Trimming question

SatansLittleHelper

SatansLittleHelper

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Our horses are unshod and live out 24/7. Our previous farrier said that a trim every 6 weeks was necessary but the new farrier says every 8-10 weeks is fine as the horses all have good feet. He feels the previous farrier was lining his pockets. How often does everyone here have theirs done???
 
He's doing the one professional slagging off the last professional thing, probably.

Trimming. It varies horse to horse. I've been having one youngster trimmed every 3 weeks to rebalance her as she developed a slight deviation in her action on her near fore. Now corrected and I've moved her to 4 weeks for now. My gelding went 5 1/2 weeks last time and his toes had run away with him. His mate was done at the same time and he had less growth but was still ready for a trim.
Others I have can go longer between trims.
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
Our horses are unshod and live out 24/7. Our previous farrier said that a trim every 6 weeks was necessary but the new farrier says every 8-10 weeks is fine as the horses all have good feet. He feels the previous farrier was lining his pockets. How often does everyone here have theirs done???
Click to expand...

It's one of my pet hates when a professional slags off another professional - don't know what would be wrong with saying "In my opinion, they need trimming less frequently than you have been doing until now". What does it add to say "because I think your previous farrier was a numpty", apart from reflecting on the person saying it as being bitchy?

And in answer to the question :), I would say it is more important that the farrier says "let's make the next trimming interval 8 weeks, since the hooves are looking great. If they deteriorate in that time, we can revise next time". Since what you actually need is not a set trim interval, but someone who responds to what the feet are actually doing. Saying "let's make it 10 weeks" is all very fine, but if after 4 cycles, the hooves have run away with themselves, getting them back is difficult and uncomfortable for the horse...
 
I go about every four to five months with my mare as she trims well. We do a fair amount of roadwork and I keep them nicely shaped with a radius rasp
 
I have a little section A, whose feet grow like wildfire. I have to use a riders rasp between trims otherwise he'd need his doing every 3 to 4 weeks. When I first had him his feet looked like this:

IMG_4122_zpsd8aed198.jpg


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NEGLECT!! I was cursing the lady we loaned him from, but soon realised that it probably only takes him about 8 weeks to reach the same length again.


My shetland and standie however can go for months with absolutely no road work and only have a little tiny bit off. This is my shetland after 6 months without a trim;

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Just goes to show how different they are. You'll notice she has lots of chips in her toes, and a clear condition change in her hoof. She's been on a teasaspoon of mag ox for her lammy and a tablespoon of micronised linseed for her feet for about a year now. That's how much growth she's had in 12 months.
 
Depends entirely on work, growth etc, my cob doesn't see the farrier from one year to the next, does loads of roadwork and I just tidy up when necessary.
 
Mine are shod, but the following applies to shod or unshod for me.

It depends on the time of year. In the summer, I would go 6 weeks and winter 7.
The feet grow quicker within the grass flushes, and the hooves soon lose their correct balance and begin to flare.
 
With an unshod horses you simply can't dictate how often to trim, there are too many changeable factors - the amount and type of work, diet, grazing quality, time of year, weather... and some horses just grow more hoof than others.

Basically, you trim when necessary whenever that is.
 
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