182 now TO PHYSIC a horse. 



accurate a diagnosis, that none bat a regular practitioner 

 should i^retend to treat them. Simple difficulty of staling 

 can generally be relieved by cleansing the sheath with the 

 hand, and giving gentle doses of nitre. These are most of 

 the simpler diseases, Avhich may be simply and successfully 

 treated at home, and with which every horse-keeper ought 

 to be at least superficially and generally acquainted. AVc 

 shall touch upon the subject of accidents, strains, simple 

 lameness, contusions, and the like, which can often be per- 

 fectly cured by cold lotions, or simple, warm f ^nentations, 

 without any further or more difficult process, — though igno- 

 rant persons make much of them, as if their cure proved 

 marvelous skill, and required magnificent appliances. 



Before proceeding to the consideration of simple acci- 

 dents and their treatment, we shall devote a few words to an 

 affection of the feet, or, to speak more correctly, heels, which 

 although not exactly an accident, is not a natural disease, 

 but arises from filth, neglect, cold, wet, and the omission 

 to clean and dry the feet and legs of the horse, after work 

 and exposure to weather. It has been rightly called the 

 disgrace, as it is the bane, of inferior stables, both in the 

 city and the country, but more commonly in the latter, 

 where, to pay any attention to the legs and feet of a farm- 

 horse, is an almost unheard-of act of chivalric Quixotism. 

 This is the ailment known in England as "the grease," in 

 the United States, generally, as " the scratches." It is 

 perfectly easj^ to be prevented, and easy to be cured if 

 taken in the first instance ; but if neglected and allowed 

 to become virulent, is nearly incurable. 



Grease. — The first appearance of "grease," wdiich is 

 caused by the feet and heels being left wet after work in 

 muddy soil, and exposed to a draft of cold air, is a dry and 

 scurfy state of the skin, with redness, heat and itching. If 

 neglected, the hair drops off, the heels swell, the skin as- 



