Hoof Savvy

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Welcome to the Journey...

          As you embark on any educational journey, I would like to invite you to expand your mind not only on the equine hoof , but the whole horse. It has been my experience, once a student of the horse always a student of the horse. Becoming a natural hoofman is a labor of love, full of thrills, chills, and sometimes spills! Allow your mind and heart to open. This animal will get into your soul, and when that happens, you will find where the real "hoof savvy" is. "True Hoofmanship" will equip you with the insight and physical techniques that will provide the confidence and the skills to find true balance of each individual equine hoof. Furthermore, it is my goal to impress upon folks the importance of keeping the "Integrity of a Horseman", while giving your equine his or her "Dignity"! All we need is already within each of us. Knowledge comes with ease. Applying it, exercising it, putting it into action, that's when it becomes   wisdom. Your intention is 90% of the connection, keep it pure. It is all about Balance, and Justice is true Balance. If I could inspire only one thing it would be, "Serve the Horse with Justice."

                                                                                                                                     My best to all...  

                                                                                                                                                                          RD



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Based in Knoxville Tennessee. Serving the South and Nationwide.
Advocate of Bare hoof trimming & shoeing for specific needs.                             Service info call (865) 216-7301

Specializing in a Balanced approach to Natural Hoofcare


    Posture and Performance are paramount. So an understanding of the structural basis for the equine's main function,"locomotion", is a must!
It brings an awareness and appreciation of their gaits. Fact is, looking at the whole horse to facilitate balance in our equine friends enhances posture and performance. Years of study and experience of their highly specialized limbs brings me to the conclusion that it is essential that bodywork and hoofwork should be done together whenever possible!

Things to remember:
                                  There is no one methodology that fits every situation for every horse
                                  Each horse is an individual
                                  Each horse is in a different stage of development or healing and lives in a unique environment
                                  Paradigm - look at the Whole horse, not just the Hoof
Incorporating the Correlation

     From Static position to Dynamic motion, muscle tension tendon tension is a major influence on hoof angles and how the hooves load! All distortions of the hoof capsule are a combination of weight load distribution, compression and torque. Which is directly related to the posture and confirmation of the equine. So applying joint stabilization,mobilization and proper stretching techniques relieves muscle tension tendon tension. Thus, also restoring soft tissue and joint articulation to its optimal natural range of motion. Applying body work with hoof work has drastically changed my trimming & shoeing. For instance, it has eliminated wedges, lifts, & rigid techniques in various situations. Postural changes occur in an anterior/ posterior position and medial/lateral positions of alignment. So sometimes you don't have to trim what you thought you were going to, after body work.. Same applies to shoe placement after body work. Examples would be distances between hairlines and sesmoids (at the fetlock) affecting the medial/lateral balance of the trim. Club feet, relieving flexor tendons with body work while relieving extensors with the trim. Underrun heels/ long toes relieving extensors with the body work while relieving flexors with the trim. This has enhanced my overall hoof balance. The horse can readily accept these changes in posture because it was all done simultaneously. (See also Hoof & Musculoskeletal Co-Relation)