Andrew Bowe was one of the original pioneers of barefoot rehabilitation in this country.  His efforts to find a cure for navicular horses lead him to the "fringe" of hoof care and into unchartered waters for farriers.  So he could put these new ideas to the test "in the real world" he opened Mayfield Bare Hoof Centre where he and his wife Nicole took on cases that under traditional diagnosis and treament regimes were considered hopeless.

Brian Rourke who writes our second article has been a Master Farrier and Blacksmith for 34 years.  Read why he and his son, an Apprentice farrier have chosen now to embrace natural hoof care in their business and why he encourages all farriers to do the same. 

Andrew Bowe The Barefoot Blacksmith*:

What Andrew was able to accomlish was truly amazing and changed the direction of his life.  He now works tirelessly at the forefront of natural hoof care and encourages all farriers to learn this new skill. 

He delivers workshop for horse owners all over Australia, mentors professional trimmers, gives educational seminars and one of the developers of the Diploma of Equine Podiotherpay a new career path for those wishing to work professionally in rehabilitative hoof care.

Below is a little of his story.

What sparked my change of direction ?

Andrew Bowe consulting on hoof issues

Why would a career master farrier with a successful business take such a sharp turn away from tradition; from the comfort zone of mainstream hoofcare ? Not only am I questioning a thousand years of solid tradition, but at the same time risking being ostracised by my contemporaries and the establishment? (too long in the sun maybe !)

Like many other farriers, I was on a quest to find a cure for navicular syndrome (a debilitating lameness that affects many performance horses and traditionally was considered incurable - see navicular page for more details  ( Barefoot Blacksmith )  A cure for 'navicular' was the farriers' holy grail.

A couple of my clients with American connections had been hearing about the successes that pioneers of barefooting were having with rehabbing of chronic lameness in general and navicular in particular and they 'insisted' that I look into it.

Being a cynical old farrier, I reluctantly agreed (thinking to myself "yeah right, there's no way you can ride a sound horse without shoes, let alone a lame one!") and I began to 'barefoot' some horses with navicular problems. Well, the results were nothing short of amazing with virtually every 'navicular' horse returning to usable soundness! This is even more incredible if you consider that my own barefooting skills at that stage were still in nappies!

Heartened by these navicular successes, I started applying barefoot principles to other horses with chronic lameness within my existing clientele as well as all the sound working horses at Mayfield - fine tuning my skills and trimming parameters as I went (there were several of us embarking on the barefoot journey in Australia together and we needed to develop trimming parameters that suited Australian conditions).

Fortunately, this expansion of barefooting co-incided with the release of viable hoof boots onto the market (in particular the Easyboot Epic ™), which meant that a horse could have its shoes removed today, then be 'booted up' and ridden tomorrow. Suddenly barefoot riding became an easily accessible option for many horse riders. That's about when the phone started ringing its head off and hasn't stopped since!

This journey down the barefoot track remains a humbling one. Horses are teaching us new things every day. We have learnt much, but there is still far to go.

Andrew Bowe, Master Farrier & Equine Podiotherapist.

 

 Andrew Bowe at work in the classroom

 If you would like to know more about The Barefoot Blacksmith* or would like to attend one of his workshops Andrew has a wonderful website full of valueable information at www.barehoofcare.com/index.html  

 Brian & Mitch Rourke from FireForge:

 

The Farrier's Story
Brian Rourke
FireForge
The BareFoot Professionals 
 
 
 
 
 
I have been a Master Farrier -- Blacksmith for 34 years in my career so far I have put on 80,000 sets of horse shoes approximately... maybe a few more trims (Farrier Trims) I must have been doing a few things right as I am still doing work for the same good people.
 
I run my Business FireForge with the motto Quality before quantity. As well as how many old friends I have.... Clientele as well as horses. Can't remember the last time I took a holiday... that's maybe because my whole life is a holiday.
 
Here at Fire Forge we work on all breeds ... We don't differentiate between the $50 Childs pony or  the half  million dollar race horse, they all get the same quality of care.
I won't go into detail as to how I shod these horses as that is not what it's about.
 
Over the years I have been hearing stories about this Farrier and that Horse Shoer not turning up or he was in and gone in 15 minutes... lost a shoe the next day... took 3 weeks to get it back on. Don't need to elaborate anymore here either.
 
Cases of horrendous shoeing work being performed and this was accepted as the norm. Why, because there was nobody to tell these horse owners that it was not acceptable or to show them a different way.
 
I noticed that when a horse springs a shoe and it was not noticed that the section of shoe not touching the heel was 4mm to 6mm longer. you say how can this be... did it grow that much in that 4 days... no it just did not crush and expanded partially  to where it wanted to be????
 
Now if that didn't start me thinking hey where is this leading!  So I bit the bullet and looked outside the square... On my bad footed horses and low slung heels I put tips on (a small piece of shoe just covering the toe area) ... fronts and hinds what a miraculous change in a very short space of time.  This was the starting point to me questioning the established way of doing things. All of my clients have had to adhere to my policy of at least 3 months of every year with no shoes on. Some moan, but at least the horse had some relief from the shoe.
 
I am waffling on a bit... You will all see where it is leading shortly. I am purposely not going technical as that is not what I preach. Today's horse owner has been bombarded with way to much of this in the past. sleepless nights thinking what is wrong now.
 
My old Master would turn in his grave if he could see all the acrylic hoof repair material uses today as well as the so called corrective shoes on the market... they didn't work in his day and they certainly don't have a place in today's way of thinking.
 
His favourite saying to me was.... After a horse has been shod I have never seen a horse pick its hoof up and say "that's a good job" ......food for thought.
 
This happened only a few years ago... a young Apprentice was at the Scone Horse Week festival sitting around with about 30 Farriers some, the best this country has produced. Just off the cuff he said "you know when you do a bad job, the worst part is convincing the owner that it needed it"  every head in that room looked down not wanting to show the others that they have been there!
 
So the Farrier has bought this on through bad information lack of proper training and leadership (Farrier Organizations that will not change there mind set) they most certainly put quantity before quality due to the running cost of keeping their business cost down.
 
I am not bagging Farriers as such as I am a Master Farrier and proud of it. I am just saying to them all..... have a look at what is going on around you, listen to your horse owners as they are the ones that feed your family.
 
Don't come around in a few years and say "what has happened to my business?"
FireForge has been through the most remarkable change in the last 12 months. Business is booming while other are falling by the wayside. we are in bad times... I am laughing all the way to the bank with a lot off very happy clients.
 
The Horse Shoe
 
This is why shoeing is extremely unproductive and verges on possibly cruelty to the horse. Am I going to get basted for this... Yes.
 
We all know that a horses foot expands as it hits the ground hopefully heels first. Just in the rest position as much as 8mm at the heels.... so what happens when the foot is picked up in the shoeing position... it contracts possibly 6 to 8 mm.
 
If you don't believe this... get the measuring stick out... surprised I thought so!
 
So as a Farrier we dress the foot out get an appropriate shoe to fit... remember we are now adjusting that shoe to fit on the contracted hoof.  We then nail it on... hopefully no further back than the widest part of the hoof.. some horse's have a knack of pulling shoes off... so the farrier puts a couple of heel nails in... I can feel the pain now even before the foot get put back on the ground.
 
This horse  has now had his hoof capsule restricted by possibly 8mm only in the stationary rest position. why doesn't it complain... they don't know what it is to feel sorry for themselves it's the nature of the beast.... So Dobbin just puts up with it. It is so...... so wrong
 
The BareFoot Professional
 
So here is where it starts I was trained by whom I consider the most accomplished Master Farrier of his era (deceased) worked with the most incredible vets still the leaders of  their  Specialist fields today.
 
Only one has come on board with my Barefoot journey.....He is dumb struck to say the least as he has seen and assisted with some of  our bareFoot wonders.
 
This is a hard thing I am about to say....
Have I been getting it so wrong for so long... Answer Yes. 
 
Here is one answer from a client of 25 years. "You have humbled me... a small statement for such a long career...I take my hat off to you" 
 
So I begin;  2 years ago I started hearing the stories from other Farriers that some new bloke has moved into town and hung up his shingle advertising BareFoot trimming ...took some of my clients. I didn't take much notice as I had loyal Clients... so I thought.
 
I then started to look on the internet and read a lot of literature pertaining to BareFooting horses.  I was not to impressed as here were people with no trade qualification to back up there claims,  were to say the least butchering horse hooves in the name of BareFoot Trimming. We have all seen it no names no drama.
 
Now they have gone by the wayside and a new breed of people with backed up Data and good theory as well as large numbers of success stories behind them have followed.
 
So I took the bull by the horns... bit off more than I could chew and then chewed like hell. Took all of my 39 years of experience and dissected it....what a life changing experience for me. I knew that I had the experience needed to convert my own theories in to reality.
 
I do it my way with my convictions now... and have never looked back . I did not just start BareFoot trimming I have always been Bare Foot trimming... there is no other way to explain it...if you take off the shoes they are barefoot.
All that was required was to look more closely at the horses needs, change the parameters to the new theory's being adopted... sounds easy wrong again???
 
BareFooting is just one 3rd of the simplest equation:
1) The animal itself needs to be judged for confirmation- soundness- ability to adapt to this change.... that is the easy part.
2) The owner  had to be educated along the lines of dedication and a lot more work involving "am I doing it for me or the horse or both of us?"
3) Environment-terrain: so many  things come to the fore here... do I live in a hot and dry climate or a wet and humid climate or year round both of these? Do I live in the mountains or on the flats or both? So here again parameters dictate what is going to work for you.
We have not started to look at the feet yet:
 
So here is where I come in... a few questions answered... work the horse through its strides.... do the job of trimming the horse. Explanation time....see you in 2 weeks at no charge for a quick round up..... some like to do there own most would rather me do them. Either way I am happy.
 
After 4 weeks I have a pretty good indication of where they are going so we set the program... First trim, 2 week round up, 4 week round up, 6 week  trim again if needed. It works for the client as well as FireForge. I make a very comfortable living.... I know you are asking how can that be you have to keep going back. Answer ... that is my job....!
 
I started with 1 Barefoot trim 13 months ago... I now have 130 BareFoot horse on the Central Coast...51 new horses since the 1st of January 2009 and getting bigger every day.
 
I only travel maximum 50 klm. from the office.  Unfortunely I still have over 200 shod horses at present on the books getting less each month. some owners will never change that is the way the world is. The Racing game will change eventually but that is a long way off.
 
I have a son Mitch who is  a 3rd year Apprentice working for me he is a truly gifted young man. I like to think that he is on the ground breaking frontier of being able to see the birth of a new beginning for the horse industry He is the future of my Company.  Mitch will be around for a long time to come doing BareFoot trimming.
 
I have not gone into the fundamentals off Trimming as all of you have done the home work read the books made your own conclusions.... now please tell your Farriers that you are wanting a new direction and if they refuse your request get them to hope off your bus as there is only room for improvement.
 
A small story... after attending an Andrew Bowe workshop (THE BAREFOOT BLACKSMITH) On the way home Mitch said to me I have been attending TAFE as an Apprentice Farrier for 2 years........... here today, I have learnt more than that whole 2 years course At TAFE. Food for though again. Some one has a lot of explaining to do in regards to training Apprentices.
 
Your BareFoot Business
 
This is my secret to a successful business.  Never ask for something that you know that you will never get - don't paint someone into a corner you know they can not get out off -  always be punctual... if you make an appointment for 2pm  be there,  do you like having to wait around time after time?
 
Always answer the phone... its a lot easier to say not this week on that first call.
my clients never have to second guess me as we always arrive on time. New vehicles and trailer... clean attire... all tools are polished... sharp...in good working order... best quality.
 
If you are not sure of a procedure get a second opinion from someone that knows more about it than you (Andrew Bowe) your clients will respect you more.
We run a laptop in the vehicles with client Data base. Take digital pics for later reference to add to clients data already stored.
 
The most important part of a BareFoot trimmers tool kit is Literature for the client to read. Its quick saves you having to explain at length and or make mistakes. there is a lot of it out there.
 
No one client will make you rich... a lot of small clients will if you do quality work with 24hr back up. word of mouth beats a business card anytime. I don't have to advertise... yes I know Business management... my client see to that.
 
My self imposed 50klm radius ensures that I am never anymore that 30 minutes away from my most remote client. they love it. I do travel out of area, usually they bring horse to me.
 
The call at 3am not often but it does happen. Remember the golden rule of a successful business... Don't complain just say this is my business that is what I do... it has always motivated me on those cold wet nights... be it helping a mare foal... pulling the stable wall down  to get that leg out or comforting a client after her horse passed away... This is my business that is what I do.
 
Brian Rourke
 
Work Mobile 0432430123
Central Coast, Toukley NSW Australia

 If you are already a farrier or apprentice farrier and would like to expand your knowledge of rehabilitative hoof care with barefoot trimming methods and are wondering how to go about this just contact either of the authors of the articles above and have a chat with them and consider undertaking the Diploma of Equine Podiotherapy which will set you at the forefront of rehabilitative barefoot trimming in Australia (for details email equethy@bigpond.com) .