Corrective Shoeing and Trimming for Horse Owners Who Want Sounder Horses

Your horse’s balance starts in his feet. Change the way he’s shod and you’ll change how he stands and moves. That shift in his movement will result in new muscle development.

Then his own body won’t get in the way when he’s working. And suddenly the movements you’ve struggled with riding for months will become so much easier.

As horse enthusiasts, it’s our job to take care of the horses we’re responsible for. This requires we be as educated as possible.

I work with the entire horse to allow them to reach their full potential in whatever activity we choose to participate. And live a long, comfortable life while they’re doing it.

We are able to do much more for horses with navicular, laminitis, torn suspensory ligaments, and other problems than we could 30 years ago. However, the best treatment will always be prevention.

Evaluating Horses: Stop, Look, Listen

In our first appointment, I evaluate your horse almost like a lameness veterinarian.

I watch you walk and trot your horse in-hand. Depending on the issue, I may even ask you to longe or ride your horse so I can see her movement patterns. I’ll watch and listen to the footfalls to understand how your horse is currently going.

Then I’ll look over your horse at a standstill. Where your horse’s muscles are developed, how the horse stands – these are all indications of how the feet are affecting your horse’s overall balance.

I Started My Career Just Taking Some Hoof Off and Nailing a Shoe On – Tragedy Made Me Change My Ways

I purchased my first horse, a stocky 14.2-hand buckskin mare named Siva, as a teenager. I’d never had riding lessons. Thanks to this little, athletic barrel racer, I learned a good seat fast (that means I ate a lot of dirt).

We competed in gymkhana events (barrel racing, pole bending, and others). But my favorite times were riding up and down the hills in the woods for hours on end, just me and the buckskin mare.

At that time, my main concern when it came to hoof care was how much it cost and how long the shoes stayed on before I had to come up with money for the farrier. Money was always tight – I was working as barn help after school to pay for my mare’s expenses.

I’d always been interested in horseshoeing. I attended a technical college course to learn the basics of trimming and shoeing so I could take care of my mare’s feet. Then I did my wife’s horses after we married.

Gradually I took on a couple of clients. At that time it was still just a part-time gig. My full-time job as a lineman for an electric company paid the bills.

The Summer of 1989

My beloved buckskin mare contracted a respiratory virus. Despite our and the veterinarian’s best efforts, the virus turned into pneumonia.

The vet tried everything we could do at home or in his clinic. He suggested we take her to the nearest veterinary college. It was two states away. Not having a horse trailer of our own at the time meant we had to borrow a truck and trailer from friends.

The drive took several hours. We checked on my mare each time we stopped.

But when we arrived at the vet school, we opened the trailer door to a terrified Siva straddling a gap in the floor. A floorboard had given way in the trailer floor after our last check.

Her hind legs were all scraped up. Somehow she had managed to find solid boards to stand on long enough to finish the drive.

It wasn’t enough, though. Between the trauma and pneumonia, she became laminitic. Now she was battling two major illnesses.

The pneumonia was stabilized after a few weeks at the vet school. The laminitis, however, would be a battle for three more months.

That was when we made the difficult decision to humanely euthanize my beloved mare.

Now I Was On a Quest

I didn’t want to feel helpless in this type of situation again. I now knew I had much more to learn about farrier science, both from a preventative standpoint and in dealing with a crisis situation.

I began searching for clinics, symposiums, and conventions on hoof care – anything with information on types of shoes, trimming methods, tools, and philosophies.

One weekend in Georgia I attended a clinic that forever changed my perspective

on hoof care. That was when I learned to go beyond looking at just the horses’ lower leg and hoof to examining the entire horse.

By that point, my business had grown into a full-time farrier service.

Little by little, I studied how different methods of trimming or shoeing affected the entire horse and his performance. Often between shoeings, I would ask the owner for permission to look at a horse to confirm whether my theory was correct.

I studied how the horse’s body changed as a result of a trim or shoeing method. It became evident to me that horses, like people, are individuals. Not every method works the same with every horse.

But it also became evident there were patterns that almost always hold true. These patterns were often opposite of what you would expect.

Having a different approach to farriery in a field that often relies on the way things “have always been done” has not been easy, but it has paid off in results.

When horse owners have trusted my theories and allowed me to try different approaches, the proof has been in the horses’ improvement.

Designations

• Accredited Professional Farrier™ (APF-I), American Association of Professional Farriers 
• Certified Natural Balance Farrier / Trimmer (CNBF, CNBT) Equine Lameness Prevention Org.
• Registered Journeyman Farrier,  (RJF) Guild of Professional Farriers
• Certified Journeyman Farrier II,  (CJF II) Brotherhood of Working Farriers (BWFA)

Career Highlights

• FEI World Equestrian Games Tryon 2018 Farrier (AAPF team)

• Official Farrier for the American Eventing Championship at Tryon International Equestrian Center (2017) 
• Official Farrier at 2018 3 Day Eventing Test event for World Equestrian Games
• Official Farrier for 9 years at The Fork Horse Trials FEI *** qualifier  (2010-2018)
• Evaluating farrier for the USEF Endurance Team East Coast training session  (2008)
• Presenter, along with Ray Morris, multiple clinics in New Zealand /Australia  (2001 and 2005)
• Speaker at International Lameness Prevention Conference (2017), Equitana, Carolina Classic Horse Expo, Southern Horse Festival, and multiple other venues (1996 to present)

Continuing Education

• 1/2019 International Hoof Care Summit (16^th annual) Cincinnati, OH
• 3/2018 Equine Health Symposium, NC State University College of Veterinary Medicine, Podiatry Track
• 1/2018 International Hoof-Care Summit, Cincinnati, Ohio
• 11/2017 Earned APF-I credential from the American Association of Professional Farriers / International Association of Professional Farriers (AAPF/IAPF) 
• Foundation Credential (24 CE credits AAPF)
• 10/2017 Equine Sports Medicine and Rehabilitation Symposium, NSCU Veterinary College (14 CE credits AAPF) 10/14 – 10/15/17
• 2/2017 Equine Health Symposium NC State University Veterinary College (6.5 CE credits AAPF)
• 10/2016 The Anatomy, Prevention, and Rehabilitation of Sporting and Pleasure Horse Orthopedic Problems, NC State University Veterinary College  (7 CE credits for farriers AAPF)
• 3/2016 NCSU Equine Health Symposium (Farrier Track- 13 CE Credits) Raleigh, NC 
• 1/2016 Everything under the Sun about the Hoof Clinic (18 CE Credits AAPF) Salisbury, NC
• 12/2015 Equine Podiatry Principles & Mechanical Concepts (16 CE Credits) Las Vegas, NV 
• 2/2014 NC State University Veterinary School Equine Health Symposium, Raleigh, NC
• 3/2013 Practical & Current Concepts in Equine Podiatry & Rehabilitation, NCSU Raleigh, NC
• 1/2013 International Hoof Care Summit Cincinnati, OH
• 2012 Advanced Equine Podiatry, R.F. Redden, DVM Versailles, KY
• 2012 Podiatry Seminar, Dr. Richard Mansmann, Raleigh, NC 
• 2011 International Hoof Care Summit, Cincinnati, OH
• 2010 Hind Limb Function Seminar, Equine Lameness Prevention Organization, Pueblo, CO
• 2009 Natural Balance/E.L.P.O. Level 4 Advanced Lameness Course, Colorado
• 2008-2013 Virginia Racing Commission License as Track Farrier 
• 2007-2008 Healthy Stride Clinics
• 2007 Certification as Certified Natural Balance Farrier & Trimmer, Live Sole Hoof Mapping, CO
• 2006 Certification as REINS Volunteer at NCSU (96 hours CE to help educate horse owners)
• 2005 Equine Podiatry Series/In-Depth Laminitis Course, R.F. Redden, DVM Versailles, KY
• 2005 NC State University Horse Judging Short Course Certification
• 2003 Equine Podiatry 101, R.F. Redden, DVM
• 2003 NC State University Lameness Clinic, Richard Mansmann, DVM
• 2001 Equine Sports Massage, HorseBack Basics – instructor & mentor Ray Morris, New Zealand
• 2000 Natural Balance Shoeing Clinic – instructor and mentor Gene Ovnicek
• 1998 Introduction to Equine Chiropractic Course
• 1997-2003 Bluegrass Laminitis Symposiums for continuing education
• 1997 Certified as Tester for Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association (BWFA)
• 1996 Guild of Professional Farriers – Registered Journeyman Farrier certification
• 1994 Proper Balance Movement Certification – instructor and mentor Tony Gonzales
• 1994 BWFA Journeyman II Certification – Brotherhood of Working Farriers Association
• 1986-2000 various Farrier Conventions, clinics & symposiums – continuing education
• 1986-1988 Anson-Stanly Community College, Farrier Science

Do You Want to Find Out More About How I Use Trimming and Shoes to Adjust Horses’ Movement Patterns?

See how I corrected a chronic quarter crack in a dressage horse.

Explore the types of clinics I offer

Consider a video evaluation to discover what I can do to help your horse

Hear more about my background as a farrier in this podcast episode