Jeremy Ford
Horse health / Care
Jeremy Ford, a farrier of 18 years is Australia’s leading natural hoof care specialist. He runs his practice Wild About Hooves in Tasmania with his wife & accomplished barefoot endurance rider, Jen Clingly.
After being introduced to barefoot trimming he has hung up his hammer and stored the anvil to promote healthy sound metal-shoe free horses. Jeremy has been involved with horses all his life in all disciplines including hunting, endurance and stock-work. His encounters with wild Australian Brumbies in the outback were the major inspiration for the switch to barefoot. These horses have hooves hard, strong and able to cope with the hardest terrain. This natural world led him to study with the AANHCP (American Assoc of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners).
Jeremy’s life revolves around horses’ hooves. He runs educational workshops on hoof care Australia wide and is principal lecturer in the nationally accreditated certificate in Equine Hoof Care . Wild About Hooves run annual tours to the outback to observe Brumbies in their natural desert environment. Coupled with this, they have produced educational documentaries, books and hoof trimming tools. Jeremy and his mare, “Ruby Running Bear” won the heavyweight division for endurance riding in Tasmania in 2012 competing long distance rides without shoes. He takes pride in proving that high performance is possible on a barefoot horse.
The aim of Wild About Hooves is to highlight the bare facts of keeping horses without shoes, about changing horse keeping practices to complement evolutionary needs and ways to adapt our domestic home environments to keep some of the wild elements for the health and happiness of our horses.
