March 9-12 marked the 2nd annual American Hoof Association’s Conference held in Auburn, Alabama. The conference hosted several leading authorities on natural horse and hoof care. While the speakers were not only exceptional the attendees themselves encompassed many of the top natural hoof care practitioners from the United States and abroad.
Representing Easycare I had the honor of attending part of the event and what a pleasure it was to be among such a passionate group of professionals. It was great to reconnect with old friends as well as put voices, names and faces together of those I had only previously know through phone conversations. I am pleased to say EasyCare had thirty dealers among the group. Call me warped but being immersed one on one with trimmers and exchanging booting ideas and concepts with so many great practitioners and EasyCare dealers was nothing short of hoof boot bliss!
The first day kicked off with an impressive rain storm but what’s a little rain right? The event never missed a beat as we preceded with a full day of live horse assessments with Dr. Kerry Ridgway and mini demos with HoofSolutions, EasyCare and Equicast resulting in a day packed with great information and interaction.
The remainder of the conference was held indoors at the University of Auburn Veterinary School. There attendees heard presentations from Dr. Kerry Ridgway, Dr. Debra Taylor, Dr. Robert Bowker, Sally Hugg and Pat Burton. Lab sessions were held with Dr. Bowker and an anatomy lab session was held with Dr. Debra Taylor and Dr. Ray Wilhite.
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EasyCare was warmly received at the event. It was great to be among friends and colleagues. We appreciated the opportunity to be included and look forward to next year’s event which is tentatively scheduled to be held in Tucson, AZ; the home of EasyCare! A neat twist to this year’s event was that the conference was opened to a limited number of non-members. Details about this opportunity continuing next year will be forthcoming.
The American Hoof Association is a swiftly growing group of accomplished barefoot practitioners. Professionals seeking ways to stay current and maintain a strong network of colleagues should definitely consider AHA membership. The organization has developed opportunities for high quality information exchange among its hoof care professionals providing a network with other colleagues as an avenue to augment skills. The group is a peer reviewed list of exceptional of trimmers who are committed to keeping current with research and product development. These hoof care professionals serve as a resource for the horse community to locate truly competent natural hoof care. The organization works hard to develop educational resources that serve the horse community with horse care knowledge, fact validation and ongoing research. The group also recently announced an exciting new apprentice trimmers program.
Once back in the office I received several calls with additional feedback on booting ideas and things that would help practitioners out in the field. Regardless if you attended the conference or not, if you have ideas or feedback please feel free to email me at dschwiebert@easycareinc.com.
EasyCare is all about helping horses and so are you as a hoof care professional.
Get involved, share your ideas. Help us, help you!
Debbie Schwiebert
Vet Dealer & Hoof Care Practitioner Accounts
I manage the hoof care practitioner and veterinarian dealer accounts at EasyCare. An integral part of my job is to stay current in all areas of barefoot hoof care, which enables me to serve this vital group of EasyCare dealers at the next level.
