how often do your horses have their feet trimmed/shod?

every 5 weeks - shod on fronts only - can only just get away with 5 weeks though as during the summer his hooves can grow really fast and occasionally at 5 weeks are starting to grow over the shoe. His fur/mane/tail grows quite fast as well so not sure if that is connected as I think in people if your nails grows fast your hair does too as they are made of the same sort of thing!

however his backs can sometimes not need a trim and can go for 10 weeks, also sometimes farrier puts the same shoes back on his fronts as well if they are not worn down.

I am hoping with the snow the farrier will be able to get to the yard next week as when the snow is really bad he can't.

he would be on stilts or lame due to hoof growing over his shoes if he was left for 8 weeks.
 
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All are barefoot. One gets trimmed every 6 weeks when the farriers there to shoe the others - she could do with more often really when she's not doing a lot of road work.

One does a lot of road work and gets trimmed evey 6 months or so as he doesn't need it more often. But he gets the edges tidied up every month or so.

Ones a baby and not in work but his feet grow at a rate of noughts - he's trimmed every month when the other has the edges tidied up.
 
I do my own as and when they need it (qualified barefoot trimmer). For my clients I usually recommend either 5 or 6 weeks. I don't like to go longer as feet can very quickly go out of balance and even a few milimetres out of balance can cause long term problems. A lot of people in this thread have said their horses don't grow much foot so leave the periods between trims/shoeings longer but it's not just growth amount you have to worry about it's the balance. Also I often take on new clients who have previously been trimmed by farriers and I'm always surprised by how often the owner tells me the farrier very rarely trims them, yet when I look at the feet they are way too long and badly in need of a trim. If the hoof wall is left too long it can chip and crack or flare which can take an age to trim and grow out
 
My gelding is shod on all four feet and gets shod every 6 weeks. My youngster and mare who live out are barefoot and it depends on the time of year, work my mares oding etc. ranges from 6-10 weeks
 
mrdarcy said:
I do my own as and when they need it (qualified barefoot trimmer). For my clients I usually recommend either 5 or 6 weeks. I don't like to go longer as feet can very quickly go out of balance and even a few milimetres out of balance can cause long term problems. A lot of people in this thread have said their horses don't grow much foot so leave the periods between trims/shoeings longer but it's not just growth amount you have to worry about it's the balance. Also I often take on new clients who have previously been trimmed by farriers and I'm always surprised by how often the owner tells me the farrier very rarely trims them, yet when I look at the feet they are way too long and badly in need of a trim. If the hoof wall is left too long it can chip and crack or flare which can take an age to trim and grow out
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Nice derogatory to farriers post there :rolleyes:
 
My unshod's a trimmed by my farrier every 6-7 weeks, my 2 shod ones are both done every 3-4 weeks as one is remedial and the other is a chronic scraper and her shoes would be like paper by the time 5 weeks comes around !
 
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