I took a two-day hoof care clinic for horse owners just before I started learning about Straightness Training.  Shortly after, I started trimming my mare Kim’s feet myself and really enjoyed the mixture of mental and physical challenges, as well as the craftsmanship required. I soon decided to pursue this further, and, if it suited me, to trim professionally. So the search for a good and affordable education and certification started. My first clinic instructor recommended the Gateway to Hoof Care Clinic taught by Liberated Horsemanship along with their professional training program, so off I went to Spain to take the 5-day basic clinic. Six years later I am a Certified Hoof Care Professional and Field Instructor, am married to a Master Hoof Care Professional and have moved to the USA because of it. Life can take one on unplanned turns, for sure.

Our trimming philosophy

Our model for trimming is the efficient form that hooves assume under an aboriginal lifestyle, terrain and environmental conditions. Those are the conditions under which the hoof was designed to provide optimal functionality, where growth and wear are balanced to produce and maintain a compact form with proper alignment of internal and external structures. Our trimming philosophy is therefore to encourage and nurture each hoof toward achieving this optimally-efficient form.
This cannot be accomplished by forcing the hoof into some preconceived shape or changing the trim to suit the activities or so-called needs of the horse. Instead, the proper trim is performed in complete harmony with the horse’s anatomy and physiology by the application of non-invasive, rational principles designed to enable the hoof to develop into this healthy, optimal form.

Successful hoof trimming takes place within the broader context of Hoof Care. Hoof Care also necessarily includes management and use practices that support hoof health.