If you are interested in starting or continuing your horses hoof care naturally and would like to use me as your natural hoof care provider I ask that you educate yourself as to what that entails on your part as an owner.  What this means is that natural hoof care is only 1 part of the Natural HORSE Care Equation.  Please know that total Natural Horse Care is much more economical than conventional horse keeping when it is done right. I love helping horses and their owners on this healthy lifestyle path. 

Here I will focus on Natural Hoof Care. You, the owner, need to be aware that there are different styles of natural trimming, NOT all are the same. 

I am whole heartedly a AANHCP practitioner.  I follow the guidelines and the principles and do not vary.  It is important that my clients understand that I don't modify or force the hoof to "look" or do things that is unnatural for the horse.  The horses' hoof tells me what needs to be done and the AANHCP guidelines tell me how to get it there.  This trim is not a "pasture trim" as a farrier would do.  This trim facilitates your horse to grow the hoof as nature intended it to grow and function.  Some horses take longer than others to get to full barefoot performance without boots, others because of environment, lameness and domestication will never get to full barefoot performance without boots, but will undoubtedly be healthier and functional than with metal shoes.  Because of tradition and "that's the way it's always been done" it can be difficult for some owners to "feel" that as being the best method and that natural is healthiest.   

I do not just give out random, out of no where, information.  This is studied and proven. 

What can be difficult for owners is that results can be slow and in this day and age everyone wants results yesterday.

In all fairness to your horse that's not a fair or rational way to approach his health.  Horses are very basic and simple, what makes them complicated are humans and domestication. 

By results I am not just talking about horses that are rehabbing from founder, navicular, laminitis or other lameness issues.  Results also refer to healthy horses of all disciplines transitioning from shoes to barefoot.  Remember, the shoes were put on with nails and those nails are in the hoof wall a good inch or so.  That's about 2 to 3 months for that compromised hoof wall to grow out.  Does this mean the horse can't be ridden?  By all means NO!  Boots, boots boots!  Also, the sole has been coddled because the shoe prevents the sole from being callused, kind of like our shoes keep our soles soft and tender. 

You think you'll go running around on rocks and hard ground when your soles are all tender and thin, I wouldn't think so.  Maybe when you were a kid.   

Just remember, shoes promote thin tender soles, barefoot promotes tough, thicker soles.  Some domestic horses take longer than others to get the ideal sole, so again boots, boots, boots! 

Other things I ask my clients and potential clients to consider is your horses' ability to be trimmed. 

What does this mean? 

Will your horse stand to be trimmed? Picking up his feet to be cleaned is very different from letting someone hold his/her foot between their legs or on a hoof stand. 

My family loves me and I love them, I really don't want to cut my time short because of an unnecessary accident.  It takes me around 20 to 30 minutes to trim a horse that will stand and not yank his foot out of my hand, it takes me about an hour to an hour and a half to trim a disrespectful, untrained horse.  I'm sure your time is much more valuable than mine and it's painful and tiring when I have to wrestle with a 1000lb + animal, and the smaller ones aren't much fun either.

Horses that are suffering from pain and other issues that cause them to have difficulty standing or being trimmed fall into a different catagory. 

I have complete understanding and will work with that.  There are a couple of approaches to consider in handling these cases.  If you have a horse that is in pain to stand or is elderly and has arthritis issues and so forth you can talk to your vet to give you some bute to keep on hand, or whatever your vet recommends, so the horse is comfortable when I come to trim. Or, I can take the time it takes and charge accordingly.  But these things can be worked out privately.

I don't mind helping you train your horse, but please know that I will not spend an hour session to train then try to trim your horse in the same visit. 

If you know your horse won't stand tell me, I don't charge an arm or leg, nor will I ask you send them off to the trainer.  If you don't know if your horse will stand or not, check him/her out before I make a trip out there. 

Again, just picking up the foot doesn't count, they have to be able to let me hold the foot and put nippers and such on his feet.  To find out all you need are a pair of plyers, when you pick up and hold the foot, grab the edge of the hoof with the plyers and tug around on the hoof with it.  See what he/she will do.  But don't get yourself hurt either. If they yank or pull away the foot then they need some work with this.

If you need help with this I can do that, instead of trimming your horse I'll spend a session with you and your horse to help him learn to stand.  Usually about an hour, yes I will charge you for that ($40 plus mileage), that's a heck of a lot cheaper than sending your horse to the trainer. That does'nt mean your horse will be completely trimmer trained in an hour. At the end of the session we can determine if he needs additional work which you the owner can do.   

It's only fair to your horse that he/she can do this, unruley and spoiled horses are usually the ones that get sent to auction or get sold over and over because they weren't taught to behave.  I know this sounds a bit harsh, but I will always put my safety first.

I ask that my clients educate themselves with the AANHCP so that you have an understanding of our guidelines, principles and model, which is the wild horse model. 

I have full respect for all barefoot advocates and trimmers, I also have a lot of respect for farriers.  This work is hard and anyone that does this for a living deserves the due respect.  That being said however, I will not get into a debate or arguement about other methods (by methods I mean what is being trimmed, how measurements are taken in reference to angles and length, what doesn't get trimmed and so forth) or about shoeing.  I don't mind a discussion, but I will not be heckled about it. 

Tool usage and horse handling does not fall into "methods".  There are many trimmers that have great ideas on tool usage and horse handling that I encourage you to look into and they are not necessarily AANHCP practitioners.  

I will not agree to trim away from the AANHCP guidelines to continue on a horse that was trimmed with a different method . 

Yes, I will trim that horse with the understanding that the horse will be switching to the AANHCP guidelines. 

Why am I bringing this to light? 

I have been asked many times to alter or change or follow another style that was being used, however I will not do that.