Articles & Books

Free Hoof Care-Related Articles & Videos

The Unfettered Foot: A Paradigm Change for Equine Podiatry written by Dr. Tomas G. Teskey, DVM. A must-read if you are struggling with the question of whether to put shoes on your horse.

A major revision of Form Follows Function: Characteristics Of The Natural Hoof by Ann Corso, CHCP, Director, Liberated Horsemanship Barefoot Initiative. If you would like to know more about hoof care, this in-depth, no-nonsense article is for you.

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Hoof Adaptation: As I See It  written by Bruce.

My Conversion: A Farrier’s Journey To Natural Hoof Care written by John Graves. John was a practicing certified natural horse care professional and field instructor when he wrote this insightful article. He later earned the designation Master Hoof Care Professional.  John is now retired.

Barefoot Barefoot Police Horses: How the Houston Police Department Became a Barefoot Herd of Hard Working Horses Police Horses Article written by Senior Police Officer and Liberated Horsemanship certified hoof care professional and field instructor Scott D. Berry. Scott has been a member of the Houston Police Department since 1989 and was instrumental in transitioning the Mounted Detail to barefoot horses, which has turned out to be a highly successful endeavor. Scott, along with Danny Pryor, also a Houston police officer, spearhead the LH training and certification program for mounted professionals.

Mounted Police: Why Your City Can and Should Have Mounted Police  written by Bruce and Senior Police Officer CHCP, CBS, BAAS, MSSI. Police departments all over the world are in a state of instability. The prolonged economic downturn affected them just like the rest of us. Mounted police units have been hit particularly hard, as cities struggle to find ways to maintain basic law enforcement services. Quit a few cities have totally eliminated their mounted patrols to save money. There are even Facebook pages asking for help to save mounted patrols.

So, Scott and I have tried to do just that with this article. We would like it to be distributed as widely as possible. Hopefully, it will find its way into the hands of city and law enforcement officials who make decisions about the future of law enforcement in their community. You can help by passing the article along to as many people as possible.  Bruce

Navicular Disease: And The Barefoot Horse written by Carole Herder, President, Cavallo Horse & Rider Inc.

The Wild Horse Model: Worth Fighting For is a critical commentary written by Bruce. It is about conclusions drawn about natural hoof care from wild horse research conducted in Australia and New Zealand.

In her latest article, Confessions Of A Recovering Zealot , Director of the LH Barefoot Initiative, Ann Corso, MHCP, confesses to events that illustrate how a narrow perspective can offer false confidence, while impeding deeper understanding. She goes on to describe steps she uses to increase understanding of a complex topic, like the interplay among factors that affect horse health and well-being. Her commitment to diving below the surface of a subject is indicative of Liberated Horsemanship’s approach to education and life-long learning.

Dressing to Trim … Even When It’s Cold written by Liberated Horsemanship certified hoof care professional, Field Instructor and Clinician, Cynthia Niemela. Cynthia lives in the Black Hills of South Dakota about 15 miles from Mount Rushmore. She trims full-time in South Dakota and Minnesota under all sorts of challenging weather conditions. She is well qualified to give advice on how to dress for trimming hooves.

Choosing A Hoof Care Professional written by Bruce.

“The  American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign asked for Bruce’s written expert comments on the deaths and injuries of wild horses which occurred during the recent wild horse gather conducted by the BLM in the Calico Complex of Northwestern Nevada. This article, Wild Horses: The Stress Of Captivity,  is Bruce’s reply.

Wild Horses and Ecological Balance was written by Bruce in response to a request by the  American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign  to “Write a statement … to submit as comments on the BLMs  draft strategy  for program reform on the implications of the BLM’s plans to control populations by:

• “adjusting” the sex ratio of herds (60-40 male/female, 70/30 male/female)
• Establishing all-male (gelded) herds
• Returning sterilized horses (gelded stallions, ovariectomized females to range?.”

Wild Horses and Summer Stampedes was written by Bruce in response to a request by the American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign to provide “a brief comment on the impacts of a helicopter stampede on horses in summer when foals are young and temperatures are high.”

Menopause … and Wild Horse Management was written by Bruce in response to a request by the  American Wild Horse Preservation Campaign . It is a commentary on the BLM’s announcement it may spay wild mares before returning them to the open range as a method of population control. 

The Path to Obesity-related Laminitis: An advanced seminar by Bruce that traces obesity-related pathologies that progress to laminitis. The information provides a foundation for discussing these pathologies with veterinarians and nutritionists and for making decisions about how to treat them and, more importantly, prevent them from developing in the first place

“I was introduced to Bruce in late 2004 by one of our board members of the American Association of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners (AANHCP). Like many people who come to natural hoof care, Bruce had met the devastation of laminitis head-on, losing a favorite mare to it, then almost another, before reaching us — and hope. But he arrived too with his own wonderful contribution for the natural hoof care movement: Ten Golden Rules. Finally — and I had been waiting for years — a book that underlies all training with the natural behavioral “instincts” of the horse. No easy feat, believe me, but Bruce pulls it off. We immediately invited him to speak about his book, and his approach to training, at our 2004 annual conference before the entire assembly of AANHCP practitioners. This book does two things: it challenges us to turn away from rigid training molds that ignore the instincts of the horse, and which therefore deprive us of honest communication with the animal (the point of Chapter 7 in my own book, The Natural Horse); it then invites us into the “mold” of the horse’s mind, where “step by step” the equestrian is guided toward realizing his or her equestrian goals in true, two-way communication. Although at times delightfully humorous, Ten Golden Rules is a serious and systematic treatise on natural horsemanship which should take its rightful place along the standard texts of the natural horse care movement.”

         Jaime Jackson, Author and Horse Advocate.

Read what people have said about Ten Golden Rules: TGR Testimonials

TGR is now available only in digital form for US $18.00.

When we receive your order, you will get instructions to download TGR through the internet. The process is easy and straightforward.

“Ride for Tomorrow” is a book about dressage in its truest form: training of the horse, with the primary goal of improving the health and well-being of the horse. Unlike modern dressage, which has very different goals (often not in the best interest of the horse), this original dressage is for every horse and every rider, no matter what “style” of riding or “sport” they participate in. Indeed, any person who desires to actually ride a horse should learn this information inside and out!

What makes this book stand out is the simplicity of presentation. All of the concepts are very old, but the information is presented in a way that a beginner will be able to understand and immediately apply. This simplicity also makes this book a gem for the advanced rider. The basics of the concept of straightness in the horse’s body can never be reviewed often enough, and the exercises presented are powerful.

In addition to all the great, detailed explanations about the horse’s body, balance, and rider’s aids, this book is filled with priceless bits of information and advice.  “Ride for Tomorrow” is simply a must-have for every rider.”

Yvonne Welz, Editor The Horse’s Hoof  and avid dressage rider.

RFT is now available only in digital form for US $15.00.

When we receive your order, you will get an email with the book attached or you will get instructions to download RFT through the internet. The process is easy and straightforward either way.

The first article in the series: Preventative Reciprocation

“The title of Bruce Nock’s ebook, “Preventative Reciprocation” might make it sound like a complicated subject, but it is actually quite the opposite. Tying together equine behavior, learning theory, and traditional horsemanship, the reader is presented with simple, usable, core advice for training. Naturally good horseman instinctively utilize these same basic principles (without even thinking about it!), but anyone can learn and then apply them with the same good results: calmness and harmony with your horse.”

Yvonne Welz, Editor,   The Horse’s Hoof

The second article in the series: Creating Fearless Horses

The third article in the series: Unconscious Competence

Don’t let the title fool you. These memories are not about the past. These are the memories that determine a rider’s competence. Understanding them provides insights to all sorts of riding-relevant things, like teaching and training success, plateaus in performance, and why some people seem to be able to train horses so quickly and easily. They can even help guide your choice of riding instructors.

And, the principle described in this article applies to all skills … like trimming hooves, for example.

This collection of articles received a great deal of attention since it was published in 2007. Nevertheless, aspects of the information now require updating. Until Bruce can devote the time to do that, this series is unavailable.

Free Instructional Videos

Placement & Body Position with the Hoofjack