104 ESSAYS ON HORSE SUBJECTS 



drying and cooling is apt to have a deranging 

 effect upon the circulation of the skin at this part, 

 and consequently conduces to inflammation of 

 that covering. 



Eczema under the saddle is more apt to occur 

 in cold than in warm weather. More than fifteen 

 per cent, of the saddle horses clipped in midwinter 

 develop this affection under the saddle, while not 

 more than one per cent, with backs undipped 

 show it. 



When harness horses develop it, it is on the 

 parts subjected to most pressure that it first shows 

 itself, as under the collar and back pad. The 

 eruption has a great tendency to spread, and be- 

 ginning on the skin covered by the saddle, often 

 extends over the whole of the back and side. 



Occurring, as it frequently does, with a num- 

 ber of clipped horses in a large stable, it is 

 thought by stablemen and owners to be con- 

 tagious, but it is not so. It is apparent, then, 

 that clipping the coat under the saddle is a bad 

 practice. Even in cases in which an eruption 

 does not take place, the rubbing is apt to cause 

 temporary baldness and troublesome abrasions, 

 particularly if the skin has not been toughened 

 by long and continual pressure and rubbing of 

 the saddle, the result of steady saddlework. 



