Patent ID: 7533733

Claim:
A method of treating a hoofed animal that has laminitis in a hoof, which is characterized by a degeneration of the horny and sensitive laminae in the hoof that causes the coffin bone to drop and rotate within the hoof, resulting in lameness and inability to walk normally due to pain and debilitation of the animal, including the steps of: providing a horseshoe, providing a flexible flat plate having apertures, wrapping the plate around at least a majority of the laminitic hoof, driving nails up through the hoof, out through apertures in the plate, and clinching the nail ends against the outer surface of the plate, screwing the plate to the hoof by inserting screws through apertures in the plate into the hoof wall, thus securing the plate to the hoof in a manner to constrict the outward flexing of the hoof when the hoof is loaded, constrict the normal outward growth of the hoof, and enable the horse to walk without pain, and leaving the plate in piece for a predetermined extended period of time to increase blood flow in the hoof capsule, thereby at least partially rehabilitating the animal by accelerating hoof growth and regeneration of the laminae.