CRACKED HEELS. 291 



11th. — The sloughs caused by the acid separated and left deep excava- 

 tions. The solution repeated. 



15th. — The heels have begun to granulate, and are showing signs of 

 cicatrization. Alum ointment. 



30th. — Since the 15th the dressings have been mild, and such as pro- 

 mote granulations. The heels are making progress towards health. 



After this, nothing worth mentioning was done. The mare was 

 ultimately restored to the master perfectly sound, with only some 

 trifling induration of the parts which had so long been the seat of 

 disease. 



CRACKED HEELS. 



During wet and cold weather, cracks are often dis- 

 covered in the heels of the hind legs of horses, and very 

 rarely in the fore ones. They consist in extended ulcera- 

 tions, running in a transverse direction, and in their in- 

 cipient state strike us With a notion that the skin has really 

 cracked: a notion not without foundation, since they often 

 owe their origin to extension of the skin when its oily- 

 secretion is defective. This is more likely to happen when 

 the legs are swollen, and are of that coarse description well- 

 known under the epithet ^'fleshy,^^ Tliis seems to be the 

 history in stabled horses : — the legs become filled ; the 

 secretion is disordered ; the skin is stretched and cracked. 

 But, with regard to horses that are turned out during the 

 winter, and whose legs are constantly exposed, ulceration 

 seems to arise from loss of vital energy. The skin in these 

 animals sloughs and ulcerates. Horses whose heels are 

 naturally clothed with long hair, become, from having them 

 trimmed, more susceptible to diseased influences. Stopping 

 thrushes will, at times, cause the heels to crack and break 

 out in pimples or eruptions, particularly the hind heels. 

 This is best counteracted by aperient and diuretic medicine. 



The Treatment of these ulcerations must be regulated by 

 their origin, duration, and condition. Horses that have 

 contracted them in a wet, should be removed to a dry 

 situation. Animals that have generated them in the stable 

 will be benefited by purging, to cool and fine their swollen 



