Alba Equine Podiatry

05/06/2024

Calling all my horsey contacts! Can you please complete this survey re hoofcare? It’s relevant to anyone with horses, ponies, donkeys, mules (even zebras!) Thanks 😁🐴🦓
PS, if you're one of my clients I'm in the 45-55 category (admit it, you thought I was much older😂)

❓ Do you have five minutes to help The British Horse Society?

📝 We all know how vital regular hoof care is to our horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. To futureproof this care, The BHS needs your help to assess the availability of qualified farriers in the UK and the Republic of Ireland via this quick survey 🔗 forms.office.com/e/QjLDuMJqk3

🐴 If you’re over 18, they’d love to hear about your routine hoof care and your experiences when accessing farriery and hoof care provider services for the animals in your care.

🤝 Your insight will allow the BHS to work in partnership with other equine welfare charities, and the industry, to make access to the farriery profession easier so that, together, we can futureproof horse care in the UK.

24/05/2024

Nice work Footloose Barefoot Hooves 🐴👍

Would you believe there are only five weeks between these pictures of a laminitis recovery? You can see how quickly that event line is coming down.
Also keeping that breakover in the right place for this pony, heels in a more comfortable place, while leaving him enough hoof to stand on.

21/05/2024

Laminitis warning ⚠️
Long hours of daylight at this time of year, a spell of good weather, then turning to rain = the perfect conditions for tipping borderline laminitics into real problems 😬🐴 Please be extra careful with laminitis prone horses ⚠️🐴
Even those who might not typically be thought of as laminitis-prone might find the change in conditions challenging. It's likely we'll get a grass spurt - often that means softer less fibrous grass, full of sugar and with a less-than-perfect mineral balance. Watch out for gurgly tums, wetter droppings than normal, etc. The joys of keeping horses in the north of Scotland 🌞🌧️🐎🙃

22/01/2024

I had the pleasure and privilege of spending some time over the weekend with fellow EPs Sydne Pruonto and Sarah Leggett and student EP Thomas Straw. When hoof geeks get together there's always lots of helpful conversations, ideas shared, advice given and received... It was great to meet some of Sydne's clients and their beautiful horses - many thanks to each of them for making us so welcome 😁 Unfortunately EP Bonny Mealand couldn't join us on this occasion (get well soon Bonny). Looking forward to our next get-together before too long!

24/12/2023

Wishing all my clients a very happy Christmas 🎄🎅 Thank you for having me as part of your horse-care team. It truly is a privilege to work with you all. Enjoy the holidays and I'll see you in 2024 🐎😁

02/10/2023

Well done Tarzan and Simon for helping to conserve Scotland's ancient rainforest. Who says working horses need shoes?! I love their commute to work 🚢

Caledonian pinewood trees have been all but removed from the Pine Forest since the 1960s and replaced with non-native conifers. | ITV National News

26/08/2023

Following the tragic death of one of our co-founders, Jayne Hunt, in early July, EPT has regrouped so as to continue to support both our existing students and the new intake as planned. Our 2023 intake have already received their enrolment packs and are under way with their first assignment!

We are very lucky to be able to draw on the huge experience and good will of the members of the Equine Podiatry Association (most of whom qualified through our course over the years) to step into Jayne's role. A huge amount of work has been going on behind the scenes. Our first priority was, of course, to ensure that our existing students continued to be supported – including running final exams on-time within a few days of Jayne’s death. But we’ve also worked hard to ensure that those already signed up to start in September weren’t disappointed. The new tutors who have joined us in the last few weeks provide safe and capable hands to allow us to continue to deliver the level 5, Lantra-accredited course which Jayne devoted a massive part of her life to.

Over the next few days, we’ll be posting some details of the new tutors who have joined us, but for now we are regrouped, reorganised and ready to roll out the course in memory and honour of the amazing Jayne Hunt.

12/07/2023

All members of the Equine Podiatry Association UK are in shock at the news of Jayne Hunt's death. Jayne was a great friend and true inspiration to many. I was privileged to know her as a wonderfully supportive tutor and colleague. She was a vastly knowledgeable horsewoman with a deep commitment to equine welfare. Her huge contribution to the equine world will ensure that her name is never forgotten. I'll also remember her for her wit and humour as well as her compassion and kindness. She will be greatly missed 💔

Jayne Hunt

The members of the Equine Podiatry Association have been devastated by the sudden passing of our beloved Jayne Hunt in a riding accident on Sunday 9th July.

Jayne has been at the heart of our community since its inception. With her longstanding friend and colleague Richard Vialls, she established the Equine Podiatry training company delivering the Equine Podiatry diploma. In that role she shared her passion, wisdom and warmth with her students. So on Sunday afternoon, in the blink of an eye, our association not only lost our warmest, funniest and most generous member, we also lost our teacher, our mentor and our dear friend. Her favourite answers to our inevitable student questions were ‘it depends’ (to almost any Equine Podiatry question) and ‘it’ll be fine’ (to any set back or problem) and those refrains still echo with us now she’s gone.

We will be forever grateful for her life, and that she had the foresight and bravery to follow her passion for this profession. We’re thankful that she and Richard brought their dream of establishing a professional Equine Podiatry qualification to fruition, when two years ago the Equine Podiatry Training course was accredited by LANTRA as a Level 5 qualification. It is a comfort to us that she achieved this long held ambition before her untimely death.

Living her life as she did, Jayne influenced and changed so many lives for the better: from her clients, we podiatrists, and the horses that bring us all together. We are so thankful for the time we had with her and wish we had had much more, she will be profoundly missed by us all.

17/05/2023

Scoot boots available locally if anyone is looking....

02/05/2023

Looking forward to talking at this, along with EP Bonny Mealand and farrier Neil Madden 🐴

Just a few days to go until I speak at 'Barefoot! The future of hoof care', alongside Marina Day and Neil Madden!

This expert talk, organised by Highland Horse Supporters, will take place in the Fairways Function Suite, Inverness, on the evening of Friday 5th May. 🐎

Visit www.lochnessriding.co.uk now to book your space!

29/04/2023

I'm really pleased to see that vet Lucy Rogers has launched her new vet practice in the area and will be covering horses as well as farm animals 🐴🐑🐄🐖 Wishing you every success in your new venture Lucy! 💪

27/04/2023

Looking forward to this talk next week! 😀

25/04/2023

Great product! Highly recommended 💯

This week I thought it might be useful to give some insights into our care products and how they can help and how to get the best from them
Lets start with the Hoof Clay.
This product is for maintenance of the frog and sole, basically anywhere that thrush can compromise healthy tissue.
Its a thick clay, infused with powerful antibacterial, antiseptic, and antifungal properties, all natural and kind to healthy tissue.
Products like Iodine create a cycle where the thrush never really goes away because it also compromises healthy tissue too leaving more dead tissue.
If your horse is stabled or turned out the clay has a dual action also of creating a barrier between the frog and soiled bedding or mud where the bacteria lurk and thrive in compacted anaerobic conditions within the concavity of the sole and grooves.
So whats the point of a healthy frog? That requires quite a long answer and without getting too scientific here is an easy read on just that, worth a gander.
https://www.horseleads.co.uk/single-post/hoof-growth-and-healthy-hooves

Applications can vary, depending your turnout conditions, riding, stable time etc. But the bottom line is any time your horses hooves are left for long periods of time without protection/picked etc this is the time thrush gets busy.

A calloused frog has its own natural protection to some degree so another time to be a little more vigilant is when the hoof is shod or trimmed, if the frog is trimmed, that new exposed tissue is vulnerable.
Its a massive subject so if you do have any questions do pop me a message🤔

27/03/2023

What a privilege to be attending a Wild Equids workshop run by the amazing Bonny Mealand of Touching Wild and Dr Emily Kieson of Equine International. A diverse group of about 20 delegates including zoo keepers, vets, vet physiotherapists, hoof trimmers, trainers and behaviourists means there's always plenty fascinating conversations and exchange of ideas. And, as if that wasn't enough, the venue is stunning - many thanks to Highland Wildlife Park for hosting this workshop! Spot the 🐻‍❄️ in the background of the 🦬 picture!

23/02/2023

I'm looking forward to attending this workshop next month. Limited places still available if anyone is interested 🐴🐴🐴

‘Learning from Bonny can help every one of us improve our understanding of our equine friends. Our horses need us to listen to what she says!’ - Customer Testimonial

Join me and Dr Emily Kieson (from Equine International) for a three day Wild Equid Workshop at Highland Wildlife Park, to listen and learn for yourself 🐎.

BOOK HERE: www.touchingwild.com/wild-equid-workshop

16/02/2023

If a consultation with an independent equine nutritionist would be of benefit to your horse drop Nikki a message. She's in the Highlands on 4th-5th March 🐴

15/02/2023

As a full member of the equine podiatry association, we are required to be fully insured, trained to a high standard and complete a minimum of 40 hours CPD per year.

For further details of the EPA or to find an EP in the UK, check out the links below:

https://www.epauk.org/membership/our-members/map/

https://m.facebook.com/100064706319569/

19/01/2023

Mud, mud (not!!!!) glorious mud... It really damages tools as well as being unpleasant to work in. Old towels work well, hard standing even better, but just old carpet can be a big help. This article explains the challenges well!

Muddy conditions can not only cause problems for your horse’s hooves, they can make your trimmers job seem near impossible