What is an Alternative Farrier?

Alternative farriery provides hoof care and composite shoeing services using methods that differ from traditional farriery (e.g., steel shoes and nails). Practices incorporate holistic and collaborative approaches, emphasizing the horse's overall health and well-being. (please note that I have the utmost respect for traditional farriery and deeply appreciate what it has done for the horse community – I just offer something different) 

Pillars of alternative farriery include: 

Barefoot trimming

My practice places a profound emphasis on balanced trimming to complement the horse’s biomechanics, bony alignment, and static and dynamic balance, to reduce leverage on the skeleton and soft tissues. See here for more information.

Composite shoeing

Recognizing that not all horses are candidates for barefoot and would benefit from 24/7 support. Often horses can graduate out of composites and transition to barefoot full time; however, this decision is left up to the horse. See here for more information.

Booting

the use of performance boots and/or rehabilitation boots. I am happy to measure your horse and to make recommendations on an appropriate boot for your horse should they be a booting candidate. For rehabilitation needs, I am an EasyCare dealer and carry a full stock of Cloud boots.

Holistic Health

Holistic health includes the consideration of the horse's diet, management, environment, job, and overall health as part of their hoof care program.

Working from the inside out: Recognizing that diet and medical management are the pillars of hoof health. A strong focus of my practice is nutritionally rooted to provide the whole horse with the most supportive menu. If they are healthy above the hairline, they are typically healthy below the hairline. The hooves are the body’s newsletter – it’s just a matter of reading them. They can indicate crisis, systemic inflammation, poor diet/nutritional absorption, etc. *Please work with your veterinarian to determine any diagnostics or medical management your horse may need.

Collaboration with Other Professionals: As a whole horse approach, collaboration of the horse’s care team is critical. Regular/balanced dental care, body work, and veterinary care are essential for the horse’s success and comfort.

I work closely with a team of top tier body workers which allows for insight into reading unique hoof wear patterns and pathologies. Often issues above the hairline can be read in hoof wear patterns. Collaboration with body workers and veterinarians to jointly alleviate these body issues is the most effective means to a balanced body and balanced hooves.

The role of balanced dentistry: The hooves and teeth are highly innervated. Typically, dental wear pattens mirror those of hoof wear patterns and hold each other in place. In many cases, alleviation of poor dentition and abnormal dental wear patterns can greatly support the rebalancing of intervention resistant hoof wear patterns. 

Hoof health management: Recognizing and treating thrush/central sulcus infections, white line disease/seedy toe, abscesses (often requires Veterinary management), canker (requires Veterinary management), etc. are all critical to proper hoof health. I am happy to coach clients through proper treatment protocols to best support the healing of pathologies within my scope of practice. Such management also includes acute or chronic laminitis/founder support WITH the supervision and involvement of your veterinarian. I am not a veterinarian.