About Us

Neil has been a horse rider and owner for 27 years. Primarily self-taught, his interest now is in classical dressage, schooling Tracey's horses and convincing Jamie that he isn't actually retired.

Neil was handed a rasp by his farrier and told to keep his laminitic pony's feet 'looking like that'. 20 years later a horse called Rupert and some gentle persuasion from Tracey convinced Neil that barefoot was a serious option.

He then met a hoof bloke called Peter Laidely who inspired him to carry on with his barefoot journey and training.

Neil's role in Barefoot Basics is to trim his own and Tracey's horses, plus a few friends, and to moan about the increasingly difficult cases that Tracey keeps finding to fix, while secretly relishing the challenge.

Tracey has been a horse rider and owner for 33 years. She started her riding career at the age of four by being plonked on a pony at a dubious riding school and going out for a hack on a lead rein. From then on it was a choice between ballet lessons and riding lessons, and the riding lessons won!! When she was 17 she left school, got herself a job and bought herself a horse, which quickly grew into a small herd. Several ponies were taken in for rehab and re-selling, but she quickly realised that letting them go was harder than sorting them out.

She has competed in a wide range of disciplines at a local level, particularly enjoying working hunter and cross country, she has also done quite a lot of in-hand showing, but gave up when the ponies were wearing more make up than the handlers.

Her horse owning and riding significantly changed in 2000 when she went on a riding holiday in Portugal, this was a classical dressage holiday on beautiful Lusitano and Lusitano/Arab cross stallions and geldings. From then on she was hooked on the classical way of training and riding and has attended five clinics with Marji Armstrong. Since 2005 her training has been with Peter Maddison-Greenwell of El Caballo de Espana, she is the organiser of the Hartley Wintney monthly clinics in the South.

Her interest in Barefoot began with an addiction to Internet forums, a book by Pete Ramey and a horse called Ru. Always a bit of a rebel, when the vet and farrier advised that Ru should be shot, she decided that there had to be something else out there.

She believes in a holistic approach to horse keeping and barefoot is a part of this. Her horses have been her teachers along the years, and she wishes she knew then what she does now!!

As part of her interest in continuing her barefoot training, she organises the Peter Laidely Hoof Care clinics in Berkshire.

Her role in Barefoot Basics is to look after the website, source the ingredients for our products and provide Neil with a constant stream of horses for them to fix up.

She has completed a year long equine Essential Oil Therapy and Kineseology course, which she hopes will help the horses in her care, she is also about to start Dr Eleanor Kellon's Nutrition Course.