HORSE MEDICINES AND REMEDIES 209 



the shoe to the foot, and lessening the stress upon the nails, 

 whicn might prove injurious. In horses subjected to heavy 

 draught, clips are indispensable, and are useful to all em- 

 ployed in draught of any kind. They will be found a useful 

 preventive in securing the shoes from being torn off, when 

 the strain is great on the feet while drawing. Clips are 

 also beneficial when horses are given to stamping and paw- 

 ing, as either of these tricks are likely to loosen the simple 

 shoe. But clips should only be used in such horses as we 

 have named, because they press upon the crust as it grows 

 down, and are therfore unsuited to animals employed in 

 light draught or hackneys. 



CHAPTER XVI 



HORSE MEDICINES AND REMEDIES— DOSES— 

 P URGA TIVES- BALLS— BLISTERS— GA USTICS 

 — STIMULANTS — DRINKS — LINIMENTS — 

 MASHES— POULTICES— LOTIONS, ETC, ETC, 



Alteratives. — This is a class of medicines much mis- 

 understood by the farrier. They are supposed to act upon 

 the system in a slow and nearly imperceptible manner. 

 They form the excuse for that vile propensity of grooms to 

 dose the unlucky horse on all occasions, to the injury of his 

 health and often of his constitution. 



These medicines are indicated in diseases of the skin, 

 defective secretions, and debility of stomach. The altera- 

 tives in most repute among farriers are nitre, antimony, 

 sulphur, mercurial preparations, resins, and spices ; to these 

 many add every drug and compound in the pharmacopoeia. 

 For ourselves, we would fain abolish the word alterative 

 altogether as a vague generality and mystifying term for 

 any disorder, and a cloak for ignorance ; as, however, it is 

 in constant use, we must retain it, confining it to medicines 

 for the amendment of the state of the skin and general 

 excretions. The leading formulae for alteratives are : 



U 



