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Natural Horse Home >> Peteramey-annoc

Announcement

Posted on 8-10-06 at www.hoofrehab.com, Pete Ramey's website, click on 'Find Experienced Help in Your Area':

To all Natural Hoof Care Professionals, succeeding in the real world:

We are putting together a "contact information" list of competent professional trimmers/farriers who are willing to do “mini-mentorships” with people needing help with their trimming.

This is not intended to replace anyone’s full Certification Program, but simply to fill a deep void not currently being filled. A lot of horse owners were entering the AANHCP Certification Program just to get the hands-on help from Professionals that the Mentorships provide, with no real intention of becoming fully certified.

Recent changes to the Certification Program have put several non-trimming steps (orientation, lower limb and hoof anatomy/dissection, cadaver trimming, theory, etc.) in place before someone actually works on live horses. This is perhaps a good idea in a complete professional training program, although it leaves us with nowhere to send the hundreds of clinic attendees that simply need someone to guide them and teach them to trim their own personal horses and no place to send experienced farriers and veterinarians wishing to see what natural hoof care is about, but don’t wish to go through another complete, professional training/certification program.

We are in a tough position, teaching these clinics that make people want and expect healthier, functioning hooves, but not having enough people to give them hands-on help at the horse, so we’re reaching inside and outside the AANHCP for a few good teachers. If there is enough interest in this registry, we will ask the professionals listed here to elect an approval committee, so it is not just us deciding who is qualified to be on this list (one person making the decisions is a fundamental problem that has repeated itself too many times, already). We also envision the possibility of this list becoming the beginnings of a membership organization very similar to the AFA. We would call it the American Hoof Association (AHAaaa). We don't envision yet another competing Training/Certification Program, but instead, a simple Membership Organization whose members are required to continually prove competency and experience in the field. All that "possible future-stuff" aside, for now we really need a list of "the best help" from the world of hoof care providers.

We need competent hoof care professionals from anywhere in the world, who are willing to let horse owners hire them for one-on-one instruction on live horses. If you would like to be on this list, and have your contact information listed here, we are going to first “check you out”. NO MATTER HOW WELL WE KNOW YOU OR LOVE YOU, PLEASE DON'T ASK US FOR EXCEPTIONS, HERE. If you belong on this list, you'll immediately understand why we're being so careful.

Please send us your contact info, experience and/or certifications, the approximate number of horses you currently trim, and any other relevant information. Client testimonials would be a nice touch as well. We also need 3-5 photographic “before and after” case studies (of your work, over time) and a video of you trimming a horse and explaining what you're doing and why. Show us your stuff! It doesn’t need to be professionally filmed; Shaky camcorder video is fine. We just want to see if you can teach, and if you know your way around a hoof and a horse. You can send your information/videos to www.hoofrehab.com, post them on a private page on your website, or go "old-school" and mail a tape to the PO box below.

Eventually, this will probably evolve into a little private web page showing your work and telling about you, so you should probably go ahead and include a photo of yourself, and anything else you would like to have on an "advertisement" page. None of this will cost you anything; it's for the horses and their owners.

Anyone from inside or outside the AANHCP is welcome to apply. The "school of hard knocks" will be most respected, here. We’re definitely not looking for “Pete clones” (in fact Pete hopes and expects to learn from the videos and pictures), but we do want to ensure this list includes only the most competent, experienced hoofcare professionals who are succeeding in the field, can communicate and are willing/able to teach competent hoof trimming at home (within their clientele) and/or travel to the horse owners in need of intense "hands-on" clinics.

Thank you,
Ivy and Pete Ramey
hoofrehab@alltel.net
PO Box 232
Lakemont, GA 30552

Update 8-12-06:
Hello again,
We just set up a new email account for the “dang good trimmer registry”, so it can be easily handed over to a democratic board and away from our control, should the people involved decide to turn it into an Association.

Please send any future correspondence about it to americanhoofassociation@windstream.net.

Also, we don’t feel qualified to determine who should or should not be allowed on this list, so we will most likely hold the first 7 or so applications, and then let them vote on each other. A lack of democracy and pooling of intellect has constantly wounded the “Barefoot Movement”. We may make mistakes, here, but hopefully they will be new mistakes, rather than repeating old ones.

Yours,
Ivy and Pete