GREASE. 3r,5 



would, tlierofore, be an excellent rule never to Avash the heels of these 

 horses. After they have been suffered to stand for twenty minutes in the 

 stable, during which time the horse-keeper or the carter may be employed 

 in taking care of the harness, or carriage, or beginning to dress the horse, 

 the greater part of the dirt which had collected about the heels may be 

 got rid of with a dry brush ; and the rest will disappear in a quarter of 

 an liour afterwards under the operation of a second brushing. The trouble 

 will not be great, and the heels will not be chilled and subject to inflam- 

 mation. 



Much error has prevailed, and it has led to considerable bad practice, 

 from the notion of humours flying about the horse, and which, it is said, 

 must have vent somewhere, and attack the heels as the weakest part of 

 the frame. Thence arise the physicking, and the long course of diuretics, 

 which truly weaken the animal, and often do irreparable mischief 



Grease is a local complaint. It is produced principally by causes that 

 act locally, and it is most successfully treated by local applicatioiis. Diu- 

 retics and purgatives may be useful in abating inflammation ; but the 

 grand object is to get rid of the inflammatory action which exists in the 

 skin of the heel, and to heal the wou.nds, and remedy the mischief which 

 it has occasioned. 



The skin soon cracks, and is followed by the exudation of a greasy and 

 very foetid fluid. As the disease progresses it involves the skin at the 

 back part of the leg, especially where there is long hair, and sometimes 

 extends nearly to the hock, but rarely above it. When cracks appear, the 

 mode of treatment "wdll depend on their extent and depth. If they are 

 but slight, a lotion, composed of siilphate of zinc or alum ointment, will 

 often speedily dry them up, and close them. 



If the cracks are deep, with an ichorous discharge and considerable 

 lameness, it will be necessary to poiiltice the heel. A poultice of linseed 

 meal and bran will be generally effective, unless the discharge is thin and 

 offensive, when an ounce of finely powdered charcoal should be mixed 

 with the linseed meal ; or a poultice of carrots, boiled soft and mashed. 

 The efficacy of a carrot poultice is seldom sufficiently appreciated in cases 

 like this. 



Wlien the inflammation and pain have evidently subsided, and the sores 

 discharge good matter, the calamine ointment may be applied with advan- 

 tage ; and the cure will generally be quickened if a diluted solution of 

 sulphate of zinc or alum is applied. An application that will be found 

 nearly a specific, after the poulticing and physicking have been had recourse 

 to, is a mixture of ft-om two drachms to half an ounce of sulphuric acid 

 to a pint and a half of water, making a quart mixtui'e. A little of this 

 applied morning and evening, also as soon as the legs have been dressed 

 after work, will be found highly beneficial. 



After the chaps or cracks have healed, the legs will sometimes continue 

 gorged and swelled. A flannel bandage, evenly applied over the whole of 

 the swelled part, will be very serviceable ; or, should the season admit of 

 it, a run at grass, particularly spring grass, should 1)e allowed. 



In some cases the cracks are not confined to the centre of the heels, but 

 spread over them, and extend on the fetlock, and even up the leg, while 

 the legs are exceedingly swelled, and there is a watery discharge from the 

 cracks, and an apparent oozing throiigh the skin at other places. The legs 

 are exceedingly tender and sometimes hot, and there is an appearance 

 which the farrier thinks very decisive as to the state of the disease, and 

 which the better-infoi'med man should not overlook— //;e Iteels smoke — the 

 skin is so hot that the watery fluid partly evaporates as it runs from the 

 cracks or oozes through the skin. 



A a2 



