About Equine Podiatry

Equine Podiatry is, in its most basic terms, about the study of the horse’s foot. This covers all manner of lameness issues including laminitis and navicular (which would easily be the most common soundness problems within the horses hoof). While the term Equine Podiatry technically means anything that can affect the foot, with over 14 years of consistent study in the field of health and bodywork, you’ll find the service that I offer goes beyond just the hoof.

I do provide a barefoot trim as part of the service I offer, however, you will find a host of other things I do to ensure the health of your horse’s feet, and in fact, the whole horse. Though the bulk of my work is with shoeless horses it’s not necessary for your horse to be barefoot for me to help you. Equine Podiatry can work very well alongside good farriery to solve any lameness problems you may be having, just as long as your farrier is open to it.

Taking the shoes off your horses needn’t cause as many problems as you think it might. With the use of hoof boots, many (though not all) horses have no need to come out of work at all through the transition from shod hooves to strong healthy barefeet. In the last few years hoof boots have improved greatly and they are now a very practical and useable answer to some hoof problems, particularly where hoof wall quality is too poor to hold shoes.