Phoenix Academy · Coming soon
Turn information into understanding.
Learn to understand the horse in front of you.
The Phoenix Way has grown into an extraordinary free learning community, with more than 15,000 members, over 200 Phoenix Lives, It’s Not Rocket Science lessons, real rehabilitation journeys and an expanding library of articles and evidence.
Phoenix Academy is being created to help you bring that learning together.
Follow a structured path. Build meaningful hoof histories. Learn to recognise balance, divergence and change. Develop the confidence to understand and advocate for the horse in front of you.
Every history begins with a consistent photograph. Coming soon
The Phoenix Way
The learning has already begun.
The Phoenix Way Path to Hoof Health is our free Facebook community and public town square. It is where more than 15,000 owners come together to ask questions, follow real cases, share observations and begin understanding their horses’ feet differently.
Beyond the group, the public Hoofing Marvellous Facebook page, our YouTube channel and this website provide an extensive and growing body of free education. This includes more than 200 Phoenix Lives, many lasting an hour or longer, the It’s Not Rocket Science lesson series, articles, case discussions and practical teaching.
Everyone is welcome to begin there. Phoenix Academy does not replace this free learning. It helps people organise it, apply it and continue more deeply.
The town square
The Phoenix Way Path to Hoof Health
A free, active Facebook community where owners learn, discuss and follow real change together.
Join the free group (opens in a new tab)Watch and learn
YouTube and Phoenix Lives
More than 200 free Lives, It’s Not Rocket Science lessons and continuing public teaching.
Visit Watch & LearnThe information hub
Hoofing Marvellous online
The HM website: our clinical framework, workshops and clear pathways through the work of Hoofing Marvellous.
Explore The Phoenix WayArticles & insights
Written teaching from the HM team
In-depth articles, documented cases and shorter image-led insights by Lindsay, Garry and Asha.
Read Articles & InsightsFrom exploration to structure
When there is so much to learn, where do you begin?
A Phoenix Live may explore heel height. An It’s Not Rocket Science lesson may examine hoof-capsule distortion. A rehabilitation case may show change across many months. Each piece is valuable, but it can still be difficult to know what to record, what to compare and how to apply that understanding to your own horse.
Phoenix Academy is being created to provide the structure around that learning.
From information to a repeatable practice
Phoenix Academy will help you:
- Observe consistently
- Document meaningfully
- Compare like with like
- Recognise change over time
- Understand decisions in context
The Academy will not tell you to copy one trim. It will help you understand the decisions being made and develop the observation needed to assess the individual horse.
The story before the crisis
The radiograph should not be the first page of the story.
Too often, a detailed record of a horse’s feet begins only after the horse becomes uncomfortable or lame. By then, changes in balance and hoof-capsule form may have been developing for a considerable time.
Without consistent photographs, observations and trim-to-trim comparisons, the earlier chapters of that horse’s story are lost. A radiograph taken during a crisis can show an important moment, but it cannot reconstruct the changes that came before it.
Phoenix Academy will teach members how to create meaningful hoof histories, recognise developing divergence and follow the horse’s trajectory over time.
“Consistency alone is not enough. A hoof can be kept consistently out of balance. The aim is consistent anatomical balance.”
Changes in hoof balance do not affect the hoof alone. They alter how forces travel through the limb and may contribute to hoof-related lameness, tendon strain and other soft-tissue problems.
This is not about labelling the person caring for the feet as good or bad. It is about raising the standard of observation so that owners and professionals have better information on which to act.
A living hoof · External and internal views
Hector’s foot. External views and radiograph shown together to connect visible hoof-capsule balance with the structures inside.
These photographs and radiograph show the same living foot. Seen separately, each view tells only part of the story. Seen together, they allow us to examine the proportions of the hoof capsule, the plane on which the foot has been maintained and the position of the internal structures within it.
Phoenix Academy teaches members to look beyond a single image or diagnostic label and ask how the hoof capsule has changed, what information has been lost and what the complete history may reveal.
Barefoot does not automatically mean balanced.
Anatomical balance is not determined by whether a horse is shod or barefoot. Either can be maintained in balance, and either can move progressively out of balance.
This barefoot pony’s radiograph shows severe internal pathology and the proportions that had been lost as the toe was repeatedly shortened while heel height increased. These are the patterns Phoenix Academy will teach members to observe, document and examine in context.
A radiograph is one part of the record. It becomes more meaningful when considered alongside consistent external photographs and the horse’s history.
Continuing learning
Not a course you finish. An Academy that keeps growing.
Phoenix Academy will develop every month through new teaching, member questions, real horses and documented cases.
Members will be able to revisit an expanding vault of learning while continuing to take part in new live and guided experiences.
Begin with Phoenix Start, continue through Phoenix Core and take part in the living Academy from the beginning. Members will join at different times, so the structured pathway, monthly teaching, case discussions and Academy community will continue alongside one another.
01
Phoenix Start
A clear introduction to the principles, language and observations that underpin the Academy.
02
Phoenix Core
Structured learning that connects anatomical balance, hoof form, function, movement, environment and individual history.
03
The Trim Library
Complete trims shown in context, including the observations, decisions and changes surrounding them. These are not recipes to copy.
04
Rehabilitation Journeys
Longitudinal cases showing how horses and hoof capsules change over time, including the decisions, uncertainty and non-linear nature of rehabilitation.
05
Live Academy
New live teaching, case discussion, member questions and opportunities to examine the reasoning behind the work.
06
Member Case Reviews
Guided assessment of members’ photographs, histories and horses, helping the whole Academy learn from real records and real change.
07
The Learning Vault
An expanding library of Academy Lives, lessons, case reviews and supporting resources that members can return to.
08
The Academy Community
A focused private learning space away from social media, where members can discuss their learning, share observations, ask questions and learn alongside other owners, Academy members and participating HMB Professionals.
The precise launch collection will continue to develop. These are the learning areas Phoenix Academy is being built to provide.
More than a content library
Structured learning. Shared observation. Continuing support.
Phoenix Academy is more structured and more interactive than our free public learning. Members will have access to Academy-only Lives, shared hoof assessments, complete cases, member discussions and an expanding learning vault.
It is not one-to-one tuition and it does not qualify members to work professionally. Individual mentoring, formal assessment and professional qualification belong within the HMB Pro programme.
Phoenix Academy can, however, become the place where someone discovers that they want to take their learning further.
“You are not learning alone. You are learning alongside a focused community of people looking at the same questions.”
From watching to recognising
Learn to see change more clearly.
Build a meaningful hoof history
Take consistent photographs and create records that can be reliably compared over time.
Recognise anatomical balance
Understand the constants that provide a dependable reference point without reducing every horse to a fixed measurement.
Follow change between trims
Recognise whether the hoof is maintaining balance, beginning to diverge or moving through rehabilitation.
Understand hoof-capsule divergence
Learn to recognise changes in the hoof capsule and consider what the developing pattern may be telling you.
Study decisions in context
Follow complete trims and real cases without treating another horse’s trim as a formula for your own.
Recognise the limits of the evidence
Know when records are incomplete, when more information is needed, when further help should be sought and when rehabilitation may not be possible.
Change becomes visible when the views remain consistent.
This photographic history shows why repeated, comparable views matter. One photograph records a moment. A sequence allows us to follow the changing hoof capsule, compare trim to trim and ask whether the overall trajectory is moving towards or away from balance.
Phoenix Academy will remain honest about uncertainty. Not every horse can be rehabilitated, and not every question can be answered from one photograph or one moment in time.
Owners are the change
Become a Phoenix Guardian.
The owner is often the one person present throughout the horse’s life.
You may never intend to trim professionally. You may not trim at all. But when you can document the feet consistently, recognise meaningful change and ask better questions, you become an informed guardian of your horse’s hoof health.
Phoenix Guardians are people who have chosen to observe carefully, learn continually and take an active role in protecting the horse in front of them.
“Better observation creates better questions. Better records create better decisions.”
Phoenix Academy is being created to support those guardians and help raise the standard of hoof care from the ground up.
Find your way in
Different experiences. One shared purpose.
These experiences are not competing routes and they do not have to be completed in a fixed order. Many people will learn freely through The Phoenix Way, belong to Phoenix Academy, complete Phoenix Foundations and attend an in-person workshop. Each offers a different way to observe, practise, question and understand.
The Phoenix Way
Free public learning
The Facebook community, public page, YouTube teaching and website articles help you begin exploring the ideas freely.
Phoenix Academy
Continuing guided learning
An ongoing membership offering structure, monthly teaching, live learning, member cases and an expanding educational vault.
Phoenix Foundations
The HM Workshop experience online
A forthcoming guided online experience following the anatomy, hoof-capsule divergence and trimming learning of the 3-day workshop for those unable to attend in person or who want to deepen their learning online.
HM Workshops
3 days in person
Anatomy-led presentations, real case histories, dissection, cadaver-limb exploration and supported hands-on trimming with HM instructors.
Want to take it further?
For those who develop the bug and want to support other owners and horses professionally, the HMB Pro programme provides the full professional pathway. Explore the professional pathway
Phoenix Academy may be for you if...
- You want to understand and advocate for your own horse
- You are overwhelmed by disconnected information and want a clearer route
- You want to build reliable hoof histories
- You want to recognise balance and divergence between trims
- You trim your own horses and want to understand your decisions more deeply
- You work with horses and want to strengthen your observation
- You have attended an HM Workshop and want to continue learning
- You are considering future professional study but are not ready for a qualification
- You want to follow complete trims, real cases and rehabilitation journeys over time
No professional ambition is required. Curiosity, care and a willingness to look closely are enough to begin.
Phoenix Academy · Coming soon
Help us build the Academy owners need.
Phoenix Academy is being created as an online membership, with the option to subscribe monthly or annually. Our aim is to keep the monthly cost no higher than the price of a routine hoof trim, making deeper, structured learning accessible to more horse owners.
Register your interest to hear when membership opens and receive the confirmed pricing.