Self Trimming Hooves

[AlpacaTeddySJ]

Curious for some insight into those who self-trim.

Is it possible to self trim on grass turnout alone with some roadwork multiple times a week at walk, or do they require more frequent varied surfaces? TIA

 

[Equi]

All horses vary. Some horses won't ever self trim and will get long uneven feet no matter the surface, some will be crippled by even walking off grass and have no hoof left. Regardless, they will still all need a check from a decent farrier regularly. Check in with a good farrier to find what they think will work with your horse.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Mine has always worked barefoot on a variety of surfaces, and was in full work up to the age of 26. Now he is retired, and does not self trim in balance, so his six weekly trims continue. He had to self trim over lockdown, and I ended up messaging his trimmer for advice on how to lower his heels and deal with a flared hoof. Keep an eye on things. You may have a horse that can self trim, but it is worth a check from time to time just to make sure.

 

[DabDab]

It depends on the horse, their workload, the way they move etc etc

I have have three currently barefoot, who have always been barefoot. One has to be trimmed every 6 weeks in winter and every 4 weeks in summer (though we tend to do a bit every week these days just to keep on top of it). The other two are almost self trimming but not quite - they get tidied up every couple of months. Hacking-wise all of them do a mix of road work without boots and stoney tracks with hoof boots.

 

[sbloom]

The roadwork is usually key, most other surfaces will be softer though some poorer quality sands in arenas are abrasive. Rockley Farm uses roadwork for rehab, no trimming.

 

[AlpacaTeddySJ]

The roadwork is usually key, most other surfaces will be softer though some poorer quality sands in arenas are abrasive. Rockley Farm uses roadwork for rehab, no trimming.

I’ve actually just finished reading Performance Hoof, Performance Horse, by Nic Barker, and I would absolutely love to install a track system at home to incorporate some rougher surfaces to encourage wear, but I just don’t have the funds and doubt I will in the foreseeable future (as if horses don’t cost enough!)

A major theme throughout the book (and other texts by Nic at Rockley) is that the horse will grow the hoof it needs to grow inc ‘flare’ / deviations etc, and I find this very interesting, hence why I am curious about moving towards mostly self-trimming with the occasional maintenance where needed.

I suppose for horses who are currently on a 4 week schedule, I would need to transition this by leaving it later and later between each trim until I slowly taper off?

Does anyone have advice on how to transition?

 

[Fieldlife]

Nic’s theory is trimming fools hoof into thinking it’s had a lot of wear and stimulates a lot of growth.

Personally I do a bevel and shorten toes, check heel length and check bar length weekly and have a professional out every 5-6 weeks.

I’m trying to shorten toe and build caudal hoof and I think trimming helpful for us.

 

[Highmileagecob]

Self trimming is fine if your horse has good movement and conformation in the first place. Quite often the barrel chested natives walk with a rolling gait similar to a bulldog, but obviously not as extreme. This wears the outer edges of the hoof wall, allowing the inner edge to overgrow. The hoof starts to flare, white line starts to separate, and then a slight lameness is observed and shoes are rapidly put back on.
If you start with a good trim then regular road work will give you a wear pattern on the sole, to enable you to keep a check on areas that need a bit of assistance.

 

[Patterdale]

I have 7 without shoes. One barely needs trimmed once a year, 3 of them are 6 monthly, 2 are every 3 months or so and one is 8 weekly.

All on the same regime and all native breeds. i think it just varies by the individual.

 

[RHM]

I’ve actually just finished reading Performance Hoof, Performance Horse, by Nic Barker, and I would absolutely love to install a track system at home to incorporate some rougher surfaces to encourage wear, but I just don’t have the funds and doubt I will in the foreseeable future (as if horses don’t cost enough!)

A major theme throughout the book (and other texts by Nic at Rockley) is that the horse will grow the hoof it needs to grow inc ‘flare’ / deviations etc, and I find this very interesting, hence why I am curious about moving towards mostly self-trimming with the occasional maintenance where needed.

I suppose for horses who are currently on a 4 week schedule, I would need to transition this by leaving it later and later between each trim until I slowly taper off?

Does anyone have advice on how to transition?

I have also just read this book and also curious about self trimming. I’m planning on tapering off, keep looking at radius rasps just to pop a beval on but don’t know if this pointless?

 

[SEL]

I have a native who does loads of road work. She's shod in remedial shoes behind but rarely needs more than a tidy up in front. I have another barefoot all round who even when she was doing a tonne of road work still needed a trim. Farrier always says she has the best feet on his books they're so hard, but they grow like weeds.

I never found the radius rasp lasted very long although I loved the design

 

[ycbm]

Just for clarification. Flare has white line separation and probably needs correction. Adaptive deviation of the hoof to the forces on the limb has a tight white line, usually looks symmetric from the sole view, and you remove it at the risk of destabilising the joints and causing lameness.

Rockley generally had horses for 12 weeks in a perfect environment. When people got the horses home they sometimes found that self trimming in a less than perfect environment was an unachievable dream.

Environment is crucial. My horse is largely self trimming, I've never taken off anything but edges in 5 years. But the difference in his feet since moving him onto flat sandy soil from a grass heavy slope, and hacking on sand tracks instead of roads, is huge. He's still self trimming but they're very different feet and much improved.
.

 

[SEL]

Why do you think sand has made such an improvement over tarmac? I've been debating recently whether the microcob is struggling with the amount of tarmac work we're doing.

I think it's the flare vs adaptive deviation that so many trimmers and farriers struggle with. I've had a trimmer who left it all on - didn't do the horse any favours - & a farrier who would trim to the perfect hoof shape for an imperfect horse. Also didn't help the horse.

Just for clarification. Flare has white line separation and probably needs correction. Adaptive deviation of the hoof to the forces on the limb has a tight white line, usually looks symmetric from the sole view, and you remove it at the risk of destabilising the joints and causing lameness.

Rockley generally had horses for 12 weeks in a perfect environment. When people got the horses home they sometimes found that self trimming in a less than perfect environment was an unachievable dream.

Environment is crucial. My horse is largely self trimming, I've never taken off anything but edges in 5 years. But the difference in his feet since moving him onto flat sandy soil from a grass heavy slope, and hacking on sand tracks instead of roads, is huge. He's still self trimming but they're very different feet and much improved.
.

 

[Fieldlife]

I never found the radius rasp lasted very long although I loved the design

I have a black one? Did you find blades went blunt?

 

[milliepops]

I have one that self trims in so far as the hooves get sufficiently worn down with work, there's generally not a lot to trim off, but he still gets 6 weekly attention because they were not in balance when he arrived and left to their own devices would carry on like that. a little rasp off here and here is gradually helping to improve his stance.

 

[paddy555]

A major theme throughout the book (and other texts by Nic at Rockley) is that the horse will grow the hoof it needs to grow inc ‘flare’ / deviations etc, and I find this very interesting,

I remember someone who was adamant about this. The horse hadn't been to Rockley she had just read the book and the blog and taken it as gospel.

She posted pics of her feet online (not on here) and that she hadn't trimmed. They were running forward. There were a few comments to be careful and pointing this out. No, Rockley was right they were not going to be trimmed, few weeks later new pics, no trimming was the gospel, More people warned her.

Few weeks later more pics, feet running so far forward, lots more serious warnings for her by now and advice to consult a trimmer/farrier. Still no trimming was gospel. The horse will grow the hoof it needs.

The horse had gone from one that just needed a small amount of correction at the beginning to one whose feet were by then going to take a good trimmer a long time to correct.

No trimming is fine for a few feet and provided the owner knows what they are looking at and if it should be corrected.

My first horse was self trimming totally. This was due to the fact we could barely pick his feet up due to his previous treatment not out of choice.
He wore his feet down OK and didn't have excess growth to remove. He did however not wear the inside toe which continued to grow. It finally got so long that he self trimmed it by breaking a large chunk off it. This is obviously not desirable although in his case there was not choice.

I deliberately rode him on a variety of surfaces to get him to "self trim" this area. We did large stone forestry tracks and then moved onto sandy ones to roll and round the edges.

It's not trimming that is the problem but excessive trimming. Many require small amounts of correction. If you are hoping to ride some or all of it BF you want the best quality feet possible.

 

[ycbm]

Why do you think sand has made such an improvement over tarmac?

I've got absolutely no idea why his feet have improved so much. Cosmetic cracks have disappeared so presumably they weren't cosmetic after all. His feet are one boot size smaller. His frogs are wider and much harder.

I don't know what's due to sand/ no tarmac/more ridden work/more stabled time/less grass or what. Ironically he's been feeling stones with one front foot and now needs to be ridden in front boots, but there's every sign that's a bruise that's fading out and he'll be back to rock crunching soon.

Interestingly, he's now growing height for the first time, and if that continues he is going to need trimming!
.

 

[tristar]

working on sand allows the hoof to expand when it moves to take up the horses hoof, and the deepness seems to make them have to reach more, work harder have more confidence in the actual comfort as the hoof comes down

 

[ycbm]

There's no depth to it, T , it's rock hard there at the moment, both in the paddocks and out on the ride.
.

 

[SEL]

I have a black one? Did you find blades went blunt?

Pretty quickly. But I was using it on a horse my farrier tells me has feet of iron. I didn't have much to compare to when I was trying to trim her but now I have a collection I can really see how tough her feet are

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

It is a delicate balance between doing too much on a hard surface, and too little.

Mine is barefoot and we have a set of boots which we use on the Fronts when necessary.

We have a farrier trim for us rather than an EP (Equine Podiatrist) and I usually just ask him whether we are a bit "worn down" or not - and therefore need to use boots when out hacking a bit more - or not.

There is a barefoot rehab place within striking distance of us and they use various types of stones as part of their rehabbing.

I have got a Radius rasp which I use occasionally just to keep a nice "Mustang roll" on the outside edge of the hoof wall which helps prevent splitting - but too much is as bad as too little with this and you need to know the difference.

I would recommend OP go onto one of the Barefoot groups; I'm on the "Barefoot Horse Owners Group UK". There are others but this one was very helpful to me throughout the transitioning process, and beyond.

 

[Highmileagecob]

The horse will indeed grow the hoof it needs. But if the foot is out of balance and not performing properly then this is also the hoof that will keep growing. Have a look at Pete Ramey's Hoof Rehab site and look at the work he did with horses bought from the meat market, horses that had been sent there for chronic lameness. Once the movement and dynamics of a 'good' hoof are understood it is easier to work out where your horse may need a little assistance in trimming to aid correct foot placing and frog growth.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I've got a black Radius Rasp (the coarse one?) and it seems to be lasting well. I use it to finish off after I've finished with the regular rasps, and for light touching up. It does leave a nice neat mustang roll type finish.