THE TREATMENT OF LAMINITIS. 
569 
man wearing massive boots, or a horse travelling with great 
clumsy shoes, came with more force on the road than an 
individual in slippers, or a steed in racing plates. If I am 
correct in believing that this striking, percussion, or concus¬ 
sion, of the foot against the ground is increased in proportion 
to the load it carries, then how can I reconcile Mr. Broad’s 
statement that “ vibration—the result of concussion,’^ is 
decreased by heavy shoes, when he at the same time asserts 
“ provided that the blows causing the concussion are equal ? ” 
If vibration is increased by concussion, and if, as is apparent, 
a heavy-shod foot strikes the ground with more force than a 
light-shod one, we cannot but see that Mr. Broad’s reason¬ 
ing is incorrect, and that the theory he has embarked upon 
brings him to shipwreck—he is, in fact, hoist on his own 
petard,’^ and though he may confess to astonishment at 
my statement that heavy shoes increase concussion, yet he 
has proved its truthfulness while disproving his own. I 
trust there are few veterinary surgeons who will maintain 
that clumsy masses of iron attached to horses’ hoofs diminish 
concussion, or are beneficial to either feet or limbs. We 
must remember that an educated public is very ready to 
examine such notions, and are not slow to discover their weak 
points. For proof of this, I may refer to the columns of the 
Field for the last seven or eight months. 
The use of heavy shoes in laminitis dates from the days of 
Markham—two hundred years ago. That hippiatrist recom¬ 
mends exercise, stout ” shoes, well opening-up the heels, 
paring out the soles, bleeding from the toes, and other 
measures.* However suited they may have been to that age 
—the dark days of farriery—I do not think it would be very 
judicious to borrow this venerable authority’s recipes and 
directions for the cure of diseases, without due consideration. 
Shoeing could not have been worse than it was in his day, 
and horses’ feet were subjected to the most barbarous treat¬ 
ment : heavy shoes, paring, and rasping formed the chief 
points in their management, and the results are evidenced in 
the frequent mention of frettizing,” or inflammation, and 
the inclination the poor creatures had to lie down after a 
short journey of some twenty miles. 
Ill my last communication I spoke of shoeing a flat- 
footed horse on Mr. Broad’s method, and riding or driving it 
* '‘Eor foundering, frettizing, or any imperfection in the feet or hoofs of an 
horse:—kirst pare thinne, open the heeles wide, and shoo large, strong, and 
hollow .”—The Faithful Farrier, p. 96. London, 1647. In an earlier edition 
of the same work, (1639), he gives similar directions, with the addition of 
“ take good store of blood from the toes,”—p. 166, 
