144 
MANUAL OF MODERN FARRIERY. 
rubbed down every day, both morning and evening, so as to 
stimulate the vessels to activity. Pressure by means of 
bandages will also be found to have a powerful tendency to 
promote the circulation It is too much the practice of 
grooms to give diuretics in swellings of the limbs, as these 
by being frequently repeated are sure to weaken the urinary 
organs and produce an incurable debility. 
GREASE. 
This is a disease of the skin of the heel, sometimes in 
the fore feet, but most commonly in the hind ones. The 
disease is too frequently the effect of washing the limbs 
with cold water while they are over-heated from exercise, 
and allowing them to dry of their own accord ; the conse¬ 
quent reaction after the application of cold being very 
great, produces inflammation. The vessels becoming gorged, 
nature seeks to relieve them by sending forth a discharge 
of ichorous matter from the parts which are so violently 
inflamed. Another cause is taking a horse into a warm 
stable in winter, when the legs have been chilled by 
excessive cold from standing. 
Grease is not contagious, yet it has been known to affect 
all the horses of a stable at the same time, after one has 
been seized with the complaint. This can only be accounted 
for by bad stable management. The skin of the heel is 
considerably different in its texture from that of other parts 
of the legs. The fetlock is subjected to a greater degree of 
motion and friction than any other joint, and it is provided 
with a soft unctuous matter to keep it from chapping or 
excoriation, which can be easily felt to be greasy to the 
touch. When inflammation ensues, this greasy exudation 
stops, and the heel exhibits a red, dry, and mealy appear¬ 
ance ; and in consequence of the continual motion of this 
