My trimming approach in a nutshell
From ripping shoes to barefoot
The reason I got into 'barefooting' was that my then off-the-track throroughbred (OTTB) Bullie kept ripping his shoes off, nails and all. Again, and again and again. Shoes never lasted more than 3 weeks max. So I thought, surely, repeatedly ripping metal nails through the hoof wall ought to be worse than having no shoes at all. That thought was the beginning of my barefoot journey, which has taken me all the way to becoming a professional barefoot trimmer.
On the right is a piccie of the 'shoe-ripper' Bullie competing barefoot at medium and advanced level dressage.
Learning journey
After a few years of using barefoot trimmers and being inspired by strong and passionate female trimmers, I wanted to learn how to maintain my horses' feet in-between trims, maybe even trim myself. So I went to a weekend course run by Wild About Hooves where I learnt about NHC (Natural Hoof Care), which follows Pete Ramey and is taught through Australian Certified Hoof Trimmer courses. It models the wild mustang/brumby hoof, living in dry rocky country and travelling many, many kilometres daily. To mimic that, NHC uses mustang/brumby rolls, bevelled heels, rasping flares from the outside, while doing only the minimum to frog or sole.
After a couple of years of trying my hand at trimming this way, I then did a course with David Landreville, who is also NHC but really focusses on shaping and sculpting the frog and heel, no rasping of flares to regenerate a healthy hoof.
On the left is David Landreville with his amazing s ulpting skills (not only hooves!).
Becoming accredited
Finally, I did my formal accreditation with LTZ Academy in Germany. The course covered many different approaches, which I loved because knowing about many different methods gives me so many more tools in my toolbox and a lot more knowledge. Their main method does not bevel the heel nor uses a mustang roll; sole and frog are cleaned well and flares rasped from the outside.
Proudly receiving my LTZ hoof practic-
tioner accreditation certificate.
I am now taking bits and pieces from all of them, as no one method suits all horses. I focus a lot on bony alignment and balance. I particularly follow science-based approaches as I am a trained biologist, and I am happy to change my mind and methods according to what science shows is best. I love the science-based information taught by The Equine Documentalist and Progressive Equine Services.
I actually love controversial topics such as rasping flares or not, bevelling or not, using lateral arches or not, as it opens my mind to both sides and makes me think more deeply about each horse's feet I encounter! Can't wait for the research to shed more light into these topics (blog posts to come!).
Alternatives to shoes
More recently, I have taken a keen interest in alternatives to metal shoes, such as composite shoes and hoof boots. There are reasons for using shoes (metal or otherwise), and with modern science and technology, why not use materials that are better for horses' feet! More on that in separate posts!
An OTTB sporting Duplo composite shoes to improve alignment.
For more, follow me or subscibe!
Comments