Welcome to the Australian College of Equine Podiotherapy
Since 2008 the Australian College of Equine Podiotherapy has been training holistic hoofcare professionals. This Diploma is the most comprehensive barehoofcare course in Australia (barehoofcare is the management of equine hooves to be kept bare or protected only with orthotics that don’t affect hoof function).
The course produces therapeutically trained specialists capable of traversing the modern paradox of equine performance and longevity.
Our graduates have been able to grow their hoofcare businesses to satisfaction. Many of our past students have progressed to become leaders in the Australian hoofcare industry, being called on to help with the most challenging of cases.
Course content is based on the ground-breaking research of Prof. Robert Bowker (Michigan State Uni.) and is centred on functional anatomy, using scientifically verified external anatomical landmarks to determine trimming parameters that will perpetuate functionality and therefore long-term soundness.
Most importantly, hooves are not considered in isolation but as part of the whole horse, so this course explores biomechanical pathways which are the vital links between hoof and body. This is expertly taught by Dr. Sharon May-Davis who is a world-renowned equine anatomist.
Another large component of this course is the rehabilitation of pathological hooves by using functional holistic treatment that considers the underlying causes as well as clinical symptoms. Everything from common hoof management issues to life threatening lameness is covered.
Students also learn the equine lifestyle factors paramount to growing healthy hooves and the latest in sustainable hoof protection when even the best hooves need protection from the hard Australian ground.
The entire course is heavily slanted towards Occupational Health and Safety to give you every chance to have a long and fulfilling career working under horses.
By course end, students will have industry leading observation skill sets and know how to best manage whatever hooves come their way.
What is an Equine Podiotherapist
(pronounced equine pod-eye-oh-therapist)
As natural hoof care has risen from obscurity to a well respected method of equine hoof care, there has also arisen a huge need for "specialists" in the field of rehabilitative natural hoof care.
In the last few years amazing research breakthroughs have been made in this field leading to new insights into the way the hoof and its internal components work together to create a strong unit for life. This has led to a better understanding of why our domestic horses suffer such a huge amount of lameness over their lifetimes.
Equine Podiotherapy is specialist rehabilitative trimming based in an understanding of anatomy and aimed at re-establishing, as nearly as possible, a physiologically correct and sound hoof. An Equine Podiotherapist is someone who has undertaken training in this field and gained a deep understanding of the latest research as it applies to hoof anatomy and how and why the hoof morphs into unnatural and unhealthy forms.
If your professional hoof care providers has a Diploma in Equine Podiotherapy from the Australian College of Equine Podiotherapy, it tells you that your professional hoof care provider has undertaken the most demanding course yet offered in Australia.
The course is attended by veterinarians who wish to add this skill set to their current hoof care practices.
A Podiotherapist's skills go deeper than just surface maintenance trimming, and they are therefore able to offer specialist rehabilitation strategies based on combining scientific research and natural hoof care practices.
An Equine Podiotherapist is also trained in the role of the hoof as it relates to equine biomechanics and and the musculo-skeletal system. They understand how hoof issues influence the entire horse, creating secondary musculo-skeletal issues and gait problems. They are, in fact, a "hoof therapist" in every sense of the term.
Podiotherapy graduates work from a paradigm based in anatomy & science, not assumptions, which enables them to work successfully as part of a professional equine health care team, or alone in their own practices.