510 . GREASE. 



a little local attention would cure the injured surfaces at 

 once. Vast numbers of horses are greased by want of 

 attention : it is too much to say, under good grooming, 

 horses would never have swelled legs or even cracked heels ; 

 but perhaps few, if any, would ever run into that stage of 

 ulceration, distinguished from milder abrasions by the term 

 grease, as expressive of its oily discharge. It is to extreme 

 cleanliness, to free ventilation, to hand-rubbing the legs 

 when wet until they are perfectly dry ; and to immediate 

 local attention to any accidental abrasion, or to any slight 

 swelling of the heels, that grease is now banished from 

 among our cavalry, and so seldom met with in any well- 

 regulated stable. Grease is, in ninety-nine cases out of a 

 hundred, the consequence of improper treatment of some 

 kind. The attendant is apt to slight the hind legs, because 

 they are less clean from soil and moisture ; from fear also 

 the hinder extremities get neglected, as many grooms dare 

 not trust themselves on their knees, or even employ both 

 hands at once to the heels of the hind legs ; and we need 

 not say, that, from one hand being a resisting point to 

 the other, friction can only be thus obtained. Colour, like- 

 wise, as it marks debility, so it influences grease ; thus, 

 it has been remarked that white-legged and light -coloured 

 horses generally are more liable to cracks, to grease, and 

 to diseases of the feet, than others which are darker, or 

 whose legs are black. In the foregoing summary of the 

 causes of grease, which in the present edition is greatly 

 compressed, every possible reason is assigned for the origin 

 of the disease, save the right one, upon which the author is 

 rather forced, than reaches by his own efforts. The truth 

 is, grease arises from bad stable management. No matter 

 of what breed, or how old the horse may be, the groom is 

 to blame if the animal becomes greasy. In all well-regu- 

 lated stables, the appearance of this loathsome disorder is a 

 signal for a change of attendants therein ; for as the affec- 

 tion is now banished from the army, what earthly reason 

 can be urged why it should be found in private stables ? 



TREATMENT OF GREASE. 



This complaint takes on different states or stages, which 

 being known by different terms, as swelled legs, cracks, 



