Bracy Clark exposed a serious threat to horse health 200 years ago but his work was suppressed and ridiculed. Now he’s being given a second chance to change the future for the animals he loved thanks to a page-turning new novel called The First Vet.
Clark, one of England’s first-ever vets, proved that horse shoes deform natural hooves. He warned the 1000-year old practice of shoeing led to lameness and sometimes early death but he was tormented by a whisper campaign against him and was refused a platform at the veterinary college that trained him.
The book’s author, Linda Chamberlain, said: ‘The veterinary establishment should have listened to him but he was ahead of his time. Instead they laughed and buried his work. Today we are finding out that he was right. More and more owners are finding a cure for crippling lameness by keeping their horses barefoot. Bracy would be very pleased.’
A natural foot – no need of metal or nails
Linda has spent the last few years writing and researching her debut novel which was published on Amazon last week and has already received 5 star reviews.
The First Vet is a touching story of love and corruption – a blend of fact and fiction that owes much of its fast pace to the battle between Clark and the head of the veterinary college, Professor Edward Coleman. The story is made more poignant by the forbidden romance between Clark and the Professor’s fictional sister, Christina.
Linda, who rides her own horses without shoes, discovered Clark’s work on a number of websites about barefoot trimming. She vowed to find out more and her research took her to the Royal Veterinary College and The British Library.
‘I spent many hours reading Bracy’s books,’ she said. ‘He was eloquent and passionate. He went on long journeys riding barefoot horses to see how they would manage and he rode a very lively stallion on his veterinary rounds in the city of London. It disturbed him that his research exposed an evil for which he had no remedy.
‘Like today’s barefoot advocates he worried that the horses’ hoof was treated as though it was a block of wood rather than a living, elastic organ. He warned that nailing an immovable shoe to the hoof was causing serious problems and early death.’
‘Thus we see the beautiful and useful symmetry of nature’s mould, no part of which is without its use, has been changed by artificial restraint to deformity and incompetence.’ Bracy Clark
So why was he condemned by the veterinary profession without being heard. Linda determined to find out.
‘The answer wasn’t obvious but I think it was greed,’ she said. ‘Bracy withstood the whisper campaign against him in silence for 20 years but eventually he hit back. He accused Professor Coleman of corruption, said he had an open palm and was pocketing the student fees. It’s known that Coleman shortened the course to three months and Bracy alleged that he admitted unsuitable, uneducated students in order to make himself rich.
‘Bracy said Coleman had patented at least two of his own horse shoes which he was using at the college.
‘A greedy or corrupt professor was unlikely to lend a platform to such an honest man as Bracy Clark. He certainly wasn’t interested in hearing how his own horse shoes were doing such enormous harm.’
The two men couldn’t have been more different. Coleman was head of the college as well as Veterinary Surgeon General of the British cavalry. He sold his horse shoes and he patented his medicines and died a wealthy man. Clark was a Quaker who gave up a surgeon’s apprenticeship to be at the newly opened college, vowing to family and friends that he had little need of money. He shared his research and his medicines with the world and he refused to patent and profit from a flexible shoe he developed, called the Expansion shoe.
‘He was a successful and much-loved vet but I don’t think he could fight dirty enough against Coleman,’ Linda explained. ‘He suffered in silence too long. His later books talk of Coleman’s open palm and his greedy charm. He spared no ink in revealing the nature of his adversary and the harm his regime was causing the profession but by then Coleman was secure and entrenched. It might have been too late.
‘It’s great that many of today’s barefoot trimmers recognise Bracy’s pioneering research. Owners of barefoot horses often battle against hostility from other riders but they are finding cures that sometimes elude the professionals. So many lame horses are surviving against the odds once they are free of their metal shoes.
‘Today’s vets should take a look at Bracy’s work. They should continue his research and help barefoot riders create a better life for the horses in our care. As the hero of The First Vet once wrote – My book is a grateful offering to humanity in diminishing the intolerable sufferings of these abused animals. The foot moves for obvious reasons; to break all jar and concussion to the body and to save the foot from destruction. This has been overlooked in the horse. His foot is treated as a senseless block of wood rather than a living, elastic organ.’
I wanted to share the book’s press release so you could hear how important Bracy Clark’s work is today. I love to hear from you, so leave me a comment. Press the follow button to keep in touch with future posts and enjoy the book. Amazon reviews help readers to find a good book amongst the thousands released every year so any feedback is much appreciated. Tell your friends, too. Bracy Clark was a gifted and remarkable man.
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