THE SOIL

In the 19th century literature, I found very detailed lists of laminitis causes, but eating grass is not one of them. The laminitis that our forefathers dealt with was often associated with concussion to the feet, the stress of exhaustion or a diet high in barley, corn or wheat. The horsemen of old knew that mares with retained placenta could develop laminitis and that the condition might occur after a high fever. Further, the texts warned that a horse with a severe leg injury could develop laminitis in the opposite limb if a sling was not used to support his weight.

In other words, the century-old veterinary literature describes two forms

Edward Mayhew, 1879

Soils & Men: Yearbook of Agriculture 1938 presents a very complete description of the condition of the soil in the United States at that time. The authors write, “Within a comparatively short time, water and wind have flayed the skin off the unprotected earth, causing widespread destruction, and we have been forced to realize that this is the result of decades of neglect.”

The state of the soil had been compromised by farming practices of the era as well as the economic stresses on agriculture during the Great Depression. The authors advocated investing in the improvement of the soil in hopes that the resulting increase in productivity would enhance