CHAPTER XXII 



SOME SKIN AFFECTIONS 



The horse is liable to quite a number of skin affections, 

 some of which are fairly simple in their nature, others 

 more complex. These troubles may be of a parasitic 

 nature or non-parasitic. In the former case the affection 

 is transmissible from one horse to another by direct or by 

 indirect means ; in other words, parasitical skin troubles 

 are of an infective nature, and whenever diseases of this 

 kind appear amongst a stud of horses an unlimited amount 

 of inconvenience and annoyance may be caused. 



Some skin diseases are acute, others chronic. Horses 

 that are kept under bad conditions, such, for instance, as 

 dirty stables, and with little or no grooming, are pre- 

 disposed to the development of skin trouble ; and if an 

 infective disease, such as mange, exists where such animals 

 are kept, the chances are that it will spread with great 

 rapidity. Sometimes a skin affection represents a general 

 infection of the whole system, as, for instance, in glanders, 

 a disease which primarily invades the lungs and sometimes 

 extends to the absorbent vessels and skin ; epizootic 

 lymphangitis and ulcerative cellulitis are of a similar 

 nature. These three diseases are spoken of as specific, 

 being due to micro-organisms. 



The causes of skin disease in the horse are various, but 

 the whole of the causative agents are of mechanical, 

 chemical or parasitical origin ; arising in this manner we 

 have saddle and collar galls, burns from acids and strong 

 disinfectants, mange, ringworm, etc. The following brief 

 description of some of the commoner skin diseases 

 affecting the horse are of interest. 



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