"The enigmatic Dr. Leslie Emery at the lectern, reuniting with Jackson at the 2006 AANHCP Annual Conference"

The AANCHP came about gradually. In the late 1970s, current AANHCP Executive Director Jaime Jackson, then a farrier, with personal friend and fellow shoer, Les Emery (author, Horseshoeing Theory and Hoof Care), envisioned a similar organization, also based on the wild horse, which they called the “American Academy of Equestrian Arts”¹. A proposal was drawn up and taken to many equestrian experts around the U.S. and abroad for their opinions and support. The latter never materialized, but both men, ahead of their times, realized then the need for a systemized approach to natural horsemanship, horse keeping, and hoof care.

During the 1990s, a trend towards general acceptance of “natural is best” for the horse came about, Jackson’s groundbreaking work, The Natural Horse — Lessons From the Wild (1992), being a major force. A new generation of natural hoof care practitioners had by then also evolved. Many came from the ranks of horse owners who could not get their farriers to give their horses “natural trims”. Today, it is generally recognized by advocates that lameness issues, most caused or complicated by shoeing and unnatural boarding conditions, provided the main impetus for the skyrocketing interest in barefoot horses.

Under Jaime Jackson’s leadership and with planning and technical assistance from the Northwest Arkansas Resource Conservation and Development Council, the “American Association of Natural Hoof Care Practitioners” (AANHCP) was formally organized in 2003. It was originally organized with the primary objective of providing systemized hoof care training based on the wild horse foot. In 2004, the AANHCP received its IRS designation as a not-for-profit organization, tax exempt under Section 501(c)3 of the IRS Code, and was initially incorporated in the State of Arkansas. However, by 2007, it was widely recognized that the AANHCP was more than just about the “hoof”, but about every facet of the horse's life. It was also clear that membership and support for the AANHCP was international. The decision was then made to change the name of the organization to “Association for the Advancement of Natural Horse Care Practices”, retaining the same acronym, “AANHCP”. The association was re-incorporated in the State of California in 2008 under the new name.


See J. Jackson. “Epilogue” in The Natural Horse (1992/1997).