is the negligence of grooms, 

 who do not pay proper attention to the feet when they 

 clean the horse, but leave the heels wet and full of sand. 

 A general debility is a fertile source for this disease ; 

 and at the spring and fall of the year, when the horse 

 requires more care than at any other time, from want 

 of proper treatment, regular exercise, and a little 

 cJeanUness, grease will speedily appear, and from 

 neglect become very virulent. Another frequent cause 

 is the aptitude some have for cutting off the hair close 

 to the horse's lieels, on which Mr. Lawrence ob- 

 serves — 



" It is a general, but a very erroneous opinion, that 

 the hair harbours dirt, and consequently promotes the 

 disorder: but the contrary is the fact. From the hair being 

 longer at the heels than at any other part of the leg, it 

 is clear that nature had some particular reason for that 

 difference, and that reason is, on a moment's conside- 

 ration, self-obvious ; namely, for the defence of a part 

 which is more exposed to friction than the rest of the 

 limb. This hair, by lying close to the skin, shields it 

 from the action of the dirt, which, when the heels are 

 trimmed close, always insinuates itself, and by rubbing 

 the skin, irritates it and inflames it to a considerable 

 degree ; for when the hair is cut close, that which is 

 left does not lie smooth, but stands out end- ways like 

 a brush, and thus easily admits mud and clay, and 

 every other kind of dirt. The skin secretes a natural 

 oily fluid for the purpose of keeping it soft and flexible; 

 but when it is thus exposed by trimming ofl* the hair, 

 this fluid is rubbed ofl" by friction, and the skin, be- 

 coming yard and dry, soon cracks, and the grease 

 ensues. 



