I accidentally became a trimmer after my Fell Pony Prince transitioned to Barefoot. Long story short is that shoes stopped working for my horses, they were lame, had hoof cracks and my hoof care professional at that time stopped answering my calls. My light bulb moment was back in 2008 i was sat in Jayne Cooneys kitchen discussing the problems i was having with my horses with her sister in law and my old school friend. Jayne recommended i try and book Nick Hill a "Barefoot trimmer". I had never thought of barefoot before and had never even heard of a barefoot trimmer. After some discussion i booked Nick Hill to come and see my horses, my opinion was that if he turned up that was the first hurdle over with. Nick turned up on time looked at my horses, then asked to see my feed room and field and asked several questions about their diet, exercise and hoof care. I realised then that i didn't know a thing about hooves. Nick informed me my horses were laminitic, had thrush and were too fat, at last i knew what was wrong with my horses! I couldn't understand why my vet and farriers hadn't noticed this before and told me. Nick trimmed my horses hooves, recommended a natural non toxic thrush treatment and give me some ideas on restricting the grazing and how to get my horses moving. The biggest thing was, he agreed to come back every six weeks and did so for two years, until i took over the trimming myself. During these two years i read several books on trimming and to my family's horror announced i was spending my savings on travelling about Europe to become a "barefoot trimmer"