562 AMERKJAN FARMER'S HORSE BOOK. 



CHAPTER XXIV 



MEDICAL PREPARATIONS RECOMMENDED IN THIS WORK. 



But few persons are to be found in our country capable 

 of treating properly tbe diseases of the horse; but there is 

 no lack of quacks, the presumption and ignorance of whom 

 have thoroughly disgusted the people. Occasionally, how- 

 ever, we are favored by the presence of a veterinary practi- 

 tioner of knowledge, skill, and experience. The cities are, 

 in this respect, better supplied than the country; yet even 

 in the city the old treatment and exploded theories of dis- 

 eases generally prevail,- and the medicines in common use 

 are too often ineffectual. In practice it will frequently be 

 found that medicines are applied to destroy the effects rather 

 than to remove the causes of disease. A case in point : We 

 have under treatment a horse in Petersburg, Kentucky, that 

 had been doctored for the "swelled leg" by a professedly 

 " scientilic practitioner." Medicine had been applied to the 

 leg to abate the swelling, while the foot was dreadfuly dis- 

 eased with hoof-rot, corns, and incipient greasy heel. This 

 condition of the foot had been the cause of the swelling of 

 the leg, but nothing had been done for it, if it had even been 

 discovered at all. 



The farmer must necessarily, as a rule, be his own horse- 

 doctor, or go without any. It is, therefore, very important 

 that he and all horse-owners should make themselves ac- 

 quainted not only with the ordinary diseases, but with the 

 medicines most likely to cure them. The practice now in 

 vogue is to use preparations unfamiliar to the farmer, and 

 not easily procured. This ought not to be so. The essen- 

 tial remedies usually employed with most benefit are simple, 

 and obtained without difficulty ; nor are they dangerous to use. 



