I certified as a natural hoof care practitioner with the AANHCP in 2008.
I have since then worked professionally as a hoof trimmer and I have had several hundreds of horses through my practice over the years.
all kinds of horses, breeds, ages, sizes, personalities, some with severe problems and illnesses, others, sound and healthy from the beginning.
I have pulled shoes and transitioned many horses to barefoot with great success.
Hoof care is a whole universe in itself and I keep educating myself, reading, observing, studying.
I use the wild horse model as my guide and solid foundation but I find it important to stay humble, reflecting and openminded and to keep learning. None of us have all the answers.
What I know for certain is that everything is connected and hoof soundness and health is highly dependent on good management, a species appropriate living environment and conscious training and riding that favours healthy biomechanics, balance and a happy, satisfied horse.
I teach horse and hoof care workshops to horse owners and others who wish to expand their knowledge about hoof care, and I offer online help to people who trim their own horse's hooves and need guidance.
The natural trim
There are many opinions about what a hoof should look like and how it should be trimmed.
To me it has always made sense to look to nature for answers.
what does a horse hoof look like if the horse itself shapes and wears it by living the life the horse was designed to live?
what does a healthy well functioning hoof look like?
It is important to have a vision of this in our minds when we trim hooves.
our domestic horses do not wear their hooves enough to self trim and we must help them keep the hooves short and balanced with our tools.
In order to trim the hooves without causing harm to the horse, we must be able to read the hoof and know which parts can and should be removed, and which parts should not.
If the hoof is too long, out of balance or severely distorted, we must be able to vision the shape it is trying to find back to, and help guide it in that direction.
The hooves are constantly reacting to what is happening to the horse they belong to and the environment they are in.
It makes sense to mimic the hoof wear patterns of healthy wild horses that live without human intervention.
This does not mean trimming every hoof to the shape and size of a wild horse, it means quite the opposite.
trimming to the wild hoof model is about understanding and reading the individual hoof and being able to see what every particular hoof needs at this point in time.
There are landmarks, measurements and characteristics in the hooves that we can use as guidelines when we trim.
The idea is never to force the hoof into a certain shape or size.
with frequent, light trimming we can guide a distorted hoof back into balance, and maintain healthy sound hooves.
The purpose of hoof trimming is to facilitate the wear the horse is not getting naturally. It is better to trim little and often than too let the horse go too long between trimming.
The whole idea with hoof trimming is to help the horse keep the hooves short and balanced at all times.
Hoof health
The hoof trimming is only part of the puzzle when it comes to hoof health.
with our tools we can mimic wear patterns and guide the hoof in a direction, but we cannot build strength and health with trimming.
a species appropriate diet is necessary to provide all the nutrients needed for the hoof to sustain strength and health, and it helps prevent inflammation of the soft tissues in the hoof.
Sufficient barefoot movement is extremely important for hoof health.
It is not just the amount of movement, but also the kind of movement, or variety of movement that matters.
When we apply a mustang roll to a hoof for example, it is to mimic the wear around the whole outer hoof wall from one heel all the way around the toe and to the other heel.
This is because it is natural for horses to wear the whole hoof and to be able to roll over the edge of the hoof in all directions.
If a horse is always walking on a flat, level surface, always moving in the same manner, it will not develop strength, suppleness and resilience in all of its body, and it will not wear its hooves all over.
Hooves need to work to be healthy and strong. Up and down hill, over uneven ground, over and around obstacles and over different surfaces, sand, gravel, stones. This type of movement will strengthen the horse's body and hooves.
Most domestic horses do not get sufficient movement to self trim and we can mimic the natural wear with frequent, light trimming.
It is important to understand though that hoof trimming can never replace proper management with motivation and purpose to move.
The training and riding also play a role in hoof health. If the horse is continuously asked to move in unnatural and unhealthy restricted movement patterns, this will affect the way the hoof impacts the ground and this will affect the wear patterns and the balance and health of the hoof and body.
Unethical training and riding will cause the horse to be in a situation with long term mental stress, and we know that this has an impact on hoof health as well as the general health and wellbeing of the horse.
For horses going through a healing phase or horses that are sensitive on abrasive surfaces, I recommend the use of hoof boots.
Hoof boots can help a horse find the motivation to move, and they can help a horse move comfortably, relaxed and without tension, they are a great help in many situations.
Workshops
Working professionally as a hoof care practitioner for many years has made me realise that many horse owners and horse professionals, do not have basic knowledge about hooves, and all the elements required to allow horses to develop strong, healthy hooves, bodies and minds.
Learning about hoof care, naturally also means learning about horse care because everything is connected and so many things affect the horses ability to build hoof health.
If you own a horse or work with horses professionally, it is a good idea to have basic knowledge about hoof anatomy, how the hoof functions, what a healthy hoof looks like, recognising warning signs that something is not right and which changes you can make in the horse's life to help set the horse up for health and soundness.
For horse owners who are physically able, I think it is a really good idea to learn how to give a very basic maintenance trim in between professional hoof care visits.
Many horses go too long in between hoof trims because getting a hoof care provider out is an expense, and not something most horse owners can afford to do every 2-3 weeks.
if the horse owner can run a rasp over the hooves once a week or every two weeks in between professional visits, it really makes a big difference for the health and development of the hooves, especially for horses going through healing of some kind.
With a better understanding of hoof care and basic trimming, horse owners will be better equipped to ask questions and notice early warning signs, or changes in the hooves that need attention.
I teach horse and hoof care workshops anywhere in the world, if the adequate facilities are present and there are enough participants to fill a workshop.
The workshops typically run over three whole days and are a combination of theory and hands on practice on cadaver hooves and live horses.
In a workshop you will learn about hoof anatomy and function, what a healthy hoof looks like, common hoof illnesses, hoof trimming technique, trimming guidelines, measuring the hoof, horse management, the natural needs of horses, what we can learn from studies of wild horses, track systems and how we can create species appropriate living environments for our horses, tool handling, gentle, safe horse handling and much more.
