Trim your own horses feet...

cptrayes said:
I do NOT recommend that you trim your own horse without being taught. I do NOT recommend that anyone but a paid trimmer, a farrier, or a very experienced owner trims a horse who has ever been lame with more than an abscess. Idiots should not be allowed near a horse with anything sharper than a stick of celery (thanks Nic :)) but there will, unfortunately be some idiots in the world. That doesn't mean that Randonneuse should not trim her own pony. If she lived near me I'd teach her myself :)
Click to expand...

Thanks! :-)

teddyt I don't understand why I couldn't learn how to trim my ponys feet on my pony only as he would be the only one I would ever do?
I know for example why his left front foot has a different shape from his other feet and this is because I think he compensates for an injury he had on his right back foot (I think it's called fetlock in English) when he was about 6.
I mentioned it to my trimmer the first time she came to do his feet and she also thinks this is why his front foot selftrim in that way.
I wouldn't try to change his balance to have the perfect "visual" feet but would trim his feet as he needs them to be (if that makes sense)

I understand that maybe people who want to trim several horses should train and practice more as all horses are different and have different ways of selftrimming etc...but I think if I only want to do my pony it would be best to train on him only?
(I don't mind if it takes time for me to learn as long as in the end I can do it myself with as I said someone to come and check his feet few times a year)
 
Sorry to be negative but quite frankly I'm rather alarmed at the rather blazé attitude to farriery on this post. I appreciate that the OP has known her pony a heck of a long time, and that he has been barefoot for a long time. However, a farrier trains for 4 years between college and apprenticeships under experienced horsemen to learn how to ensure a horse's foot is correctly balanced (for functionality, not aesthetically balanced) and has detailed, in-depth knowledge of exactly how the whole horse moves from cellular level through the structures of the foot, leg, shoulder, pelvis, back etc... Whilst in some cases I am sure many ponies "learn" how to sort themselves out, more through need than choice, I fear in the longer term the potential for damage is quite severe. It is an entirely different ball game to remove a loose shoe or run a rasp over a crack whilst waiting for an expert than it is to try and eek out visits from said professional. By all means discuss with your trimmer, I always have an eye over my farrier's shoulder and both he and I enjoy discussing what he is doing, how and why, but I would seriously reconsider trying to do this yourself. By the time your trimmer pops round to check your handy work the damage can already be done.
 
corbleu I understand your fears but to read your post you would think that horses and ponies don't know how to grow feet without the intervention of a farrier.

horses belonging to owners who can match growth to wear, as the poster does, don't need a farrier to tell them what the right foot is for them. As the poster has said, her pony grows feet that compensate for an old injury and knows exactly what foot it needs.

Farriers don't in the main, ever see a barefoot hunter or eventer during their training. They are taught to make and apply shoes, and to trim a horse that is not in hard work. Only a small proportion are ever taught to trim horses for hard work without shoes on. It depends entirely on whether their supervising farrier has any on his books, and few do.

Besides which, it's really not the trim which is the big issue with barefoot horses. It is feeding correctly, getting the right environment for them to live in, and matching exercise to hoof wear that are far more important.

As I say, I understand your fear. We have all been practically brainwashed for decades now that all horses need shoes if they are to work hard. It is difficult, if you have not seen in it practice, to go against that received wisdom.
 
My horse is barefoot, a trimmer comes out and trims them for me but i keep them neat and tidy inbetween, she has shown me how to and if i have any problems at all i can call or email her. Together we have changed my horses diet nad they are thriving on it and living really well. I see no problem with keeping your horses feet neat and tidy if you research and have a good trimmer.
 
corbleu said:
Sorry to be negative but quite frankly I'm rather alarmed at the rather blazé attitude to farriery on this post. I appreciate that the OP has known her pony a heck of a long time, and that he has been barefoot for a long time. However, a farrier trains for 4 years between college and apprenticeships under experienced horsemen to learn how to ensure a horse's foot is correctly balanced (for functionality, not aesthetically balanced) and has detailed, in-depth knowledge of exactly how the whole horse moves from cellular level through the structures of the foot, leg, shoulder, pelvis, back etc... Whilst in some cases I am sure many ponies "learn" how to sort themselves out, more through need than choice, I fear in the longer term the potential for damage is quite severe. It is an entirely different ball game to remove a loose shoe or run a rasp over a crack whilst waiting for an expert than it is to try and eek out visits from said professional. By all means discuss with your trimmer, I always have an eye over my farrier's shoulder and both he and I enjoy discussing what he is doing, how and why, but I would seriously reconsider trying to do this yourself. By the time your trimmer pops round to check your handy work the damage can already be done.
Click to expand...

Groaaaaan. Its blaze because we're not talking about a proper trim. You've taken it to a whole new level which I won't go into. If that's the way you feel, fine, don't come on here looking for an argument - comment if you have something constructive to contribute.

peerielee said:
My horse is barefoot, a trimmer comes out and trims them for me but i keep them neat and tidy inbetween, she has shown me how to and if i have any problems at all i can call or email her. Together we have changed my horses diet nad they are thriving on it and living really well. I see no problem with keeping your horses feet neat and tidy if you research and have a good trimmer.
Click to expand...

Exactly. I think any owner should be able to perform a basic tidy-up rasp.
 
Fee Fo said:
I'm confused! I thought it was illegal for unqualified people to conduct farriery on their horses, apart from to deal with emergency situations?
Click to expand...
It is illegal to shoe a horse, that is why the farriers apprentice will only remove, rasp and tidy up, but is not allowed to nail a shoe on.
There is nothing about shoe removal, which competent people have been doing for years.
In the UK farriers HAVE to be registered .. there are regular prosecutions every year, usually the same culprits.
I am quite happy to tighten up clenches in an emergency, but would NEVER put an extra nail in for example.
 
I have been rasping off for years, [in the literal sense], but never considered I was "trimming", I pay a farrier for that, and if he does the job properly I should never have a balance problem.
 
Last edited:
tallyho! said:
PF, it's nothing special believe me, trimmers use it as one of thier "models". It's quite simply a study in wild horses hooves and trying to apply some of the findings bearing in mind the balance & weight bearing of the whole foot taking everything else into consideration e.g. terrain, diet etc. You really have to understand the context in which it is used. Nothing to do with being ridden or not.

And there is no wild horse TRIM!!! Each horse is different and you can't apply one model to every horse. Wild Horse 'Trim' is a method.
Click to expand...
Ok, thanks, makes more sense now (does sound VERY daft on first impressions...;) )
 
I don't have any problem with knowledgeable people trimming their horses feet so long as they have been shown correctly how to do it. Personally I wouldn't do anymore myself than just rasp down a chip or similar. I certainly wouldn't be doing by own paring of the hoof. I have a great deal of respect for farriers as they work damned hard, study hard and pay out a lot of money to do the job that they do. Back breaking work in all weathers and with all kinds of horses, some good some bad!
What I don't agree with is these short quick fix courses like I have heard about at some centres. I think they are downright dangerous.
A horses soundness as we all know is not just based upon the state of the hoof but it is affected by the whole body and structure of the horse. I think we all know the phrase no hoof no horse. Unless someone is totally understanding of the entire muscular and skeletal system of a horse and understands the motor functions then I don't think people should be giving full on trims to their horses.
I don't think that every horse should be shod. Each to their own. Mine in fact are all barefoot now.
However the reason for my response is personal.
I did think beforehand that people should be au fait with the leg structures and motor functions of a horse before they even think about trimming and should always seek professional guidance if they were to trim themselves.
My mare recently came back from loan. Not only did she return underweight and full of lice but also her feet are not as they should be. My farrier cannot address problems caused by them self trimming as she doesn't have enough foot left on to correct. They have not only taken too much off but she is now pigeon toed on her front feet.
To be honest I am very angry about it!
So I urge anyone who is thinking of self trimming to please talk to the experts or your farrier before you think of doing any work like that to your horses feet.
Had my mare stayed in this home permanently I dread to think what may have happened to her in the long term.
By learning how to do things correctly is the way to go about trimming. Not some short course. Farriers train for years to do their job.
 
KrujaaLass said:
Just ordered the riders rasp. I have four barefoot horses and they were only done a few weeks ago and their feet look terrible. Just tried to file down a split with hand file but this rasp looks easier to hold. Let you know if its any good
Click to expand...

I would be interested to hear from people who use this and have feedback from their hoof care professional. In a talk by a barefoot trimmer I attended, the chap seemed to think it left the horn open to fungal and bacterial invasion, since it was too coarse. He recommended a sandpaper block to run over the edges every few days, in between trims. If done lightly I think this sounds like a good way of keeping on top of a horse's regrowth between trims, but I would want the professional to check my work regularly and slowly graduate to seeing me further apart each time.

cptrayes said:
With a rasp, you can use gentle strokes and check after each and every stroke that you are nowhere near live foot. Horn goes slightly pink well before you get to anything which would cause issues, but you do need to keep checking. I rarely use a knife, I find it far too easy to cut myself!!! But I do trim off the top of bars very occasionally if they are rubbing on the road.
Click to expand...

I wouldn't be happy to recommend the OP to take anything like the amount you're talking about off, without sufficient and quality training, but that's just me. :) (edited to add that I know you're not recommending this!) For the same reason I'd really caution against using anything but a fine rasp or sandpaper unless you know what you are doing.

May I just hijack and ask you about trimming the bars? If your horse's bars are touching the road, depending on concavity and how you're managing your horse etc, wouldn't it just be best left to wear itself down against the road? Just interested as I've seen a fair few people trimming bars and recommending others to do so, and I'm never quite sure why. Could be that I just don't have that knowledge ;)
 
Naturally said:
May I just hijack and ask you about trimming the bars? If your horse's bars are touching the road, depending on concavity and how you're managing your horse etc, wouldn't it just be best left to wear itself down against the road? Just interested as I've seen a fair few people trimming bars and recommending others to do so, and I'm never quite sure why. Could be that I just don't have that knowledge ;)
Click to expand...

Sometimes some horses will put up a really sharp little ridge at the top of the bar, and instead of wearing down nicely, it can catch like a snagged nail, especially going downhill on a flat road. If a horse has high bars like that and I feel a misstep going downhill, then I just pare the top off so it can't snag. I haven't had one do it for a couple of years that I can remember, it's not a routine part of trimming. But if you're going to do it you need a really decent knife.

For the earlier poster "self trimming" is the term we use when the horse's wear on its feet from its work matches its rate of foot growth and no trimming by a human is necessary. This is a great place to be, and the end goal for all barefoot horses, but not always achievable, so we replicate the wear with a trim. Owner trimming is not "self trimming".

Cazee34 your horse may well have a poor trim. But if she has, a poor trim did not make your mare pigeon toed unless she was well under 4 years old when you lent her out. Pigeon toed conformation is usually a lack of straightness higher in the leg (fetlock or cannon). If she is not straight in the leg then it would be likely that your very skilled farrier has been diguising this by the way he shoes/trims her (as most farriers would, partly because owners want to see their horse look straight, I know I did when I had one years ago).

Both you and he may feel that she moves better shod that way, but you may also need to question how much strain shoeing a horse straight when it is not built straight will put on joints higher up the leg and whether that will eventually cause her joint problems later in life. There are horses with lack of straightness in the leg which grow the most peculiar shape barefoot feet, but they are the optimum feet to cause the least stress to the horse. If you are sure your horse has straight legs and a balanced body, then her current pigeon toes are probably a result of poor hoof management as you suspect. But if she is not perfectly straight then they are likely to be a reflection of her lack of straightness and at least part way towards the hoof she knows she needs to compensate for that. It would then be very questionnable whether she should be trimmed to attempt to correct that.

Lastly, barefoot feet are very short looking to most shod horse owners. Did they "take it off" or did she do it for herself? Again, if she did it for herself and she is sound, then it's the foot she knows she needs.

I know this is probably not the answer for your one horse, who I have not seen and cannot judge, but there are a lot of other readers who need to know that for a pigeon toed, short-footed horse like yours, all may not be what it seems.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for your reply CPTrayes. As far as I know she is the straight in her legs because this has not been picked up before and it is my usual and very good farrier which said she looked slightly pigeon toed when I asked him to look at her feet for me shortly after her return from loan.
I understand what you are saying about farriers and how they can disguise such matters but I do know in his case he is a very honest farrier. I have a cob which is slightly pigeon toed on one of his front and always has been. Every farrier has picked this up and it has never bothered him when riding, shod or unshod.
My farrier also noticed an issue on my older horse last year that I wasn't aware of that had either developed through age or that previous farriers had not noticed.
My farrier has been dealing with my mare for some time and has trimmed her both for barefoot and shoes in the past.
He did say that her feet were not that bad but did say she looked slightly pigeon toed and that there was not a lot underneath.
I cannot remember all the technical bits he mentioned right now though.
She is sound though and is rideable, but does feel the stones so we try to avoid them.
I did know she was being barefoot trimmed whilst on loan and I was happy with that as I trusted people. However when a horse returns in the state that she did and my farrier also saying she has foot issues then it doesn't really allay any fears about how well she was looked after.
Nutrition levels and grooming are all basic levels of care and the fact that she was thin and covered in lice does not bode well for how she was kept. The fact that she improved in condition within just a week tells me she was not getting anywhere near enough what she should have been. She was ravenous at the haylage net when I got her back and in all the time I have had her I have never seen her go at a net like that.
The lice was unforgiveable too.
So with regard to the foot issue if even the basic standards of care were not met properly and I discovered the loanee had himself been trimming the feet then how does that allay any fears that her feet may have been trimmed wrong.
At least she is back where she belongs now and has put on weight and now looks really well. The feet issue will be sorted with the help of my farrier who I trust completely.

Getting back to why I posted what I did though it was because I do have concerns about people doing full on trims on their horses feet unless they are totally capable of doing so. That is not to say everyone is not competent but just that be careful who you trust to trim your horses feet.
My other big lad also suffered at the hands of someone before I had him. His then owner trusted a friend who was having her horse seen to, to trim him also.
I was told that he came back very foot sore on all four feet and in fact when I had him he had very boxy looking feet and was very, very short. It tooks months for my then farrier to have his feet looking anywhere near how a horses feet should look. He now has lovely feet and has been both shod and unshod since I have him.
So there are personal reasons for my comments about barefoot trimming.
 
I occasionally tidy up my horse's feet but he's in no danger believe me. I'm so cack handed with the rasp that I remove more skin from my knuckles than hoof from his foot! After a few minutes I'm bleeding and sweating and I've barely made an impact on the foot :o.
 
farriers train for 4 yrs before qualifying, but usually do 1 to 2 years with a farrier before starting the apprenticeship per say. glad you are all so blase with your horses feet. a little knowldge is a VERY DANGEROUS thing. but hey go ahead and buy a knife, a pair of pinchers, and a rasp. you will be fine til the horse goes lame. like humans the horse has many complex conformation criteria going on in the foot.NO FOOT NO HORSE didnt magic itself out of the air.
 
AGAIN... we are not talking about trimming!!!!

Can we find a new word for a maintenance rasp/file/whatever as some people seem very confused.... and are jumping on their soapboxes.
 
tallyho! said:
AGAIN... we are not talking about trimming!!!!

Can we find a new word for a maintenance rasp/file/whatever as some people seem very confused.... and are jumping on their soapboxes.
Click to expand...

Don't bother, there's nowt so deaf as those who don't want to hear ;)
 
Retiring from this thread gracefully. I don't look for arguments, I simply am concerned at the attitude to work normally undertaken by a skilled professional. However, reading some of the comments there appears to be an all round attitude. Not sure what happened to supportive, constructive criticisms which encourages us all to look at our practices but evidently they've died a death. I did want to say one thing to Mrs D, however, hence the reason for this post - I agree with you about the apprenticeships, it is illegal for someone not registered to nail the shoes on, which is why when on an apprenticeship the student is accompanied by the farrier who oversees their work. It's a similar situation to nurse training - as a student I was allowed to give medication as long as it was witnessed and checked as correct by a registered nurse, therefore the liability ultimately rested with them. As you progress through your training and become more competent the level of supervision becomes less until by the end of your training you should be practically doing the job with someone glancing over your work to check you are on the right lines, you shouldn't need actual "instruction" as such by the time you are ready to qualify.
 
KrujaaLass said:
Funnily enough I did try with sandpaper first, but it was not very effective.Perhaps Ill try it everday.Thanks
Click to expand...

Have you managed to use the riders rasp yet?

Mine arrived yesterday and im going to give it a go later on. My only concern is whether it is too course. It is the new trial rider version which has a medium course rasp, but it's not interchangable.

Like, you and the other' tidy-uppers between trimming visits' people on this board , I will only be using it to remove superficial chips and smooth off the edges. It would be pretty useless for removing flare on my mare's hard feet.
 
Randonneuse said:
I am looking at learning how to trim my ponys feet myself (he is a 14hh gelding) and would like to know if anyone does it and who "taught" them? (any courses?)

It would only be to do my pony, no other horses so I think maybe it is not so hard once you have been taught by the right person?
My pony has been barefoot for about 5 years and I have been using a barefoot trimmer from the AANHCP for a year now (I had my pony in France before)

I am looking at someone who balances the foot for the horse to be ridden and if possible doing the wild horse trim.

Please CC only, I am not trying to start a debate as I just think a regular trim "tidy up" every week or so would be better than my barefoot trimmer coming every 6 to 12 weeks! :-) (I would still have my barefoot trimmer every few months to check I am doing it right)

Thanks a lot :-)
Click to expand...

My OH is from the @rse end of no-where rural NZ and most farmers where he's from trim their own horses. So yes I guess you can learn to do it, it's just culturally (and because we have a ready supply of farriers available) we don't do it in this country. In theory I think its a useful skill to have but I'm not sure if a) I'd have the guts to do my own horse, b) where you would find someone to teach you? I guess you could pay for some 'tutor sessions' with your trimmer??
 
I learnt how to do my own horses feet from both a farrier and a trimmer starting with me watching them, then doing it under their supervision, then doing work between their visits. ( the trimmer took over when my farrier retired although they did overlap for a while quite happily.). Now trimmer visits couple times a year to check and is available to give advice anytime.

I dont think its something for a short course then left to ones own devices ..... and I just about contained myself when a visitor to the yard saw me doing it once and said he had a file in his garage and would give it a go if we didn't need a farrier to do a pones feet. :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: ... but done sensibly and limited to ones own neds where the feet have alreday been assessed by a professional and advice heeded... then there is no reason an owner cannot be responsible about a horses feet.

I know several people who do thier own horses feet .... and like hobbitpony's oh its sometimes a necessity. One lives in the outer hebrides with no farrier available regularly ....and planned visits can be put off indefinately when the weather is bad and the ferries not running. ;) A regual rasp round is imo far better than waiting for weeks and weeks and have problems developing from a chip to a large crack if the farrier not due or cant come soon enough.
 
Hi Pod 77. Mine came today so did try it. It was not as abrasive as I thought it would be. It was similar to doing your hardskin on your feet with a pummice stone. How did you get on
 
In an ideal situation barefoot horses should have self maintaining feet, unfortunately in the majority of cases horses do not get enough exercise, or work, as it's now called, to maintain their feet, so they need to be trimmed.

6 weeks or whatever is too long a period to leave their feet so owners should be doing a maintainance trim on a weekly basis or thereabouts.

Very little and often is the key to this, your trimmer of farrier should show you how to do it.
 
My trimmer has advised me if I wanted to tidy up in between visits to use a wood shaving tool, rather than a rasp, you are much less likely to do more harm than good. She's also shown me what to tidy - and what to leave. Speak to your trimmer, most are happy to help with this.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top