Fran McNicol - Bare Hooves and Open Hearts: Tales from Nelipot Cottage

To my good friend Fran a true horsewoman!

It has taken almost my entire adult lifetime to unlock my young girl passions, those being horses and their welfare. Connecting with such an animal unleashes a persons creativity, individualism and desire to be better.

Meeting Fran and discovering our mutual love for horses will always stand out as a magical moment in my life. I was so excited to connect with someone who had heard the same call to find a better path to equine well-being, someone else who had thought to ask the question Why do horses wear shoes?

Equine hooves is how we met equine hooves and the challenges of attaining a horses individual barefoot soundness. We stumbled across one another at a hoof care clinic, and we came together in discussion over our shared passion.

Many people have already discovered Frans musings through her charming online blog, Nelipot Cottage. Through stories of her little barefoot herd, she shares her passion for naturalization and natural feeding methods and how she strives to keep her horses holistically happy with healthy hooves, healthy minds and healthy bodies.

Bare Hooves and Open Hearts presents a collation of Frans holistic thinking and understandings, her take on horses.

I encourage my fellow equestrians to read these carefully crafted pages and question our modern day practices. Frans thought-provoking words will intrigue and inspire you. Her goal in sharing these stories is to invite others to join together in manifesting positive energies in our own lives and in the lives of our horses.

If you are drawn to the charms of natural horse keeping and seeking inspiration to break away from unhealthy traditions, Bare Hooves and Open Hearts is the perfect place to start. It tells a vital story based on truths faced and experiences lived, and it deserves to be widely read.

In honest and practical prose, Fran writes about the special bonds, love and admiration she has for her horses. Bare Hooves and Open Hearts combines riding memoir, outside the box moments and horse care tips while recounting the joys and woes of everyday life at Nelipot Cottage.

This is the remarkable true story of an authentic horsewoman. We delight in her intimate and poignant stories, her love for her horses and her dog Ernie and the astounding transformations she has experienced.

You took me to adventure and to love. We two have shared great joy and great sorrow. And now I stand at the gate of the paddock watching you run in an ecstasy of freedom, knowing you will return to stand quietly, loyally, beside me. ~ Pam Brown

Emma Bailey

Equine Hoofcare Professional

Liberated Horsemanship Mentor

Nelipot Cottage was first a place a small house on the outskirts of the Delamere Forest, my dream home, where I planned to live a physically and mentally active life with a husband, three horses and a dog. But its also the name of an adventure an adventure that began as an entirely novel equestrian set-up, based on keeping horses in a holistic way, aimed at fulfilling their species-specific needs.

Change, however, is inevitable, and sometimes dreams come true in the strangest of ways. The horses, the dog and I moved away from the physical incarnation of the original Nelipot Cottage, but we take the spirit of it with us. The learning and the journey continue. The Nelipot ethos endures, and its focus is on the optimal care of the modern sports and leisure horse. We aim to cultivate healthy hooves, healthy bodies and, most of all, a healthy mind.

My horses may be happy and healthy and covered in mud most of the time, but I also condition them to work. We enjoy drag hunting and eventing and have covered many miles around our beautiful forest. Keeping my horses barefoot, without steel horseshoes, is a foundational part of my philosophy.

As I learn more, I find it increasingly clear that metal horseshoes are a modern convenience, really only required in order to compensate for deficiencies in our contemporary animal husbandry practices. Nailing on steel shoes actually appears to damage the hoof and can even shorten the horses life. To me, the price of convenience is not acceptable. I operate on the idea that barefoot, ethical horse management is completely compatible with having fit, quality horses who can compete and work hard and thrive in any discipline.

Another key element of the Nelipot philosophy is natural horse husbandry. Horses have three species-specific needs friends, forage and freedom. My horses are turned out as much as possible. At Nelipot they were living as a small, settled bachelor herd with plenty of room to move around and access to ad lib forage. In this way, we meet all their physical and social needs. The living out is also a great labour-saving strategy!

Domestication is surprisingly difficult for horses. We humans tolerate a range of stereotypical stress behaviours in our horses, such as weaving and crib-biting, which we would find distressing if we saw them in a zoo animal. But somehow, many of us have fooled ourselves into normalising and managing these behaviours in the domesticated horse.

These stereotypical behaviours are often the result of physical ailments such as gastric ulcers incredibly prevalent in both performance horses and leisure horses and a key indicator of the stress that many domesticated horses live under. I take them as a flashing sign that traditional horse management practices are not keeping our adored horses healthy or happy.

Rather than not keeping horses at all, or simply accepting that we must compromise their needs and deal with the resulting health issues, perhaps we could learn to keep horses in a way that promotes their health in the best way we can. It seems to me a small thank you for the generosity with which they allow us to share their immense power and grace.

Many competition horses, even at the lower levels, are fairly obviously stressed and unhappy in their work, as well as in their downtime. Training should, ideally, enhance our relationship with our horses, making the partnership itself a beautiful exchange between horse and human. Classical training should also enhance the body, empowering the horses and preparing them physically for a long and healthy ridden career.

It was many years before I found a trainer who could teach me how to improve my horses body and mind, not just sit on them and go through the motions. Im hoping that the horse lovers and riders who read this book will get a better sense of what is possible, and go seeking the few true masters left in the world before it is too late, before that precious knowledge dies with them.