Bare Hooves and Open Hearts
By Fran McNicol
Perfect-bound paperback | 6 x 9 | 168 pages | March 30, 2021 | 978-1735814025
Friends, forage, and freedom! An afternoon spent reading Fran McNicol is a journey through the English countryside with her band of horses and loyal dog. Along the way, she shares her best practice techniques to achieve barefoot healthy horses pastured in social groups with access to forage in fields rewilded to combine best horse nutrition with best environmental practice.
Reviews
Fran McNicol has a passion for the scientific method, a love of horses and a deep curiosity about the world. She is constantly searching for knowledge and wisdom that will make the lives of her horses better. Her quest to improve the physical and mental health of her horses never ends. Her journey is a voyage of discovery, and one senses that it will continue to take her in many fascinating new directions. Tania Kindersley, author of The Place of Peace: Change Yourself, Change Your Horse and The Happy Horse: An Amateur's Guide to Being The Human Your Horse Deserves
A fascinating read. McNicol's empathy for horses combines with her medical background to confidently eschew accepted dogma, increasing her horse's performance while deepening their sense of well-being.
—Paul Robinson, author of The 5 Levels of Formality
If you're drawn to the ideals of natural horsekeeping and seek inspiration to break away from unhealthy traditions, this book is the perfect place to start.
—Emma Bailey, Equine Hoofcare Professional, Liberated Horsemanship Mentor
Friends, forage, and freedom! This may be a pivotal moment for me. I can't wait to put it into practice. Thank you, Truly thank you.
—Patricia Bade van Motman, President HJE Holland BV and European Hunter Jumper Equitation Foundation
About The Author
Fran McNicol is an amateur equestrienne living in the UK. She is a full-time doctor, specialising in surgery. Her MD thesis was an examination of the inflammatory cascade in sepsis. As a surgeon, MBChB, MD, FRCS, she obviously knows a huge amount about the human animal. But the most useful product of medical training, from her horses' point of view, is that she learned how to research, evaluate evidence and then apply theory to optimise the care of her horses. Her writing is, therefore, a mix of opinion and her current state of learning from 25 years of doctoring, time spent working around the world as a polo groom and many years of keeping her own horses. Fran loves training young horses and focuses on riding the sport horse both classically and holistically. She competes regularly for her local riding club, especially in One Day Eventing. Nelipot Cottage started life as an educational blog, to share learning and best practise, to promote the benefits of a barefoot and holistic herd lifestyle for whole horse health, and to reflect on life lessons learned along the way. Fran believes that horses exist to bring out the very best in humans. It is her hope that sharing these tales will bring new friends, kindred spirits, exchange of knowledge and lots of positive energy into the lives of the Nelipot herd.