Feet First
by Nic Barker & Sarah Braithwaite

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This ground-breaking book explores the issues surrounding barefoot horses in the UK and looks in detail at how to improve overall hoof health, in both shod and barefoot horses. The book offers a practical, hands-on advice on achieving barefoot performance in a variety of disciplines - from eventing and hunting to endurance - focussing on the essential elements for healthy hooves: diet, environment, exercise and trimming or shoeing. In addition, the book has step-by step advice on rehabilitating problem hooves with case studies of horses with a range of issues, from navicular or tendon damage to metabolic disorders like laminitis and insulin resistance. The authors have successfully ridden and competed their own horses barefoot for many years and have helped many hundreds of their clients' horses work successfully without shoes.

Format: Hardcover
Author: Nic Barker and Sarah Braithwaite

Book Review by Cynthia Cooper- Natural Horse World.

This is a well written and easy to understand book that is perfect for all those learning about barefoot hoofcare, especially in relation to performance.

Written by the founders of the UK Natural Hoof Care Practitioners who compete in eventing, hunting, endurance and showjumping, it is based on their years of experience as trimmers and riders. The hundreds of horses they have rehabilitated have provided the personal accounts of issues most likely experienced by many readers too.

I like this book because of the holistic approach taken. Diet is addressed first, then environment/work to stimulate the hoof and finally the trim.

“Hoof problems: holistic, not simplistic

The common theme here is that hoof problems are not normally caused by a single disease or failure. Hoof function is grounded on a good diet which allows a hoof to grow and maintain its integrity, and an environment that stimulates and strengthens the whole hoof. Healthy hooves and correct biomechanical function are intrinsically linked to each other and interdependent.”

The authors suggest that the concept of an iceberg explains how it all relates with the top 10% being the trim that we see, to the middle 25% being the exercise and environment, with the bottom 65% being the diet – the part we don’t see when we just look at the hoof.

Therefore this is not a ‘how to trim’ book but a how to feed, exercise and understand the hoof to achieve maximum function for performance.

It has lots of clear colour photos and diagrams, and defines what a healthy hoof looks like and what it can achieve. The Chapter on ‘How hooves work’ is helpful, but the most important advice is the chapter on ‘diet and feeding for the healthiest hooves’.

I would highly recommend this book to all horse owners who care for their own horse’s hooves, and I will be suggesting it as a reference book for the Polytechnic Equine Hoof Care Course students.

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