My background was riding schools to begin with. I transitioned into a more empathetic way of working with horses when I started volunteering at an Equine Assisted Learning Centre in 2018, later going on to be employed as a Facilitator there. It was there that I ended up taking on Tom, my first horse, and went on a 4 month natural horsemanship working student placement with him. This was where I was introduced to natural barefoot trimming, natural horse care and the ISNHCP. Since then I’ve made it my mission to be the most considerate and understanding horsewoman I can be, with a goal of caring for both our horse's innate physical, and emotional needs.
Above all, it puts the horse’s nature and innate needs first, prioritising their health and wellbeing based on what is natural for them.
I looked at a couple of barefoot trimming training programmes in the beginning and why I chose the Institute for the study of Natural Horse Care Practices (ISNHCP) was that all of its principles and practices are based on looking to nature for what we should be doing. The program's practices are based on research done on horses that were sound and thriving in the U.S. Great Basin, without human intervention. Where there were no signs of laminitis or other pathologies observed, so common in the domestic horse world. It's about replicating what these horses do on their own when in a dry, arid environment that is their species' natural/adaptive habitat.
The other thing that drew me to the ISNHCP was that it's focus is not just hoof care, its about taking care of the whole horse, enabling the feet to come good as a consequence. There are four pieces of the 'horse health puzzle', they are: the Natural Trim, a reasonably natural diet, natural boarding and natural horsemanship. Jaime refers to these as the 4 Pillars of Natural Horse Care (NHC). Each is just as important as the others because all of them impact the horse, supporting their health and wellbeing, or hindering it.
Lessons can be taken from the Great Basin's horses for all four of these areas and have been put into practice by many ISNHCP practitioners and their clients, with great success for improving the comfort and quality of life for the horses in their care. I have seen this first hand through the changes I have made to better support my boy Tom in all four of these areas. The biggest change for him coming from moving to a grass free track system with 20 other horses. Inflammation in his body reduced within the first 2 months, his hooves toughened up and the growth is now tighter and free of the stress rings he had before, and he seems more content. He's a playful pony and frequently engages in play with a couple of his buddies on the track. It reassures me that he's happy and having his innate needs met whether I am there with him or not. Our time together is just a bonus!
I want to be able to support other like minded people in being able to start this journey with their horses too.
I have been lucky enough to have trained with a number of instructors within the ISNHCP, both in the US and the UK. All of which have given me a broader knowledge and understanding of not only the Natural Trim but also the natural horse and how we can take care of them in different domestic environments. More over, what we as individuals can do with the resources we have, to help give our horses a happy and healthy life. Be that on a surfaced track system or in a boggy field!
To provide natural, species-specific horse and hoof care services to like-minded humans, enabling their horses to feel happier and healthier, and thus setting up our horse-human relationships to thrive.