Equine Podiatry

• Do you have a barefoot horse?
• Are you thinking of taking your horse out of shoes?
• Would you like to improve the quality of your horse’s feet?

A significant part of our own journey as holistic horse owners has been learning about our horses’ feet. It's worth saying here that our search for knowledge and understanding was not driven by any prejudice, whim or fashion, but by the need to find a way to help one of our own horses who was clearly in trouble and for whom traditional farriery was no longer an option.

We are not ’anti-shoes’ by any means, we simply recognise that if a horse is to be truly sound then he must have healthy feet whether shod or not and that, in many cases, removing the shoes and helping the foot to return to good condition is the only way to resolve a very difficult situation. We now choose to keep our own horses barefoot as we've found shoeing to be unnecessary in most circumstances and we like to minimise the risk of injury in herd situations.

State-of-the-art barefoot conditioning services

While good trimming will put a horse’s hooves in balance, achieving and maintaining a set of strong, healthy feet under your horse is about much more than just the trim. A number of factors such as the horse's diet and nutrition, work patterns and lifestyle have to be taken into account in order to design an appropriate and effective foot-conditioning programme. Even with a healthy horse this takes time and effort. One of our key reasons for setting up The Holistic Equitation Centre was to make this complex challenge simple and achievable for the average horse owner.

Here at the centre we not only have the know-how and experience to identify weak or damaged hooves, we also have the facilities, surfaces and manpower required to protect them in the critical early stages after removing shoes and gently help your horse return to good health. For horses with sound feet we can then help you or show you how to condition them into tough, stone-crunching, performance hooves that will easily handle roadwork, hacking on rocky tracks or even jumping and eventing.

Onsite Expertise

Jo Clark is a fully qualified Applied Equine Podiatrist who trained with KC La Pierre, himself a former champion farrier and now one of the world’s leading experts and a pioneer in whole-horse hoofcare.

As well as supervising all trimming and foot conditioning here at the centre, Jo also offers:

• Hoof assessment prior to removing shoes or horse purchase.
• Residential transition from shod to barefoot.
• Residential hoof rehabilitation and improvement.

Contact us now to discuss your requirements. And if you are thinking of removing your horse’s shoes, PLEASE do read our free article on Transitioning to Barefoot before you do so. It may save you and your horse a lot of unnecessary pain and anguish!

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