David Landreville is a hoof care practitioner and clinician who has dedicated the last 20 years of his life to building hooves and teaching others to do the same. He advocates for consistent, long-term photo documentation to track and demonstrate the hoof development that is possible with effective trimming.

David’s approach combines technical, precise, physical elements along with emotional, intuitive, feeling-based connections. The horse is the ultimate judge of the trim and the experience, and tuning into their feedback allows for a deeper understanding of just how much the details matter. David believes if the feet aren’t building, they are breaking down.

David credits his wife Stephanie and youngest daughter Claudia with showing him how to be present with horses and really listen to what they have to say. Presence and persistence have shaped the way he views horsemanship today and helped him distance himself from the typical ‘pissed off farrier’ that he was in the beginning.

David currently travels around the world teaching Hoof Building Clinics and provides online learning and support through his Hoof Builders Video Library and Facebook groups. He was initially hesitant about teaching hoof care online, concerned that all the elements of feel and connection would not translate. In 2018, with Claudia behind the camera, they started creating videos that would capture the technical elements of the trim, as well as the emotional connection with the horses. Combining these videos with the photo documentation-based Facebook group enables David to teach the details involved in hoof rehabilitation in a virtual setting.

Owners are often told that learning to trim is irresponsible and that their standard of work will not be as good as professional farriers or trimmers. What David has learned in Hoof Builders is that the reality is often the opposite. Owners come to Hoof Builders because they have run out of options, their horse isn't thriving with the “professionals” work (sometimes they are barely surviving), and they want to try and do it themselves. Nothing about the journey they undertake is easy, but that doesn't mean they can't be successful. The only requirements for Hoof Building are a rasp and a loop knife, the physical ability to pick up and hold a hoof, and the willingness to struggle through learning something difficult and tackling something new.

Because of the Horse...

My life changed in a profound way 20 years ago. Because of one particular horse named Santo, I became part of a movement to return horses to the health and vigor of their ancestors…their footsteps to the function that was intended to exist in nature. Because of listening to the horse, I have learned to help horses have the feet they need and am, in my way, attempting to teach what I have learned.