EXUDATION.
THE SECOND STAGE OF CONFIRMED GREASE.
CRACKS.
Should no regard be now bestowed upon the sufferer, and should the horse be worked on despite the lameness which it now exhibits, the skin swells, while cracks, deep and wide, appear upon the inflamed integument. The lines of division ulcerate, sometimes very badly; a thin, discolored, and unhealthy pus mingles with the discharge; the odor grows still more abominable, while the wretched animal becomes yet more lame.
THE THIRD STAGE OF CONFIRMED GREASE.
HORNY BUNCHES WHICH ARE COMMONLY
CALLED GRAPES.
Should, even at this period, no proper remedy be applied to check the disease, the leg enlarges. Proud flesh, or fungoid granulations, sprout from the lines of ulceration. The granulations grow in bunches, and have a ragged surface. Often the masses are of great size, and shake, as though about to fall, with every movement of the foot. The points, from exposure, become dry and hard; their nature, from that of fungoid granulations, changes to a substance resembling horn, like which, they are without sensation. These bunches have been named "grapes," which they are vulgarly thought to resemble. The likeness, however, is very distant—the one being pleasant to look upon, the other forming a painful and disgusting spectacle.
However insensitive the points of the bunches may become, the limb itself, throughout the disorder, possesses a morbid sensibility. The gentlest touch occasions exquisite torture, and the animal will tremble lest the agony should be repeated. Upon the slightest impression, the leg is instantly snatched up, nor is it trusted again upon the earth until fatigue necessitates rest or till the cause of suffering has departed. Horses have even suppressed their urine, lest the fluid, splashing upon the seat of disease, should provoke any access of the infliction. Few greasy animals ever have a bed under them, the straw of which might arrest the liquid in its flight. Indeed, such a luxury might save them from one source of torture, but assuredly would start up another. The ends of the straw, pricking or even touching the disorder, would cause such agony as must occasion the animal constantly to stand in terror.