170 STABLE MANUAL AND HORSE DOCTOR 



healthy state is achieved with more than usual difficulty. 

 Some horses that have cracked heels are in too hiojh condi- 

 tion, while others in a debilitated state are equally or perhaps 

 more prone to the same disease. These different states of 

 body, of course, require opposite constitutional treatment, 

 the first demanding low diet, with purgatives and diuretics, 

 the second, generous food with tonics. 



Of all the preventives of grease, there is none — setting 

 aside the avoidance of those causes already mentioned as 

 conducing to the disease — so effective in its operation as 

 bandaging the legs regularly with flannel rollers. We 

 advocate their employment at most times in the stable, as 

 they materially tend to fine the legs when properly applied, 

 and also, when not put on too tightly, evidently keep up 

 the circulation in the extremities, a point of much 

 consequence. 



Those who are not shown the proper method of applying 

 a bandage generally do more harm than good with them. 

 We do not in the least exaggerate when we say that we 

 never yet knew a groom who could put on a bandage as it 

 should be. They fail about the pasterns and fetlocks, and 

 leave the bandage there loose and bagging, so that, when 

 pressure is requisite, the circulation between the pastern - 

 joint and the foot is impeded, and the latter will be found 

 cold, and the part between the coronet and fetlock perhaps 

 somewhat swollen. 



Bandages, to be neatly applied, should not be so wide as 

 grooms generally make them. You will hardly be able to 

 put them on properly if of more than four inches in width. 

 Begin by applying your roller just under the knee, pass it 

 round in rather a slanting direction, keeping your finger on 

 the extremity until you find it has taken firm hold of the 

 limb ; then let each turn of the bandage cover one half of 

 that above it, taking care so to direct it that its under edge 

 does not bag, but lies closely on the leg. When you come 

 to the hollow behind the pastern, the bandage must be half 

 folded on itself, so that what was its upper border shall be 

 undermost, and this must be repeated whenever it cannot 

 be otherwise made to lie smoothly and closely to the leg. 



By bandaging from above downwards, you in a great 

 measure avoid leaving any marks of the roller on the hair. 

 In the veterinary portion of the present work will be found 

 engravings of the various kinds of bandagings, and their 



