GREASE.
Grease consists of swollen legs, although swelled legs occur frequently, yet there is no grease. Friction and bandaging will generally remove this. Grease is a specific inflammation of the skin of the heels, sometimes of the forefeet, but oftener of the hinder ones. It is not a contagious disease, as some have asserted although when it once appears in a stable, it frequently attacks almost every horse in it.—Bad stable management is the true cause of it. The first appearance of grease is usually a dry and scurfy state of the skin of the heel, with redness, heat and itching. The heel should be well but gently washed with soap and water, and as much of the scurf detached as is easily removed. If the cracks are deep, with an ichorous discharge and considerable lameness, it will be necessary to poultice. A poultice made of carrots boiled soft and mashed will answer the purpose. The efficacy of a carrot poultice is seldom sufficiently appreciated in cases like this. The poultice just referred to should be diligently applied at night, to insure success, and when the heat and tenderness and stiffness of motion have diminished, astringent lotions should be applied. Either the alum lotion or a strong decoction of oak bark—perhaps the alum dissolved in whiskey will do better than water, or the alum dissolved in a decoction of bark will answer better than either. This disease requires perseverance—the decoctions should be made very strong. After washing several times should there be watery matter on the heels or leg, wash it off with wafer and soap. Moderate physicing, bran mashes, &c. will be found very beneficial. The above decoctions will never fail to cure the scratches.