I have owned, loaned and ridden horses for most of my life and I love doing anything with my horse that is fun for both of us! Over the last few years I have been working through the Parelli system of natural horsemanship and have adopted and adapted the games, philosophies and approaches to suit my own horses.
For many years I shod my horses, believing it was the only way. Then I was fortunate enough to work with some barefoot horses, and a forward thinking trimmer in Anni Stonebridge, and see first hand that horses can grow great hooves with the right feeding and stimulation, can do everything that a shod horse can do and do it better and safer and with long term health benefits for the horse.
My special interest is in laminitis, its causes and management, and the rehabilitation of laminitic horses and ponies.
Above: "Pleeeasse stop!"
My full time occupation is Program Manager with McLaren Software, an engineering content management software vendor. For more information visit our web site
McLaren Software Ltd. McLaren has offices in Glasgow and Houston and services clients throughout North America, EMEA and the Far East.
Working for McLaren has given me incredible opportunities to visit ranches, sporting events and stables in USA and Canada, and even look at home-shod horses in southern India.
We have two children 12 and 10. My wife is an independant nutritional consultant who helps people with weight management, dietary intollerance and optimum nutrition - her contact details are on my
Useful Links page.
Please browse the rest of my site and meet our horses and read their stories.
Right: Paint horses on Bear Claw Nation Reserve
Some of the best bare feet I have ever seen, on hardy ponies and horses in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains around Kannanaskis where the ground is hard and dry and the grass is tough and sparse. It is semi-arid and the temperature hits -50C in the wintertime.
I met an elderly First Nation gentleman on the Bear Claw Nation reserve who owned these horses. I had walked out onto the hillside and was sitting on a rock watching them when he appeared out of nowhere, and he wanted to know why I was watching his horses.
He laughed out loud when I told him I was a barefoot trimmer - he pointed to the ground and said "that's what the ground is for" - I then explained that the UK is very different to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and we have to simulate the wear that nature provides for his horses!
I told him that our UK ground is green 12 months of the year. He raised an eyebrow at me disbelievingly.
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