© Peter Van Dyke
Early in my apprenticeship I became aware of laminitis. It seemed a disease that should interest a prospective farrier, having to do with feet and such. A sort of horseshoeing renaissance was in progress at that time. Searching for answers produced more myths and superstitions than discernible facts. There were hints of past knowledge, but it appeared that more had been forgotten than had been passed on. So far as I could tell, most of us were working in the dark. There were few people around who gave the impression that they really knew what they were doing. I was fortunate in acquiring an apprenticeship to a farrier who had served several apprenticeships. He had an uncanny ability to make horses go their best.
My education took place in an environment where "performance" horses were shod to an exacting standard. What we did to our horses had to work. Ours was a highly competitive area. Everyone in the horse business had to get results. We had quality horses, owners able to fund us, eager and willing veterinary support - all the ingredients we needed to do some real work. All we had to do was get results. We were in a position to experiment, but we weren't given forever to get make it work.
We still had some hurdles to get over. "Frog Pressure Theory," "Don't fit the hoof to the shoe," to name but two, were tenaciously held beliefs that made it virtually impossible to practice "Farriery." We had to finesse our clients. In time, we were allowed to get away with formerly "illegal" acts as long as the horses went better for it. We were motivated risk takers, with as much to lose as to gain.
One place where the risks were comparatively small was in founder work. Nobody expected much from us. The field was wide open. We had old methods we were eager to abandon, we had plenty of ailing horses, and we had shoulders to stand on, like Burney Chapman's and others! The best part was that this new thing we were trying worked! We knew this because we had a dismal record to compare to. We weren't in the cloistered atmosphere of a teaching institution. We were under no obligation to explain the "hows and whys" of what we were doing. We just had to produce.
There was a learning curve. We had to kill a few on our way. These didn't seem so much setbacks as dues to be paid. As experience mounted, we acquired a "feel" for how each horse was likely to respond. This was the heart of the matter. Our job was a simple one. Minimize mechanical sources of irritation to the laminae. That's all we can do. But deftly done, it will save a lot of horses.
Anyone who does this work knows that this is at once very simple and very complex. One trick is to not further complicate things by trying to do more than is necessary. Normally, PIII is held fast to the horny wall by way of the laminae. During laminitis, this bond is at risk. The farrier's task is to minimize lamellar stress. The most direct source of stress to inflamed laminae is gravity. If the laminae are allowed to be stretched, a sort of feed-back loop is set up. Local tissues being locally stressed produce vasoactive substance that further excites inflammation (locally). The precipitating cause(s) may offer a clue to the amount of risk to expect, but ultimately the issue is local. (It really doesn't matter to the farrier what is causing the laminitis.) In this sense, every case of laminitis is identical, requiring the same therapy. The needs of the individual horse will dictate the details of the application, but the therapy remains the same.
You can cut all the tendons you like, and then some, but if gravity is still pulling on the laminae, your problem isn't fixed. You can change any angle you like: M/L, A/P, but if gravity is still tugging on laminae, you've got a problem. Properly done, the Heart Bar Shoe (or any device serving a like function) pulls the horny wall DOWN ONTO PIII, opposing gravity. My first choice is usually the HBS. It is a precise tool that applies pressure only where it is needed. However, I will use whatever I must to mitigate stress. It might be metal, gauze, plastic, leather, wool..... I will nail it on, screw it on, glue it on, tape it on, clamp it on, and on, and on. There are as many ways to deal with a laminitic horse as there are people to do it.
What has the renaissance produced? Today I read in one of the news groups advice from some vets on laminitis. I can't tell you if we have come out of the Dark Ages or not. Today, I suspect we are still stumbling about in the gloom. I, for one, am aware that there are farriers out there who are consistently producing good results treating laminitis. Their work speaks for itself. It can stand the light of day.
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