s rendered the more liable if kept on a heating ration of
buckwheat, or even of wheat or maize. Contact of the skin with oil of
turpentine or other essential oils, with irritant liquids, vegetable or
mineral, with rancid fats, with the acrid secretions of certain animals,
like the irritating toad, with pus, sweat, tears, urine, or liquid
feces, will produce congestion or even inflammation. Chafing is a common
cause, and is especially liable to affect the fat horse between the
thighs, by the side of the sheath or scrotum, on the inner side of the
elbow, or where the harness chafes on the poll, shoulder, back,
breastbone, and under the tail. The accumulation of sweat and dust
between the folds of the skin and on the surface of the harness, and the
specially acrid character of the sweat in certain horses, contribute to
chafing or "intertrigo." The heels often become congested owing to the
irritation caused by the short, bristly hairs in clipped heels. Again,
congestion may occur from friction by halter, harness, or other foreign
body under the pastern, or inside the thigh or arm, or by reason of
blows from another foot (cutting, interfering, overreach). Finally,
erythema is especially liable to occur in spring, when the coat is being
shed, and the hair follicles and general surface are exposed and
irritable in connection with the dropping of the hairs.

If due only to a local irritant, congestion will usually disappear when
the cause has been removed, but when the feeding or system is at fault
these conditions must be first corrected. While the coat is being shed
the susceptibility will continue, and the aim should be to prevent the
disease from developing and advancing so as to weaken the skin, render
the susceptibility permanent, and lay the foundation of persistent or
frequently recurring skin disease. Therefore at such times the diet
should be nonstimulating, any excess of grain, and above all of
buckwheat, Indian corn, or wheat, being avoided. A large grain ration
should not be given at once on return from hard work, when the general
system and stomach are unable to cope with it; the animal should not be
given more than a swallow or two of cold water when perspiring and
fatigued, nor should he be allowed a full supply of water just after his
grain ration; he should not be overheated or exhausted by work, nor
should dried sweat and dust be allowed to accumulate on the skin or on
the harness pressing on it. The exposure