242 Management and Treatment of the Horse. 



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 afterwards applying 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 cleanliness and badly 

 fitting collars, and require the same treatment. 

 Sometimes small pimples arise on the neck and 

 shoulders from chill or surfeit, the harness rubbing 

 these causes them to become sores; when this' 

 happens the animal should have one packet of 

 Gregory's Febrifuge given in its water daily until 

 the surfeit has disappeared. 



