Welcome to my New Substack!
After a brief stint on MySpace in 2008, I launched my Native Hoof website the following year through Yahoo Small Business with their Site Solutions tools, and I was off and running. The majority of my professional experience with color, great pictures and stories, as well as my articles I self published and the ones I wrote for Equine Wellness Magazine are all there. As time moved forward things began to change. Yahoo, in the end was bought out by Verizon, and now my site is not longer supported with the old tools. It will still be there, but basically frozen in time with the ability to make only minor changes. I saw that many people I followed in Health and Wellness circles I frequent were publishing on Substack. Sometimes change is unwelcome, or inconvenient at the time, and we need a nudge to push on in a new direction. Most people who know me, know I like a challenge. It expands my thoughts, opens new doors and births new acquaintances and community. So, here I am writing my first post in this space. I am looking forward to sharing my experiences with helping horses and the people who love them. My plan is to write here one or two times a week for starters. I will update as my experience here evolves. In addition to writing, my goal is to offer a Podcast as I know a lot of Holistic Horse Practitioners and have a lot of experience moderating webinars during my time in the American Hoof Association.
So, for those who are not familiar with me, I’m going to pull my “about me” section of the old site in here with a tad bit of editing.
Although I was born in NYC and lived my pre teen years in a suburban neighborhood, apart from any possibility of even seeing a horse, my thoughts, heart and soul were always on a quest for a real horse encounter beyond the plastic ones lined up on my dresser. My very first words included “horse”. As I approached my teen years, my parents bought their first house up in the country, and my quest for those horse encounters became real. My Dad or Grandmother took me to a riding stable every weekend, and within a short time, I was working there as a trail guide. Those years were exciting, meeting many new horses each year and leading hundreds of horseback riders through the woods and fields of Templed Hills in Jefferson Valley, NY. When I graduated High School, the owner gave me my lead horse as a gift.
Since those days, I have owned, trained, ridden and cared for many horses over the past 50 years. I came to natural horse and hoof care because of lameness issues that kept creeping up on my horse, Sage, when he was shod. A warmer than usual winter had me riding Sage for 3 months barefooted, as I always pulled shoes for the winter months. A happier riding horse and a magazine article that read “Is Barefoot for Your Horse”, opened the door to thinking differently about what I was doing. There was no one in my area close enough to trim my horses using the concepts of “natural trimming” I was reading about. I learned to trim my own horses with, Certified Hoof Care Professional, Amy Sheehy, and then applied to the Equine Sciences Academy (ESA) where I was accepted and later awarded an Excellence Scholarship for my studies. I became the first student to earn an Equine Sciences Degree and Natural Hoof Care Certification from the ESA, and was asked to serve as a ESA Field Instructor. I received my certification at the American Hoof Association, an organization of peer- reviewed hoof care professionals offering progressive, preventative and rehabilitative services, education and information. I served as the Director of Education, and on the Board of Directors as a Member at Large, then was nominated and elected to 2 terms as President. With assistance from the BOD, I helped negotiate a merger between the American Hoof Association with the Progressive Hoof Care Practitioners (PHCP). I am currently a Mentor for the PHCP student certification process.
I collaborate with many Holistic Equine Professionals passionate in their fields, offering a team approach to whole horse wellness with Natural Balance (aka Neuromuscular) Dentistry, Chiropractic, Acupuncture, Homeopathy, Massage, Reiki, Body Work, Photonic Light Therapy and Essential Oils as the foundation of care. More recently, I have been working with Joy Heckman NHCP, ND offering Energy Medicine. When needed, we incorporate the skills of other practitioners to reach optimal function and health.
I believe in educating owners on a more natural paradigm of horse keeping. I want owners to understand and know why we need to embrace these changes. Because much of my work has been rehabilitative, it has become evident that we need to change how we are caring for our horses. We need to put them on a path of wellness from the start by understanding their needs as a species, and rethinking what has become convenient for us. Being part Eastern Band Cherokee, I also utilize the Cherokee Way of Right Relationship through the Four Directions under the teachings of Cherokee Medicine Elder JT Garrett, to find harmony and balance between humans and the horses in their lives, weather it be performance, pleasure or retirement. Healthy feet grow from healthy horses. Healthy in body, mind, spirit and natural space…it’s more than just a trim.
I’m looking forward to what’s ahead!