Hoof Trimming

Last weekend I did something I'd never done before; I trimmed Cherry's feet. And she's not lame. Truth.

Why did I do this, one might ask? Well, to begin with, I've been growing increasingly unhappy with the farrier situation around here. There are about 50 people calling themselves farriers, but only 2 who are any good. The owner of the barn I board at only allows one of these two farriers on the property. He's an excellent shoer, but not the best barefoot trimmer. "Passable" is the level of quality you get more often than not.

Passable is not good enough anymore. I'm tired of waiting 7 or more weeks for him to find a window in his schedule to squeeze my horse in. I'm also tired of waiting increasing amounts of time after the trim for my horse to be sound again. The last time it took her a week to recover. She was lame for a week. A freaking week! In what world is that okay?!

The idea of doing my own trims had been festering in my brain for some time before the "thanks for making my horse lame, how much do I owe you?" incident. A friend of mine had been doing her horse's feet (unbeknownst to me) for quite some time, and turned a mutual friend on to the idea. This friend is also a fellow boarder, so I got to watch the whole, "I'm going to start trimming my own horse" process unfold. She trimmed, her horse remained sound, she trimmed again, her horse remained sound again. Hmmmm, maybe it isn't rocket science and I could do it too!

So I asked her about it. She recommended a book. I bought the book. I read the book. Everything in the book made complete and total sense. Not only did it make sense, it sounded doable and not like an intimidating task that I was in no way qualified to do. I went one step further and bought a DVD made by the mentor of the book's author. Watching this reassured me still further that yes, there is no reason why I can't trim my own damn horse if I'm careful and remember a few simple rules.

I bought my tools, a hoof knife, a rasp, a hoof stand (actually it's a truck jack), and borrowed a pair of nippers. All told, it took over 2.5 hours to trim all four feet. Yeah, I know. However, this included multiple breaks (pony has arthritis and I'm out of shape), one turn out in a grassy paddock between front and hind hooves, and countless minutes spent scrutinizing the hooves from all angles. Cherry was most patient during the whole production, though I'm sure she was wondering what was taking so damn long.


The basic rules I followed:

- When in doubt, leave the sole alone. The sole callous is of paramount importance to keeping the barefoot horse sound. Don't mess with it unless it wants to come out.

- Hoof wall grows back. Really, it does.

- Make the heels even.

- The sole-frog junction is the lowest point you can go before quicking the horse. Respect it.

- Trimming should NEVER sore the horse. If he's sore when you're done, you fucked up somewhere.

- If you don't get it perfect today, that's fine. The hooves will be waiting for you tomorrow.


The last point was made on the DVD, and I found it to be quite profound. Obviously you can't leave the hoof unbalanced and ragged, but if you don't get it 100% good today, go back and finish tomorrow.

I did end up going back two days later to even up the left front a bit. On trimming day, Cherry was done, I was done, but there were still some tweaks needed on that hoof. Whatever. I fixed everything up with no harm done.

Now on to the truly amazing thing. Cherry is SOUND. She's moving better than ever, and I'm not the only person who's noticed this. I was a bit worried the day after, actually, because Cherry was very stiff and not a happy camper. But I couldn't tell if it was "Ow, my feeties hurt" or "Ow, my old joints are stiff." Well, now that she's had a few days to recover, her feeties feel great and her old limbs have loosened up.

That would be my fault, though. As I get better at trimming, the time it takes will greatly decrease and hopefully she won't be stiff at all when I'm done. This has prompted me to consider a joint supplement, though. I think now would be a good time to start, while the arthritis is still mild and before winter hits.

I'm so excited about this new venture of mine. Hoof trimming is something I never thought I'd be able to do, just because I didn't know enough. Well, turns out all I lack is experience, which I intend to get with my horse. Besides, Cherry is the perfect horse to practice on. She's patient, good with her feet, she's old, and she's mine. I'd never try this on someone else's horse.

Another thing, I can't believe just how fucked up Cherry's feet are. They are flared, uneven, and rather flat. I went after the worst flares with the first trim, and I'll be going after them even more in trims to come. My goal is to eliminate them entirely. The white line on her front feet was so stretched that the hoof wall was starting to crack on the UNDERSIDE. We're going to fix that.

I can't wait to see how her feet develop now that her sole isn't getting hacked off and the flares are being aggressively targeted. She grows hoof wall like there's no tomorrow, so I think my main job will to keep that in check while slowly lowering her heels and watching for bits of dead sole that want to come out.

Wish us luck!