Rebecca Bawn

Advanced Student Practitioner

My journey into hoof care took a rather circuitous route beginning with a goal of becoming an equine veterinarian. With that goal in mind, I attended Worcester Polytechnic Institute where I earned my BSc in Biology with a Pre-Veterinary concentration. However, during that time, I had the opportunity to work at Tufts Veterinary School as a research associate in animal welfare and R+ operant conditioning training and I decided to pursue becoming a professional horse trainer instead.

After a year or so training horses professionally I felt the pull to go back to get my MSc and attended the University of Rhode Island where I worked under a professor who was researching migratory songbird nutrition. I spent two years studying oxidative stress, antioxidants, and exercise physiology and realized I had found a real passion for animal nutrition.

I took this passion and applied it to my work as an Equine Nutrition faculty at both Becker College and Post University. During my time as a professor, I had been struggling to find a barefoot trimmer in my area and one of my work mentors, who was a farrier, suggested I learn to trim.

And the rest is history! I absolutely fell in love with all things hoof and decided to pursue certification through PHCP.

I own Southern New England Integrative Hoof Care, which provides barefoot hoof care and equine nutrition consulting to CT, MA, and RI. I believe that we need to consider the whole horse, rather than pieces of the horse in isolation, when looking at overall horse/hoof health. My mission is to take all of my varied experiences in the horse industry, from hooves to nutrition to training, to help clients achieve their equine wellness goals.