PROGRESSIVE HOOFCARE

Clive and Jill Ponsford are the faces behind Progressive Hoofcare, an holistic barefoot trimming business based on the beautiful Devon/Somerset border in England.

CLIVE PONSFORD

"My journey started in 2007, when taking horse barefoot was quite a new thing. Many of the practices I learned then I do not do today. Such as routinely trimming frogs just to make them look tidy. You could say I have evolved.

I am another equine professional that came to horses later in life.

I have a background in metal fabrication, and engineering supplies. It was this background that led me to see our new young horse slipping and anxious, in metal shoes on a concrete yard as wrong. Particularly as she was unshod (when she arrived) she didn’t slip.

At first my attention was taken by the shoes themselves. However, I soon discovered the complexity involved. Fitting something to a structure that flexes, is subject to large loads, and grows, is really not easy (understatement) particularly if you do not want to change the function of the structure, ie stop it flexing or stop it growing.

My conclusion is that nature got it right (surprise, surprise) and didn’t need us adding things to the foot, but to understand what the foot needed to be healthy.

This set me on interesting journey of discovery. I have been lucky to have worked with many different horses over the years. I have worked with many challenging feet and horses. My interest in a more natural way to train and communicate with horses has grown into a strong ethical working practice. In recent years I have been producing CPD days for equine therapists on the structure and function of the foot. I have recently completed an hour long CPD video for IAAT on the role of soft tissue in the foot."

EXPLORE PROGRESSIVE HOOFCARE

The following are a few pages selected from the Progressive Hoofcare website. In addition to working with clients and their equines, Clive has shared a wealth of information within the website in general and on his blog page. He also hosts and guests at various CPD events throughout the year - please do get in touch if you are interested in hearing about these.