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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 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. When I graduated High School, Mrs. B, the owner, gave me my lead horse for my High School graduation and years of work for her, caring for the many horses she owned and leased.
Since those days, I have owned, trained, ridden and cared for many horses over the past 35+ years. I came to natural horse and hoof care because of lameness issues that kept creeping up on my club footed paint, 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 where I was accepted and 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. I am also certified by the American Hoof Association, an organization of peer- reviewed hoof care professionals offering progressive, preventative and rehabilitative services, education and information. I serve as the Director of the AHA Education Committee.
I have teamed up with Dr. Jill Esz Smith, DC of Berkshire Animal Chiropractic, and Wendy Bryant, EqDT (trained through Spencer LaFlure’s Advance Whole Horse Dentistry Learning Center) to form the Ravenhill Equine Wellness Center in Leeds MA, offering a team approach to whole horse wellness with Dentistry, Chiropractic, and Barefoot trimming as the foundation of our care. When needed, we incorporate the skills of other participating practitioners to reach optimal neuro-musculoskeletal function and health. Our goal is to promote the wellness of the equine and prevent injury and disease through working together for the whole horse.
I believe in educating my clients, and teaching owners through Educational Clinics in 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 is 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. Healthy feet grow from healthy horses. Healthy in body, mind and spirit…it’s more than just a trim.
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