Barefoot Hoofcare
Barefoot Hoofcare
The natural way
Covering Somerset, Devon, Dorset, West Wilts, Glocs & East Wales
About Me
My name is Deborah Fowles (was Powell) and I am based near Glastonbury, Somerset.
I first became interested in horses at about 11 years of age through my best friend who was into horses. Neither of us were lucky enough to own a horse but we made up for it by using our imagination, setting up jump courses for us to jump and sitting on each other's backs pretending we were horses and riders! We also used to quiz each other from books to learn as much as possible (life was so simple then!).
Unfortunately I was not able to ride as often as I would have liked but always looked forward to my fortnightly lesson at the local riding stables. Later on I worked at stables during the weekends and holidays to earn my riding lessons in return.
Circumstances changed and I then had a gap of approximately 12 years before coming back into horses again when I met my current partner, who owned his own horse. My daughter also began to ride from an early age and we went from having one horse to three!
I decided to look into going barefoot after experiencing difficulties with my partner's horse not being able to cope with the farrier and shoeing procedure together with always losing shoes. Then the final straw was losing my first horse due to a kick in the field from a horse wearing shoes. Little did I know at that stage how different my life would become!
Our own horses are fun horses. They are all barefoot performance horses who embark upon Eventing, Show Jumping, Hunter Trials, Pleasure Rides, Trec, Dressage or just hacking out. They are sound on all surfaces. Anything a shod horse can do they can do. They have all been given the time and patience which was needed to rehabilitate within their comfort levels.
I have now completed a two year training course with the UKNHCP and I am now a fully qualified and insured barefoot hoofcare practitioner (since 2011). If you are interested in finding out more about keeping your own horse barefoot, please do not hesitate to get in contact with me for a chat and/or consultation.
