Steve Wagg

I blame my daughter, Marianne. About 4 years ago she bought a young mare called Dysgu and that renewed our interest in horses. We bought some land to the rear of our cottage and Chris rushed off to the nearest horse dealer and announced that she had bought two horses, a young Andalusian cross, Justito and a little Egyptian Arab, Karli, the latter with shoes. Well the Arab was on our land for about two days before he twisted one of his rear shoes and a nail nearly went through his sole. At that point we decided that our land was too rocky for horses with shoes so we got the farrier in and had his shoes removed. Initially we got the farrier in every so often to come and trim their feet. Marianne then introduced us to a barefoot trimmer who started to look after their feet and also allowed me to have a go at a little trimming and that was it, I was hooked. At that point I was also convinced that having your horse shoeless was much healthier for the horse, something I had not really thought about before. I trawled the Internet, found KC’s course of online studies and booked in for the theory and the practical. I have really enjoyed both parts, they have been challenging and stimulating and reinforced my initial opinion about the benefits of keeping your horse shoeless if at all possible.