264 MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY 



bountifully supplied with this mucous matter to give 

 them suppleness, and to preserve from friction those 

 parts which are subjected to such constant and active 

 movements. Sometimes this secretion exceeds the 

 quantity necessary for the due action of the parts, 

 and from want of attention and cleanliness becomes 

 inspissated, and collects about those parts : and, if 

 this hardness is permitted to remain, it will become 

 a watery sore, v/hich will terminate in lameness, 

 stiffness, and pain in the joint when the animal 

 bends it. When this is situated in the bend of the 

 knee, it is termed mallenders, and when it is seated 

 in front of the hock joint, it is called sallenders, 

 complaints which we have described at page iii. 

 If these complaints are attended to in their early 

 stage, nothing more will be required than to cleanse 

 the part from the scurf or scab which it produces by 

 soaking it in hot water, and carefully washing it 

 every day with a sponge and some astringent mixed 

 with the water, such as a small portion of vinegar. 



The skin of the heel has numerous glandular 

 pores, through which the unctuous secretion oozes ; 

 and sometimes these are unduly excited, and this 

 matter becomes altered in its substance and odour, 

 and produces that disease called grease, described 

 at page 123, and which in some instances proves 

 somewhat difficult to cure. 



The cutis, when destroyed by any means, does 

 not regenerate quickly. Great care should therefore 

 be taken not to allow any portion of it to be broken. 

 Many think that it is of little consequence for horses 

 to have the skin of their back rubbed off by friction 

 from a saddle. Such parts as have lost their cutis 

 have it but slowly reproduced ; and even when it 

 has been restored, its vital power is much weaker 



