In 2004 I enrolled at the National Collage of Traditional Medicine here in Melbourne to do the Equine Myofunctional Therapy course. I thoroughly enjoyed the course as it went into depth in anatomy and physiology of the horse which is something I have a keen interest in. I am also a qualified Animal Technician with an Associate Diploma in Applied Science which is a qualification that enables you to work with any species of animal in confinement such as zoo's, wildlife sanctuaries or medical research.

It was during the EMT course I was introduced to barefoot trimming and in theory this made complete sense to me so my own horses Doulton and Kate both had their shoes removed in 2004.

Once I started practicing EMT I soon realised that if the upper body problems were related to poor hoof form and hoof pain I was never going to fix the problem without addressing the cause, I was merely providing a temporary fix and temporary relief for the horse. I saw this in my own horse Doulton who has zero pain tolerance so if something wasn't right I'd know about it. Transition wasn't smooth for him but boy has that horse taught me a lot, four years later he is sound and happy.

I did a couple of weekend barefoot trim clinics and started to maintenance trim my own horses, then progressed to trimming friends horses, I then found myself totally obsessed with hooves and the first thing I did and still do is look at the hooves before looking at the horse and I don't pat them I feel their muscles. I decided that I need to follow this hoof trimming path to learn more about how the hoof works and how it effects the upper body. I enrolled in the Cert III Hoof care course at TAFE Tasmania in Oct 2007.

This course offered everything I needed to become a professional hoof care provider. I have the confidence in assessing conformation and movement, I am able to identify hoof pathologies and provide a trimming treatment plan, provide advice and support to owners considering the barefoot lifestyle for horses that have been shod long or short term and I can give advice on feeding and housing regimes for maximum hoof health. All of this is backed up by a fantastic support team from my extremely knowledgeable lecturers Cynthia Cooper, Jeremy Ford, Jen Clingly and Marg Richardson.

This course has also opened doors for me such as being invited back to Tassie to lecture to the June intake of Cert III hoof care students on how hoof pathologies effect the musculoskeletal system and I lecture at Box Hill TAFE in Melbourne on the benefits of natural hoof care to the Cert II Horse Care course.

All this satisfies my interest in anatomy and physiology and it enables me to provide a whole therapeutic package to these wonderful creatures that generously give so much to us...our beloved horses.

Cheers, Julie Scott