I started my career with horses as a conventional farrier. I had the blessing to work with some of the best farriers in my area. We specialized in corrective and therapeutic horseshoeing. During this time I would hear about taking horses barefoot. I was skeptical and saw plenty of horses go lame or have their hooves fall apart when shoes were pulled.
It wasn't until I parted from the farrier I worked with that I realized the great potential for horses in going barefoot. I was on my own and I wanted to learn more about the horse, the whole horse. I studied massage therapy, acupressure, and myofascial release. I discovered that the way horses move and their posture directly affects their hooves. I sold all my shoeing supplies and set out for barefoot.
I learned more about nutrition and I am by no means an expert. However, the little bit of knowledge I gained about what we feed and how we feed is so vitally important. We can't have healthy horses if we are feeding them the equivilant of McDonalds.
So armed with more information about how horses move and the nutrition that supports them I studied more on the barefoot thing. The thing of it is...we need good hooves to solidly support the horse, we need good nutrition to support that growth and we need proper biomechanics for good movement. It works as a whole!
I went from conventional trimming and shoeing to trimming for a bare hoof. The problems I was having rehabilitating hooves from cracks, laminitis, thin soles and other pathologies conventionally were resolving more easily when I took the horse barefoot.
I started Connected Healing because of the belief that all things are connected. We as humans are all connected in this experience as much as different parts of a horse are connected to make it whole and functional. Being connected requires awareness, balance, acceptance, communication, and boundaries.
I love what I do every day. I am so thankful for the people that I have worked with and those that have inspired me.
