Barefoot Holistic Hoof Care By Emma Bailey

23/07/2025

13/07/2025

Very well said 🐎❤️🐎

Coming Home to the Domestic Hoof
I’ve been out of the world of domestic horse trimming for some years now. My work these days centres on unhandled and wild equids, an extraordinary privilege, and a joy I never take for granted. But recently, while covering for a dear friend and colleague, I’ve found myself back in the world of domestic horses.
𝑨𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒂 𝒈𝒊𝒇𝒕 𝒊𝒕’𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒆𝒏.

Reconnecting with old friends, meeting new ones, and witnessing again just how much care, complexity, and character each horse, donkey and mule brings.
What’s struck me most, coming back into domestic yards, is how easy it is to get drawn into the details, angles, symmetry, frog shape, and forget that there’s a whole being standing on those feet. We can become so focused on correcting the hoof that we lose sight of the individual. Anyone can point out what to change. But that doesn’t always mean it should be changed.

Because for me, the real question is always:
✨ How does it feel—for them?✨
Are they more comfortable? More able to move through their world with ease and confidence?
This is the foundation of my work. Not aesthetics. Not ideals. Comfort. Clarity. Connection.
That’s why I keep returning to the Five Domains model, a way of thinking that helps me consider not just the structure beneath me, but the whole life it’s holding up.
The feet are important, of course. But they’re not separate from the nervous system, the posture, the breath, the environment, the emotional world. They're connected to a sentient being with preferences, needs, and ways of telling us when something’s not right.
Coming back into this space has reminded me, again, that even with all our knowledge, sometimes the most important thing we can do is pause, observe, and ask:
𝑯𝒐𝒘 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒅𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒈?

Photo credit: Jean Sinclair

18/06/2025

24/05/2025

✨🐎✨

Chilled nights with the gang 😁

03/04/2025

This morning I was in a mood.

In fact, I was downright grumpy.

I was likely not very pleasant to my trim clients (sorry y’all), and quieter than usual. I kept thinking about each foot I picked up, and how it would fit into the mold of various ideals I have been seeing around social media. Some groups would want me to change HPA, or bring back toes more, or lower heels more, or raise heels more, or take more bar, or trim less bar, or trim less frog, or trim more frog, or add XYZ for protection/correction/comfort… the list goes on. I doubt there was one trim I did today that would have pleased everyone on the interwebs.

I know I sound like an actual broken record, since I feel like I say this exact statement every few months, but the hoofcare world can be crazy and full of drama. There’s always someone claiming they have it all figured out, and that their way is the right way. Or the only way. Or if only everyone else did it their way, all horses would be saved. But since others don’t do it their way, horses are dying. And it’s their job to yell it from the rooftops. .

And with some of these bold statements of right and wrong we often have various groups of people who have an ideal of what we should do to the feet in XYZ scenarios.

Listen- I am not immune. I am guilty of it too. Most of you know I’m insanely passionate about navicular rehab, so much so that I wrote 2 guide books about it. That’s how much I think about how to rehab navicular. And I know I probably get pretty preachy about it too.

But that’s also why I try so hard to shadow and work with hoofcare providers outside my own little bubble, to see other ways of doing things - EVEN IF I might disagree with them - to hear and understand and have conversations and bridge a gap. Because I never want to end up in an echo chamber where I think I am always right or my way is the only way.

Any time we apply the same exact trim or protocol to every single horse no matter the circumstances, we are treading towards dangerous territory. If we do that, no matter what we say, we are forcing our own ideals on the horse- and some horses simply don’t fit the mold, don’t read the textbook, or have a lifetime of pathology or injuries or damage that absolutely can’t accommodate our cookie cutter ideas.

We have to listen to the horse.

If someone is telling you that a certain way of doing things supersedes what the horse is saying they may need for comfort, I’d take a big step back, a big deep breath, and think long and hard about what we are trying to accomplish.

Some conversations I see on social media - even amongst groups who are WORKING TOWARD THE SAME GOAL! - make it seem like we are often burning more bridges than building them.

The horse comes first. The horse has a say. The horse has an opinion. And we need to listen.

This is exactly why I put together the Humble Hoof Podiatry Clinic for this October with Dr. Jenny Hagen, Ula Krzanowska, Celeste Lazaris, and Pat Reilly- all amazing clinicians who focus on biomechanics, wear patterns, growth patterns, and balance: so at this clinic we can look at conformation and movement, pathology, muscling, biomechanics of the distal limb, hoof wear patterns, and radiographs on various kinds of blocks and how it affects the horses’ balance, so we can start to get a better picture of how to adapt to an individual horse’s needs. Because they don’t all need the same thing for soundness.

And as a side note: one huge shoutout to Progressive Hoof Care Practitioners, one of our amazing clinic sponsors, for being an incredible hoofcare education community that doesn’t believe in having any one hoofcare “guru” and taught me over the years to listen to the horse and push my tunnel vision aside. This group is open to horse owners, trimmers, farriers, veterinarians, bodyworkers and more, to have a great supportive group and wonderful continuing education options.

(And yes- our podiatry clinic is SOLD OUT- but we do have a livestream/video recording option available here: https://thehumblehoof.com/product/october-25-26-2025-livestream/ )

19/02/2025

Wonderful events coming up ✨🐎

I am very excited to announce the Areion Academy Spring and Summer webinar series "The Barefoot Environment" aimed at helping owners to understand the myriad things that can affect whole horse and hoof health with some really practical solutions and ideas for how you can set your horse up for success!

The first webinar will be with me, Areion Academy founder and owner of Strong Foundations Hoof Care Amy Mitchell, setting the scene for what's to come and taking a look at what we mean when we talk about the horses environment and why it's important.

The next sessions have some truly exceptional special guest speakers and I will be sharing more on these sessions in separate posts.

Information on how to book on coming very soon!

08/02/2025

I don't believe in shoeing at all, it's harmful and there has got to be a better way around the problems created by the human race!

So be brave and look for a better alternative! 😊

https://www.becauseofthehorse.net/a/2148052049/s3SGSxVe

26/01/2025

🙏

13/01/2025

Most interesting !

23/12/2024

To my wonderful customers, friends and colleagues ❤️

A big heartfelt 🥰 thank you 🙏from me to you all for our horse journey together and for the prezzies 🎁.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas 🐎🐎, thank you for working with me and my passion for horses health and their hooves 🐎💞

🎄May you have a happy time with your family and friends and horses, lots of good food, connection , good conversations and laughter.
See you next year .. Emma 😘🥰❣️🐎🐎🎄🤶

15/12/2024