If you have low blood pressure, getting nitro on your hands can lower your blood pressure enough to make you faint. Stalling a horse after applying this is a really bad idea . In addition to the Amish using bleeding, I also have an account from Pat Coleby of gypsies using bleeding for acute founder. It is an idea that merits more investigation. It was still being recommended for the treatment of founder by the US Dept. of Agriculture as late as 1942.
Excess steroids can actually cause acute laminitis.
Excess steroids mimic the high cortisone levels caused by pituitary adenoma, which increases susceptibility to laminitis. I have been hearing of cases where steroids have foundered horses. I have heard of so many horses being given aggressive drug therapy, with as many as 5 or 6 drugs simultaneously. Many of these horses do not survive. These horses are eating and drinking less and less, developing ulcers even inside their mouths, let alone their stomachs, and dehydrating.