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RE: [RC] Trimming hooves - Magers, Cassandra \(Contractor\)Hi Lysane,
I have been trimming my own horse
since December last year. It can be good and bad. I have done
several home study courses and have had a Strausser Hoof care specialist work
with me along with a regular farrier. I would suggest you read everything
you can so you can make your own decisions. I have been focusing on the
Strausser approach mainly because I have problems with shoes last year and I
adopted a severely foundered horse. Strausser has some very definite ideas
on trimming the bars back and exactly how the hoof should be formed. A
good site to read for her ideas is www.naturalhorsetrim.com . I
still question which style is correct. Some believe no horse should wear
shoes and other feel it is good to keep a horse shod. My suggestion would
be to find a style you think best fits your horses an then find an actual
trimmer who will tutor you. Both the trimmers I work with are happy to
help me free of charge; others may ask for fees. Either way you will have
a professional critiquing your work so you don't get them severely off
balance. On the strength part of the equation first do one hoof like you
are them you'll be strong enough to do two and so forth. I can trim about
two horses in a day without killing myself. And the nice thing is I can
just put it off till tomorrow if I want. Well those are my thoughts on the
trimming thing.
Cassie From: ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lysane Cree Sent: Friday, June 10, 2005 10:31 AM To: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] Trimming hooves Hi,
I finally took the plunge to try to trim my horse's hooves (I've been
reading up alot over the past year or so). O.k. well, I did one hoof so far! The
other front hoof is scheduled for tonight. :) It was hard work, my legs muscles
were very tired too. Thankfully my mare was very patient - I guess I
need to work on this!! :) I am not riding her this week as she just got
her wolf teeth pulled, so I figured now was as good of a time as any.
Her feet were still in pretty good shape just getting a little long, so i
still had a good shape to work with. I trimmed the extra length all
around and rolled the toe. It looked pretty good, but I'm wondering about
trimming the bars. Some people seem to view this as being crucial,
while others don't seem to think its so important. I haven't really touched the
sole at this point and I tend towards the "leave the sole alone as much as
possible" approach. Using the nippers and rasp is o.k., but I'm a little nervous
about the hoof knife :)
Lysane
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